Electrical connectors – Preformed panel circuit arrangement – e.g. – pcb – icm – dip,... – Within distinct housing spaced from panel circuit arrangement
Patent
1996-08-28
1999-05-11
Paumen, Gary
Electrical connectors
Preformed panel circuit arrangement, e.g., pcb, icm, dip,...
Within distinct housing spaced from panel circuit arrangement
439654, 439946, H01R9/09
Patent
active
059021373
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to electrical connectors having a shape similar to that of a memory card and, in particular, to an electrical connector for connecting a data processing device, for example, a personal computer, to an external memory device, for example, a hard disk drive.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
External memory mediums or devices electrically connectable to the personal computer, e.g., a memory card, a hard disk drive, etc. are used to increase the storage capacity of the personal computer. The storage capacity of these devices varies. The memory capacity of a memory card is determined and limited by the number of memory elements incorporated therein and the memory capacity of each individual memory element. As a consequence, when a memory card is used for applications requiring a large memory capacity, the memory elements must each have a large memory capacity.
However, because memory cards are designed to be compact, the number and capacity of the memory elements incorporated therein is restricted. In view of the limited memory capacity of a memory card, in some applications, it may be desirable to use the hard disk drive as an external storage device due to its greater memory capacity. In addition to the limited capacity, memory cards are generally expensive due to the cost of the memory elements incorporated therein.
In the Japanese market, for example, a typical memory card, for example, a Static Random Access Memory ("SRAM") type memory card with a 1 MB to 2 MB memory capacity costs about 20,000 to 30,000 yen. Further, a memory card with a 10 MB to 20 MB memory capacity (requiring memory elements of greater memory capacity, such as a flash memory) costs about 200,000 to 300,000 yen. In contrast thereto, a hard disk drive costs about 80,000 yen for a memory capacity of 80 MB, about 100,000 yen for a memory capacity of 100 MB, and about 150,000 yen for a memory capacity of 200 MB.
Therefore, in view of the comparison between memory capacity and price, it may be desirable to use the hard disk drive rather than a memory card in certain applications because hard disk drives have a larger memory capacity than memory cards and are also less expensive.
Because the hard disk drive is larger than the memory card, it is difficult to load it into a compact personal computer, in particular, into a notebook computer. As a consequence, most compact computers are designed to have a memory card insertion slot or a connector for a memory card so that they may use a memory card as an external memory medium. In order to connect a hard disk drive to a computer designed as described above, a new connector is needed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an electrical connector which can meet the above-mentioned need. In particular, an object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector which can be used to connect a data processing device designed to use a memory card as an external memory medium to other inexpensive external memory devices having large memory capacity.
According to one aspect of the present invention, an electrical connector is provided which can electrically connect a data processing device via a connection for a memory card to an external memory device via a cable adapted to interface to the external memory device.
The electrical connector includes a frame having an outer dimension substantially the same as that of the memory card and a plurality of connection elements located at one end and at another end in its longitudinal direction, the plurality of connection elements located at the one end being adapted to be electrically connectable to the data processing device via the connection for the memory card, and the plurality of connection elements located at the other end being adapted to be electrically connectable to the cable.
The electrical connector may further include a board held in the frame and having a circuit for electrically connecting the connection elements located at the
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patent: 5242310 (1993-09-01), Leung
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patent: 5413490 (1995-05-01), Tan et al.
patent: 5477426 (1995-12-01), Bethurum
patent: 5505628 (1996-04-01), Ramey et al.
Berg Technology Inc.
Paumen Gary
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