Electrical connectors – With supporting means for coupling part – Supporting plural – independent coupling parts
Reexamination Certificate
2001-12-26
2002-11-12
Paumen, Gary (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With supporting means for coupling part
Supporting plural, independent coupling parts
Reexamination Certificate
active
06478616
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector assembly, and particularly to an electrical connector assembly having a sound card mounted internal to the assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many prior art modular jacks were mounted singly on a motherboard, and audio circuitry was included on the motherboard. Creating a separate sound card improved the use of space on the motherboard, and including more than one modular jack in a housing, particularly in a stacked configuration, led to a further savings of printed circuit board “real estate”.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,643,008, as shown in
FIG. 17
, is one example of a prior art connector assembly which saves board space. The connector assembly
110
has a dielectric housing
112
with a D-sub connector
160
mounted on top of the housing, and a triplex audio jack assembly
130
mounted in the housing below the D-sub connector. The terminals
163
of the D-Sub connector are bent to connect to a printed circuit board (not shown) beneath the connector assembly
110
, and must be in two sizes, a longer size for contacts in the upper row of the D-Sub connector, and a shorter size for contacts in the lower row. Contacts
132
of the audio jack assembly also connect to the PCB beneath the connector assembly. A rear shield
150
covers the assembly to provide EMI protection. Although more efficient than discrete connectors, this assembly and related sound card still take up quite a bit of space.
Further miniaturization is desired.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A first object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector assembly with a miniaturized sound card installed inside the assembly housing, thereby minimizing use of space in electronic equipment.
A second object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector assembly which is simple to manufacture.
An electrical connector assembly in accordance with the present invention comprises a D-Sub connector and a triplex audio jack connector mounted to a printed circuit board. The printed circuit board is mounted at its lower edge to a board edge connector. The subassembly is inserted into an assembly housing and the D-Sub connector is fixed to the housing together with a pair of grounding anchors by a pair of locking fasteners. A rear cover having a shielding plate affixed to it is attached to a back of the assembly housing, effectively enclosing the connectors and printed circuit board inside the housing and rear cover. The printed circuit board can contain all the functions of a sound card, making the electrical connector assembly a complete sound card assembly. The electrical connector assembly can then be mounted to a motherboard. Due to its small size, the assembly efficiently provides all the functions of a sound card and associated connectors at a savings in occupied space.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5643008 (1997-07-01), Tan et al.
patent: 5713747 (1998-02-01), Hsia et al.
patent: 5775923 (1998-07-01), Tomioka
patent: 5954522 (1999-09-01), Ho et al.
patent: 6027370 (2000-02-01), Hsu et al.
patent: 6056594 (2000-05-01), Ching
patent: 6168462 (2001-01-01), Liao
patent: 6174198 (2001-01-01), Wu et al.
patent: 6183292 (2001-02-01), Chen et al.
Chung Wei Te
Hon Hai - Precision Ind. Co., Ltd.
Paumen Gary
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