The fibre optic communications industry currently uses a wide variety of different optical fibre connector types. The connectors are used to interconnect and disconnect optical fibres used for light transmission. To provide a satisfactory connection requires optical connectors to be high precision mechanical devices, with tolerances on certain parts being on the order of 1 micron. The connectors are difficult to manufacture and many years of engineering effort have been required to perfect and develop the various types of connectors, most of which are manufactured in large quantities. The different types of connectors are essentially all incompatible and, as the industry evolves, new types are being developed with improved characteristics. Despite the wide variety of connector types available, there has been a general lack of user-installable and inexpensive components for adapting between connector types. A number of adaptors for connecting different types of connectors are available but tend to be severely limited in application, due to either excessive cost or limited performance. Some adaptors arc used with optical instrumentation, but are usually incorporated into the instrumentation, so that the instrument can only be used to connect to one type of connector. A user purchasing the instrument therefore can only make use of it with one type of optical connector.
It is desired to provide an optical connector system that alleviates one or more difficulties of the prior art, or at least a useful alternative to existing connector systems.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds