OPTICAL INTERCONNECT SYSTEM PROVIDING COMMUNICATION BETWEEN COMPUTER SYSTEM COMPONENTS

摘要

An optical interconnect system (100) for communication between computer system components (106) is described. The system includes an optical data communication path (112) and a plurality of optical taps (116), each optical tap (116) optically coupling a respective computer system component (106) to the optical data communication path (112). Each optical tap (116) splits power from an optical signal received from the data communication path (112) or from a light source (210) generating a data signal from its associated computer component (102) resulting in another optical signal. Each optical tap (116) splits light in accordance with a respective power ratio relationship between reflectivity and transmissivity. The ratio relationships of the optical taps (116) together provide a predetermined communication reliability metric for signals traversing the optical interconnect system (112) between computer system components (106).