US 11,953,731 B2
High reliability robotic cross-connect systems
Anthony Stephen Kewitsch, Santa Monica, CA (US)
Assigned to Telescent Inc., Irvine, CA (US)
Filed by Telescent Inc., Irvine, CA (US)
Filed on Apr. 11, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/717,950.
Application 17/717,950 is a division of application No. 16/858,994, filed on Apr. 27, 2020, granted, now 11,340,402.
Application 16/858,994 is a continuation of application No. 16/504,194, filed on Jul. 5, 2019, granted, now 10,649,149, issued on May 12, 2020.
Application 16/504,194 is a continuation of application No. 14/949,861, filed on Nov. 23, 2015, granted, now 10,345,526, issued on Jul. 9, 2019.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/091,541, filed on Dec. 14, 2014.
Prior Publication US 2022/0342157 A1, Oct. 27, 2022
Int. Cl. G02B 6/35 (2006.01); B25J 9/00 (2006.01); B25J 9/02 (2006.01); B25J 9/10 (2006.01); B25J 15/02 (2006.01); B25J 18/02 (2006.01); G02B 6/38 (2006.01); G02B 6/44 (2006.01)
CPC G02B 6/3508 (2013.01) [B25J 9/0018 (2013.01); B25J 9/023 (2013.01); B25J 9/104 (2013.01); B25J 15/02 (2013.01); B25J 18/025 (2013.01); G02B 6/3502 (2013.01); G02B 6/356 (2013.01); G02B 6/3866 (2013.01); G02B 6/3556 (2013.01); G02B 6/3564 (2013.01); G02B 6/3568 (2013.01); G02B 6/3572 (2013.01); G02B 6/358 (2013.01); G02B 6/359 (2013.01); G02B 6/385 (2013.01); G02B 6/4452 (2013.01)] 21 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An automated fiber optic patch-panel/cross-connect system comprised of a stacked arrangement of multiple replaceable modules, comprised of:
a first multiplicity of fiber modules, each with a second multiplicity of reconfigurable internal fiber connectors;
a common robot module shared among fiber modules, wherein any connector within a fiber module in the system can be moved to any other connector of any other fiber module in the system;
a power management module that distributes electrical power to the fiber modules and the robot module; and
a server module that generates commands that are placed on communication bus to activate robot and fiber modules,
wherein the modules are physically separated and spatially arranged to be serviced without interrupting fiber connections previously established in the system,
wherein the robot module includes a gripper, including a gripper sensor circuit including a multiplicity of photo-interrupter and/or phototransistor circuits.