Giga-bit interface convertor bracket with enhanced grounding

Details Giga-bit interface convertor bracket with enhanced grounding Giga-bit interface convertor bracket with enhanced grounding

1998-10-08

2001-04-10

Gandhi, Jayprakash N. (Department: 2841)

Electricity: electrical systems and devices

Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical...

For electronic systems and devices

C301S064600, C301S064600, C301S064600, C301S064600, C301S064600, C301S064600, C301S064600

Reexamination Certificate

active

06215666

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved bracket for a giga- bit interface convertor. More particularly, the bracket provides an improved grounding to a PCI card, daughter card, motherboard and the like.
2. Background
A bracket provided in accordance with the present invention is designed to contain a universal giga-bit interface convertor (GBIC) module. A giga-bit interface convertor is a high-speed data transfer switch that can be used to interconnect work stations, main frames, supercomputers and storage devices. It can be employed at various locations in a computer network where giga-bit data is transferred. A high-speed data transfer switching is used in many applications such as Video on Demand and interactive video, which require faster access to large data storage systems such as DASDs and RAIDs.
FIG. 1
shows an example of a network where giga-bit interface convertors are employed. A mass storage
1
may be DASD/RAID mass storage. The mass storage
1
is connected to a server
3
. Data transfer rate is in the order of Gbits/sec. For instance, the rate may be 1.0625 Gbits/sec. with provisions for 2.125 Gbits/sec. and 4 Gbits/sec. The server
3
is in turn connected to a hub or switch
5
by a giga-bit interface convertor module
9
. The giga-bit interface convertor module
9
plugs into a guide assembly or bracket (
FIG. 2
) provided on a motherboard
6
. In place of a motherboard, any printed card may be employed. A plurality of work stations
7
are provided to connect with the hub
5
for giga-bit data transfer.
FIG. 2
shows a giga-bit interface convertor module
11
, a bracket or guide assembly
15
and an interface expansion card
17
. The giga-bit interface convertor module
11
shown here is of a type which employs twenty-position straddle mount plug
19
on one end and a duplex copper interface
21
on the other. It is noted that the interface can be fiber optics rather than copper. The plug end
19
is inserted through an opening
23
in the front of the guide assembly
15
until the plug connects to a receptacle
29
. Simultaneously, detents on the giga-bit interface convertor module
11
snap into place on the guide assembly
15
. A pair of channels
25
are defined on longitudinally extended sides of the module
11
and a complementary pair of bars
27
are provided on the interior sides of the guide assembly
15
for mating with the channels
25
so that the module
11
may be suitably aligned and guided toward the rear of the guide assembly
15
. The plug end
19
of the module
11
is received by the receptacle
29
, which in this case is a twenty-position right-angle receptacle, provided on the interface expansion card
17
.
As shown in
FIGS. 3-5
, the guide assembly
15
has an integrally formed housing
16
, which is made of thermoplastic. When the guide assembly
15
has no module plugged into it, a self-closing metallic dust door
31
shields the interior of the interface expansion card
17
from the exterior environment. The dust door
31
is spring-biased with an expansion card spring
100
(
FIG. 5
) provided on one side of the guide assembly
15
. Upper and lower grounding clips
33
and
35
are provided at the opening
23
of the guide assembly
15
to make contact with both the module
11
and the interface expansion card
17
. The upper and lower grounding clips
33
and
35
are in turn provided with a plurality of tabs
32
,
34
(see
FIG. 3
) which are slightly raised from the rest of the grounding clips
33
,
35
. Although this is intended to provide a ground path as explained below, only a limited and partial ground path is established.
The guide assembly
15
employs integrally-formed hold-down latches
37
to fit in corresponding hold-down latch apertures
38
formed in the interface expansion card
17
. To provide alignment and stability, the guide assembly
15
also employs two pairs of alignment knobs
39
adjacent the hold-down latches, which fit in corresponding knob apertures
41
formed in the interface expansion card
17
. Further, two guide assemblies, each of which is identical to the guide assembly
15
, may be mounted side-by-side on interface expansion card
17
.
The above-described conventional guide assembly
15
, however, does not provide grounding to the interface expansion card
17
and only a very limited grounding to the giga-bit interface convertor module
11
and to the interface panel, and requires a significant amount of re-engineering before it can be used in a commercial environment. For instance, an extra gasket must be provided to aid the dust door
31
with its electromagnetic interference attenuation. The guide assembly
15
has problems with electromagnetic interference emanating from the plugged-in module
11
because the guide assembly
15
does not adequately contain electromagnetic interference. Specifically, the giga-bit interface convertor, module
11
needs a high frequency, low impedance path to ground, and the opening, through which the giga-bit interface convertor module
11
is accessible to the user, needs to be shielded when the giga-bit interface convertor module
11
is not installed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A guide assembly for a giga-bit interface convertor module is provided having a pair of ground springs: an upper ground spring and a lower ground spring. The upper ground spring is provided with an upper wing-shaped leaf spring portion at the front of the guide assembly, which makes contact with front panel of an electronic card enclosure or bracket which houses the giga-bit interface convertor. The upper ground spring is also provided with a pair of upper grounding tabs which are located on the upper interior wall adjacent the front opening of the guide assembly. In this way, a ground path for the top of the giga-bit interface convertor module is established. In addition, the top of the opening in the front panel of the enclosure is divided into smaller slots, thereby lowering high frequency emissions.
Similarly, the lower ground spring is provided with a lower wing-shaped spring portion at the front of the guide assembly to make contact with the front panel. The lower ground spring is also provided with a pair of lower grounding tabs located on the lower interior wall of the guide assembly adjacent the front opening thereof. In this way, a ground path for the bottom portion of the giga-bit interface convertor module is established, and the bottom of the opening in the front panel is divided into smaller slots, thereby further lowering high frequency emission. The lower ground spring is further provided with a bottom ground spring portion which protrudes from the bottom of the guide assembly. The bottom ground spring portion makes contact with the electronic card to which the bracket is mounted. Additional electromagnetic interference attenuation may be attained by this contact.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5083931 (1992-01-01), Davidge et al.
patent: 5225629 (1993-07-01), Garrett
patent: 5534662 (1996-07-01), Peacock et al.
patent: 5654873 (1997-08-01), Smithson et al.
patent: 5737193 (1998-04-01), LaRiviere et al.
patent: 5767999 (1998-06-01), Kayner
patent: 0 129 883 (1985-01-01), None
patent: 0 707 392 (1996-04-01), None
patent: 0 763 792 (1997-03-01), None
patent: 0 425 193 (1999-05-01), None
“Gigabit Interface Converter (GBIC)”, Revision 5.1, Sun Microsystems Computer Company et al., Ju. 6, 1998.

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