Electrical connectors – With stress relieving means for conductor to terminal joint – Conductor gripped by or entirely within connector housing
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-05
2001-09-18
Patel, Tulsidas (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
With stress relieving means for conductor to terminal joint
Conductor gripped by or entirely within connector housing
C439S941000, C439S942000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06290532
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for organizing and positioning wires in data connectors. More particularly this invention relates to a device and method for controlling the positions of wires in the region where the wires are transitioned between industry standard paired cable signal wire positions and industry standard attachment positions on a circuit board. In a preferred embodiment, the method provides the steps to ensure optimum positioning of the wires as at least one signal wire crosses another signal wire in the transition region. In another preferred embodiment, a connector designed with specific wire routes and sized to maintain optimum positioning of the wires in the transition region and an associated printed circuit board that eliminates unnecessary plated through holes and maintains signal transmission line symmetry are disclosed.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In the design of data connectors, the problems of signal cross talk and signal integrity are always at issue. For data connectors used with high speed data rates, in excess of 1.0 gigabit/second, the cross talk and signal integrity problems may be more pronounced.
A problem with current state of the art high speed serial data connectors is two-fold. First, current connector designs used with high speed serial data transmission lines require the transition of industry standard cable wire geometry to an industry standard circuit board attachment geometry. The current primary industry standard cable wire is quad cable. This type of cable is configured as four separate wires twisted around a common center with the two signal lines of a pair being diametrically opposed to each other. In other words, the cross-sectional view of a quad cable would have four wires at the four corners of a square such that the two signal lines of a differential pair are located at the respective opposite corners of the square.
The industry standard geometry for attachment of the conductors to the circuit board is four wires in line and adjacent to each other. The two signal lines of a pair are directly adjacent to each other and are positioned as far from the other pair of signal lines as is possible to reduce potential signal cross talk. As an additional means to reduce cross talk, the two signal line pairs are often separated by a ground line.
The transition in geometry of the signal wires from a twisted quad arrangement to an in-line arrangement requires that one of the signal lines of one of the pairs cross through the signal lines of the other pair. The state of the art of data connectors and the prior art theory provides that crossing one signal line through another pair of signal lines results in unacceptably high levels of cross talk. In view of this belief, current connector designs accomplish the crossing of signal lines in the printed circuit board within the connector.
The cross over of the signal lines in the circuit board is generally achieved by incorporating extra plated through holes or traces for each wire of the signal cable pair. To accomplish the signal line cross over, certain plated through holes will necessarily be unmatched or incorporated into the circuit board in an unsymmetrical geometry. For example, in crossing one signal line over the other signal lines within the circuit board, the paired conductors often use both circuit board ground planes to accomplish the cross over. In these connector designs, unacceptable levels of high near end cross talk, in the range of 5 to 10 percent, are generated.
It has been discovered that use of extra plated through holes, and in particular unmatched or asymmetrical plated through holes are a significant source of cross talk within the printed circuit board. Moreover, unmatched or asymmetric traces and lines leading to the plated through holes are another source of cross talk.
It has also been discovered that the level of cross talk generated when crossing one signal line of paired conductors across the other signal line pair, off of the circuit board, may be minimized if the positioning of the crossing wire is precisely maintained. Unacceptable levels of cross talk are generated primarily when the position of the crossing lines are not maintained in an optimum position or when the lines deviate from an optimum geometry.
While prior art wire and data connector patents have recognized the problem of cross talk, including U.S. Pat. No. 5,571,035, issued to Ferrill, and assigned to The Whitaker Corporation for a Divergent Load Bar; U.S. Pat. No. 4,601,530 issued to Coldren et al., and assigned to AMP, Inc., for an Electrical Connector And Wire Assembly Method, there are no examples known to the Applicant that recognize and resolve the problem of imprecise crossing of signal lines or the introduction of cross talk in a circuit board due to unmatched and asymmetric plated through holes.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a method and apparatus for use with or as a data connector that provides a way to minimize signal wire cross talk by optimally transitioning signal cable wires, off of the circuit board, between industry standard geometries and by minimizing signal cross talk in the connector circuit boards by symmetrical design of the circuit boards. Such improvements and results have not been seen or achieved in the relevant art.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The above noted problems inadequately or incompletely resolved by the prior art are addressed and resolved by the present invention.
A preferred aspect of the invention is a method of managing signal cable wire positions in a data connector, where the signal cable wire has a first and second differential pair of wires, and each differential pair of wires defining a virtual ground plane, the method comprising the step of crossing a first signal wire of the first differential pair through the second differential pair such that the first signal wire is maintained in the virtual ground plane of the second differential pair a minimum distance within the data connector.
Another preferred embodiment of the present invention is an electrical wire connector for transitioning crossed paired cable signal wires onto a circuit board to minimize cross talk between the signal wires, comprising a wire organizer inside the wire connector, the wire organizer holding the cable signal wires and being dimensioned to minimize the distance in the wire connector in which one signal line of a first paired signal wires crosses a second paired signal wires.
Yet another preferred embodiment of the present invention is a wire organizer used within an electrical wire connector for transitioning a first and second crossed paired cable signal wires onto a circuit board to minimize cross talk between the signal wires, the first and second crossed paired cable signal wires defining a respective first and second virtual ground plane, the wire organizer comprising a plurality of channels formed in the wire organizer to receive and maintain the signal wires, wherein a signal line of the first paired signal wires crosses the second paired signal wires such that the first paired signal line is not maintained in the virtual ground plane of the second paired signal wires a minimum distance within the date connector.
Still another preferred embodiment of the present invention is an electrical wire connector for transitioning crossed paired cable signal wires and minimizing signal cross talk, the crossed paired cable signal wires each defining a virtual ground plane, said electrical wire connector comprising a printed circuit board that maintains signal wire symmetry on the board and eliminates unmatched plated through holes within the printed circuit board; and a wire organizer for transitioning the crossed paired cable signal wires onto the printed circuit board, the wire organizer holding the cable signal wires and being dimensioned to force one signal line of a first paired signal wires to cross a second paired signal wires within the connector such that the first signal wire is not maintained in the vir
Lachman Julia Anne
Vermeersch Dean Camiel William
Patel Tulsidas
Tyco Electronics Corporation
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