New patent application published for: TRAYS HAVING PULL-OUT MINI-TRAYS WITH ON-BOARD OPTICAL MODULES

TRAYS HAVING PULL-OUT MINI-TRAYS WITH ON-BOARD OPTICAL MODULES

Claims

1. A tray configured to provide a compute functionality, a networking functionality, or a storage functionality, wherein the tray is movably engaged with a rack, allowing for pulling out at least a portion of the tray out of the rack, the tray comprising: a pull-out mini-tray with on-board optical modules, including optical transceivers for exchanging signals with electrical connections formed within the pull-out mini-tray, wherein the pull-out mini-tray is movably engaged with a support structure formed within the tray such that the pull-out mini-tray is movable out of the rack independent of a movement of the tray relative to the rack; a plurality of integrated circuit (IC) chips, arranged within the tray, wherein each of the plurality of IC chips is coupled with the electrical connections formed within the pull-out mini-tray; and a set of flexible interconnects formed within the tray to connect the electrical connections, formed within the pull-out mini-tray, to tray connectors formed toward a first end of the rack, where a length of each of the set of flexible interconnects formed within the tray is selected to allow for pulling out of at least a portion of the pull-out mini-tray from a second end, opposite to the first end, of the tray, while still maintaining a connection between the electrical connections formed within the pull-out mini-tray and the tray connectors formed towards the first end of the tray to allow for an in-field service or an inspection of the on-board optical modules without having to pull out any portion of the tray out of the rack.
2. The tray of claim 1, wherein the support structure is formed within the tray such that the pull-out mini-tray is movable independent of movement of the tray relative to the rack, and wherein the support structure comprises a pair of rails formed within the tray.
3. The tray of claim 2, wherein a length of the pair of rails along a same plane comprising the set of flexible interconnects formed within the tray is selected to allow for the pulling out of the at least the portion of the pull-out mini-tray while still maintaining the connection between the electrical connections formed as part of the on-board optical modules and the tray connectors formed towards the first end of the rack to allow for the in-field service or the inspection of the on-board optical modules without having to pull out any portion of the tray out of the rack.
4. The tray of claim 1, wherein the tray further comprises a protective flap covering the backend of the tray, wherein the protective flap is configured to allow for pulling out of the at least the portion of the pull-out mini-tray.
5. The tray of claim 1, wherein the set of flexible interconnects comprises a set of flyover flexible cables.
6. The tray of claim 1, wherein the set of flexible interconnects comprises a flexible printed circuit board having connections formed thereon.
7. The tray of claim 1, wherein the on-board optical modules are arranged in a double-decker fashion within the pull-out mini-tray.
8. A method for use with a rack including a tray configured to provide a compute functionality, a networking functionality, or a storage functionality, wherein the tray is movably engaged with a rack, the method comprising: providing a pull-out mini-tray with on-board optical modules, including optical transceivers for exchanging signals with electrical connections formed within the pull-out mini-tray, wherein the pull-out mini-tray is movably engaged with a support structure formed within the tray such that the pull-out mini-tray is movable out of the rack independent of a movement of the tray relative to the rack; providing a plurality of integrated circuit chips (ICs) within tray, wherein each of the plurality of IC chips is coupled with the electrical connections formed within the pull-out mini-tray; and connecting, using a set of flexible interconnects formed within the tray, the electrical connections formed within the pull-out mini-tray to tray connectors formed toward a first end of the rack, where a length of each of the set of flexible interconnects formed within the tray is selected to allow for pulling out of at least a portion of the pull-out mini-tray from a second end, opposite to the first end, of the rack while still maintaining a connection between the electrical connections formed within the pull-out mini-tray and the tray connectors formed towards the first end of the tray to allow for in-field service or inspection of the on-board optical modules without having to pull out any portion of the tray out of the rack.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the support structure is formed within the tray such that the pull-out mini-tray is movable independent of movement of the tray relative to the rack, and wherein the support structure comprises a pair of rails formed within the tray.
10. The method of claim 9, further comprising selecting a length of the pair of rails along a same plane comprising the set of flexible interconnects formed within the tray to allow for the pulling out of the at least the portion of the pull-out mini-tray while still maintaining the connection between the electrical connections formed as part of the on-board optical modules and the tray connectors formed towards the first end of the tray to allow for the in-field service or the inspection of the on-board optical modules without having to pull out any portion of the tray out of the rack.
11. The method of claim 8, further comprising providing a protective flap covering a backend of the tray, wherein the protective flap is configured to allow for pulling out of the at least the portion of the pull-out mini-tray.
12. The method of claim 8, wherein the set of flexible interconnects comprises a set of flyover flexible cables.
13. The method of claim 8, wherein the set of flexible interconnects comprises a flexible printed circuit board having connections formed thereon.
14. The method of claim 8, further comprising arranging the on-board optical modules within the pull-out mini-tray in a double-decker fashion.
15. A tray configured to provide a compute functionality, a networking functionality, or a storage functionality, wherein the tray is movably engaged with a rack, allowing for pulling out at least a portion of the tray out of the rack, the tray comprising: a pull-out mini-tray with on-board optical modules, including optical transceivers for exchanging signals with electrical connections formed within the pull-out mini-tray, wherein the pull-out mini-tray is slidably engaged with a pair of rails formed within the tray such that the pull-out mini-tray is slidable out of the rack independent of a movement of the tray relative to the rack; a plurality of integrated circuit (IC) chips, arranged within the tray, wherein each of the plurality of IC chips is coupled with the electrical connections formed within the pull-out mini-tray; and a set of flexible interconnects formed within the tray to connect the electrical connections, formed within the pull-out mini-tray, to tray connectors formed toward a backend of the tray, where a length of each of the set of flexible interconnects formed within the tray and the pair of rails formed within the tray is selected to allow for pulling out of at least a portion of the pull-out mini-tray from a frontend of the tray, while still maintaining a connection between the electrical connections formed within the pull-out mini-tray and the tray connectors formed towards the backend of the tray to allow for an in-field service or an inspection of the on-board optical modules without having to pull out any portion of the tray out of the rack.
16. The tray of claim 15, wherein the tray further comprises a protective flap covering the backend of the tray, wherein the protective flap is configured to allow for pulling out of the at least the portion of the pull-out mini-tray.
17. The tray of claim 15, wherein the set of flexible interconnects comprises a set of flyover flexible cables.
18. The tray of claim 15, wherein the set of flexible interconnects comprises a flexible printed circuit board having connections formed thereon.
19. The tray of claim 15, wherein the on-board optical modules are arranged in a double-decker fashion within the pull-out mini-tray.
20. The tray of claim 15, wherein the rack is configured as one of a plurality of nodes of a scale-up backend network within a datacenter, wherein each of the plurality of IC chips comprises an artificial intelligence (AI)-hardware-accelerator, and wherein the on-board optical modules are configured for use with the scale-up backend network to allow for compute across multiple racks using the plurality of nodes.