Electrical to optical and optical to electrical connector system

1. An assembly comprising:

a backplane having a back face comprising a PCB edge connector and an opposing front face comprising a plurality of pin-type electrical connectors, where the PCB edge connector is electrically coupled to each of the plurality of pin-type electrical connectors;

a plurality of connector modules, each connector module adapted to physically and electrically couple to one of the plurality of pin-type electrical connectors, each connector module comprising:

a housing defining at least opposing first and second faces,

a first electrical or optical connector at the first face; and

a second electrical connector at the second face, in which the second electrical connector is a pin connector, where the pin connector is adapted to physically and electrically couple to one of the pin-type electrical connectors on the backplane, and the second electrical connector is electrically coupled to the first electrical or optical connector;

where each housing is sized such that it occupies approximately one-eighth of the area of the front face of the backplane when the connector module is coupled to the backplane.

2. The assembly of claim 1 in which the first connector of at least one connector module is an optical connector.

3. The assembly of claim 2 , where the at least one connector module further comprises circuitry for translating an incoming optical signal to an outgoing electrical signal.

4. The assembly of claim 2 , where the at least one connector module further comprises circuitry for translating an incoming electrical signal to an outgoing optical signal.

5. The assembly of claim 1 in which the first connector of at least one connector module is an electrical connector.

6. The assembly of claim 5 , where the at least one connector module further comprises circuitry for translating an incoming electrical signal to an outgoing electrical signal.

7. The assembly of claim 1 further comprising an electrical audio/visual signal processing board adapted to electrically and physically couple to the PCB edge connector.

8. The assembly of claim 1 in which the housing of at least one of the connector modules defines a third face that is less than about one square inch in area, and further comprising a third electrical or optical connector at the third face.

9. The assembly of claim 1 in which the first and second faces of at least one of the connector modules are each less than about 0.5 square inches in area.

10. The connector module of claim 9 in which the housing of the at least one connector module has a generally rectangular parallelepiped shape.

11. An assembly, comprising:

a pair of connector modules, each connector module comprising a module housing defining at least opposing first and second faces, a first electrical or optical module connector at the first face, and a second electrical module connector at the second face, where the first module connector is electrically coupled to the second module connector;

a connector module interface device comprising a connector module interface housing defining at least opposing first and second faces and a connector module interface device electrical connector at each of the first and second faces, where the connector module interface device electrical connectors are electrically coupled; and

where each of the connector module interface device electrical connectors is adapted to physically and electrically mate with the second electrical module connectors of the pair of connector modules to electrically interconnect the pair of connector modules and enable transfer of signals between the pair connector modules.

12. An assembly comprising:

a backplane having a back face comprising a PCB edge connector and an opposing front face comprising a plurality of pin-type electrical connectors, where the PCB edge connector is electrically coupled to each of the plurality of pin-type electrical connectors; and

a plurality of connector modules, each connector module adapted to physically and electrically couple to one of the plurality of pin-type electrical connectors, each connector module comprising:

a housing defining at least opposing first and second faces, where each housing is sized such that it occupies approximately one-eighth of the area of the front face of the backplane when the connector module is coupled to the backplane,

a first electrical or optical connector at the first face;

a first printed circuit board (PCB) physically and electrically coupled to the first electrical or optical connector, where the first PCB is adapted to provide equalization of electrical signals or electrical to optical signal conversion;

a second electrical connector at the second face, in which the second electrical connector is a pin connector, where the pin connector is adapted to physically and electrically couple to one of the pin-type electrical connectors on the backplane; and

a second PCB electrically coupled to the first PCB and physically and electrically coupled to the second electrical connector, where the second PCB adapts power and signals to the back plane or from the first PCB.

13. The assembly of claim 12 , in which the first connector on at least one of the connector modules is an optical connector.

14. The assembly of claim 13 , where the first PCB optically terminates the first connector when the at least one connector module is used as a receiver.

15. The assembly of claim 13 , further comprising an optical transmitter when the at least one connector module is used as a transmitter.

16. The assembly of claim 12 , in which the first connector on at least one of the connector modules is an electrical connector.

17. The assembly of claim 16 , where the first PCB electrically terminates the first connector when the at least one connector module is used as a receiver.

18. The assembly of claim 11 , further comprising a power cord that supplies power to the connector module interface device, and where the connector module interface device passes power to the pair of connector modules to which it is mated.