Electrical connectors – With insulation other than conductor sheath – Plural-contact coupling part
Reexamination Certificate
2003-05-27
2004-12-14
Luebke, Renee (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With insulation other than conductor sheath
Plural-contact coupling part
C439S660000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06830484
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cable connecting device for providing various electrical connections in a communication system and its application to a wall partition structure. More particularly, the cable connecting device enables selective electrical connections, by way of telephone or LAN, in a communication system, depending on a user's requirement, by shifting the position of connecting ports.
2. Related Prior Art
Generally, an indoor wiring system interconnects a plurality of computers by way of central equipment such as a Hub, thereby forming a network. Such a wiring system provides communication signals, whether voice or data, and electric power to each workstation through communicating cable. Voice signals are transmitted via a telephone, and data signals are transmitted via a local area network or a computer modem.
Once a wiring system is completed for providing communication, it is difficult to alter the arrangement of the system because indoor communicating cable is usually installed inside of the wall partitions or underneath the carpet or floor. Although some wiring systems employ connecting devices with the communicating cable, most connecting devices have difficulties in satisfying a desired rearrangement of an indoor wiring system. Thus, it is both disadvantageous and costly to remove a wiring system and install a new arrangement.
In order to solve the aforementioned problems, many kinds of interconnecting devices and wiring systems are suggested. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,160,276 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,299,490 disclose communication cable connectors and a wiring system arrangement for providing voice and data signals to individual workstations. However, these inventions have disadvantages in that it is hard to vary workstation arrangements due to a fixed number of breakout ports. From an economic viewpoint, a good connecting device and wiring system is not possible because each connector provides a certain number of regular breakouts regardless of demand. If it is necessary to increase the number of connecting ports in order to expand capacity at certain positions, additional interconnecting modules are required.
Therefore, it is preferable to provide cable connecting devices and wiring systems that allow alternative distributions for signal connections.
If a workstation arrangement is modified, it will take only a few minutes to rearrange signal distributions by simply altering the corresponding connectors without wasting extra cables usually needed for rearrangement.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In order to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages, an objective of the present invention is to provide a new functional cable connector having twig connectors for effectively distributing signals and data to workstations. A twig connector is a breakout line for connecting to a telephone, LAN or computer terminal.
Another objective and feature is to provide a communication cable connector and wiring assembly including a first connector and a second connector associated with at least one twig connector. The first connector and second connector are mated to each other.
The first connector forms a plurality of first arrays consisting of first terminals. The required number of first terminals in the first array is determined by the communication device. The second connector forms a plurality of second arrays and at least one twig array, each of which consists of at least one second terminal. The first and second arrays and twig arrays each consist of the same number of first terminals or second terminals, arranged at the same intervals and in the same pattern. The second connector is provided with at least one more array than the first connector, and the first arrays and second arrays along with the twig array form a plurality of rows arranged at the same intervals, so that the first connector can be selectively connected to the second connector for altering the configuration of the electrical connection.
Since the second connector has at least one more row than the first connector, it is possible to vary the connecting positions.
The advantage of this invention is that the number of enabled twig connectors at each connecting location is easily determined by selectively positioning the connection between the first and second connectors.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3668604 (1972-06-01), Rossman
patent: 4478472 (1984-10-01), Baar
patent: 5160276 (1992-11-01), Marsh et al.
patent: 5466172 (1995-11-01), Carstens et al.
patent: 6261107 (2001-07-01), Takase et al.
GWiPS
Luebke Renee
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