US Patent 7416347 Optical fiber array connectivity system with indicia to facilitate connectivity in four orientations for dual functionality

A fan-out unit for a data communication system includes: a plurality of optical fibers; and a faceplate with a plurality of ports arranged in at least one row, each of the ports being optically interconnected with a respective one of the optical fibers and configured to received a mating optical fiber. The faceplate includes a first visual indicia associated with the ports that indicates an arrangement in which mating optical fibers are to be inserted into the ports, the first visual indicia being easily readable when the faceplate is in either a first horizontal orientation or a first vertical orientation, but not being easily readable when the faceplate is in a second horizontal orientation that is inverted from the first horizontal orientation or a second vertical orientation that is inverted from the first vertical orientation.