Fiber splice protection sleeve

Abstract

A fiber-splice protection label or sleeve for one or more optical fiber fusion splices. The label is provided with a unique indicium such as a serial number in alphanumeric and/or barcoded forms. The indicium may be in the form of a strip of paper, plastic, foil, or other suitable material inserted between the inner and outer sleeve or otherwise embedded in the unit. The serial number may also be printed directly on the inner sleeve, outer sleeve, or support rod, and/or in the form of a sleeve. A hologram and/or other security feature may be used to prevent tampering or creation of counterfeit units. The number of digits are preferably chosen to allow a large number of units to be sold without duplication of numbers. Special standardized prefixes or other indicia may be chosen for government or other special applications. Serial numbers may further be encoded into a micro-miniature memory “chip” embedded in, e.g., the outer sleeve. Advantages of uniquely labeling splices includes allowing splice data associated with various splices to be easily stored and indexed for later selective retrieval, accountability for defective or problematic splices, and more efficient troubleshooting.

I claim:  
     
         1 . An optical fiber splice comprising: 
 a first optical fiber segment and a second optical fiber segment, the first and second optical fiber segments being coupled together for optical communication therebetween at a splice location within the splice; and    an indicium for uniquely identifying the optical fiber splice.    
     
     
         2 . The optical fiber splice of  claim 1 , wherein the indicium is at least one of printed and etched onto the splice.  
     
     
         3 . The optical fiber splice of  claim 1 , further comprising a label for bearing the indicium.  
     
     
         4 . The optical fiber splice of  claim 3 , wherein the label is disposed on an outside surface of the optical fiber splice.  
     
     
         5 . The optical fiber splice of  claim 3 , wherein the label is disposed within the optical fiber splice.  
     
     
         6 . The optical fiber splice of  claim 3 , further including an inner sleeve encircling the splice location and an outer sleeve encircling the inner sleeve, the label being disposed between the inner sleeve and the outer sleeve.  
     
     
         7 . The optical fiber splice of  claim 3 , further including a sleeve encircling the splice location, the label being disposed between the splice location and the sleeve.  
     
     
         8 . The optical fiber splice of  claim 3 , wherein the label comprises an electronic memory device having a memory, the indicium comprising data stored in the memory.  
     
     
         9 . The optical fiber splice of  claim 3 , wherein the label comprises a tamper-proof label.  
     
     
         10 . The optical fiber splice of  claim 3 , wherein the label comprises a sleeve encircling the splice location.  
     
     
         11 . The optical fiber splice of  claim 1 , wherein the indicium comprises at least one of alphanumeric text and a bar code.  
     
     
         12 . The optical fiber splice of  claim 1 , wherein the indicium comprises both text and a bar code.  
     
     
         13 . The optical fiber splice of  claim 1 , wherein the indicium comprises a plurality of alphanumeric digits of sufficient quantity to provide at least 1 million unique indicia.  
     
     
         14 . The optical fiber splice of  claim 1 , wherein the indicium comprises a serial number.  
     
     
         15 . The optical fiber splice of  claim 1 , wherein the indicium comprises a hologram.  
     
     
         16 . The optical fiber splice of  claim 1 , wherein the indicium includes a portion corresponding to a particular use of the optical fiber splice.  
     
     
         17 . The optical fiber splice of  claim 1 , wherein the indicium uniquely identifies the optical fiber splice within a particular optical fiber network.  
     
     
         18 . The optical fiber splice of  claim 1 , wherein the indicium is disposed at the first optical fiber segment.  
     
     
         19 . The optical fiber splice of  claim 18 , wherein the indicium is disposed within ten feet of the splice location.  
     
     
         20 . A method for manufacturing an optical fiber splice, the method comprising the steps of: 
 splicing optical fiber portions together at a splice location to create the optical fiber splice; and    labeling the optical fiber splice with an indicium that uniquely identifies the optical fiber splice.    
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein the step of labeling includes labeling the optical fiber splice with the indicium including at least one of a printed and etched indicium.  
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 20 , further comprising the step of adding a label bearing the indicium to the optical fiber splice.  
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the step of adding the label includes attaching the label on an outside surface of the optical fiber splice.  
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the step of adding the label includes placing the label within the optical fiber splice.  
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 22 , further including the steps of: 
 substantially encircling the splice location with an inner sleeve; and    substantially encircling the inner sleeve with an outer sleeve,    the step of adding including positioning the label between the inner sleeve and the outer sleeve.    
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 22 , further including the step of substantially encircling the splice location with a sleeve, the step of adding the label including positioning the label between the splice location and the sleeve.  
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the step of adding the label includes adding an electronic memory device having a memory, the indicium comprising data stored in the memory.  
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the step of adding the label includes adding a tamper-proof label.  
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the step of adding the label includes substantially encircling the splice location with a sleeve comprising the indicium.  
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein the step of labeling includes labeling the optical fiber splice with at least one of alphanumeric text and a bar code.  
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein the step of labeling includes labeling the optical fiber splice with both text and a bar code.  
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein the step of labeling includes labeling the optical fiber splice with a plurality of alphanumeric digits of sufficient quantity to provide at least one million unique indicia.  
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein the step of labeling includes labeling the optical fiber splice with a serial number.  
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein the step of labeling includes labeling the optical fiber splice with a hologram.  
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein the step of labeling includes labeling the optical fiber splice with the indicium corresponding to a particular use of the optical fiber splice.  
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein the step of labeling includes labeling the optical fiber splice with the indicium that uniquely identifies the optical fiber splice within a particular optical fiber network.  
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein the step of labeling includes disposing the indicium at the first optical fiber segment.  
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 37 , wherein the step of labeling includes disposing the indicium within ten feet of the splice location.