Modular communication cabling arrangement

Details Modular communication cabling arrangement Modular communication cabling arrangement

1999-10-12

2001-07-31

Paumen, Gary F. (Department: 2833)

Electrical connectors

Comprising coupling part of indeterminate length laterally...

Included in prefabricated building panel

C439S225000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06267611

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a communication cabling system for use within a building and, more specifically, to an improved modular communication cabling system which is desirable for use with office furniture particularly interior space-dividing wall panels to permit a plurality of communication links to be readily supplied to a plurality of workstations to permit selection of links to take place at the workstation, which modular system also significantly simplifies both initial installation and reconfiguration.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Commercial buildings typically provide large open floor areas intended for use as offices and the like, and the end user typically determines the most efficient use of the floor space for his own needs, and selects how the floor space is to be divided into smaller working spaces through the use of portable wall panels or the like. To optimize the usage of the space while retaining significant flexibility with respect to such usage and reconfiguration, most modern offices utilize what is conventionally referred to as “systems” furniture for dividing large floor space areas into smaller workstations. This “systems” furniture typically utilizes interior upright space-dividing panels which serially connect together through two-panel straight or angled connections, or through suitable three- or four-panel connections, to define a large plurality of individual workstations. Such panels are typically less than floor-to-ceiling height, and cooperate with other furniture components to define an equipped workstation. These components may involve worksurfaces, file cabinets and the like which mount directly on and are supported by the wall panels, or freestanding furniture components such as tables and file cabinets, and commonly a combination of both wall-mounted and free-standing components are utilized. These workstations must provide access to both electrical power and communication cabling. The problems associated with the supplying of electrical power to the workstations has been greatly simplified by the development of modular electrical systems which cooperate with and readily mount on the panels, and which can be readily reconfigured, so as to provide significant flexibility and simplicity with respect to the supplying of electrical power to the individual workstations. Such modular electrical systems for use with office furniture, particularly interior space-dividing wall panels, are now conventional and have been extensively utilized for over 15 years. The supplying of communication cables to workstations defined by such panel systems, however, continues to be a formidable problem in the office furniture environment.
More specifically, the conventional and widely utilized practice at the present time is to provide office systems with conventional communication cables which are all connected back to a main wiring closet. That is, a large number of conventional communication cables are connected to control equipment in the wiring closet, and the cables are then fed through floor conduits or ceiling clearance spaces to various work areas, at which point the cables are then fed into interior channels or raceways which extend along the panels, typically along the tops or bottoms of the panels. The cables typically terminate in a standard connector, such as a multi-pair amphenol connector which then has a mating part connected thereto for permitting selection of a desired communication link, and this mating part in turn has a standard four-pair communication cable joined thereto and terminating in a conventional communication jack which mounts in the side of the panel, typically either at the base or at worksurface height. With such arrangement, however, and particularly in view of the extensive use of communication equipment within the work space, which equipment will typically include a telephone, a computer and possibly other equipment such as a facsimile machine, and the additional requirement that computers be interlinked with one another or with a common mainframe, the supplying of communication cables (i.e., communication links) from the wiring closet to the individual workstations creates significant labor and installation difficulties since the large number of cables must typically be installed after the furniture system has been fully assembled at the job site, and the number of such cables and the length thereof as they extend from the wiring closet to the individual workstations create a significant jungle of cables so that initial layout and installation is both time consuming and costly. Further, such systems greatly impede the overall flexibility of the system with respect to hook-up to the various communication links, particularly for computers, and also greatly restricts or at least greatly increases the difficulty of modifying or reconfiguring either the communication system or the furniture system. Any significant modification of either the communication or furniture system requires significant removal of the communication cables and, after the furniture system has been reconfigured, substantially a wholly new installation of the communication cables from the wiring closet to the individual workstations is required. The current communication cabling systems, even though they have been widely utilized for many years and continue to be utilized, nevertheless greatly minimize the advantages associated with furniture systems of this type, particularly with respect to the ability to easily install, modify or reconfigure such furniture systems when provided with a communication system thereon.
To improve on the conventional communication systems currently in use, various attempts have been made to provide at least limited modularity so as to provide some simplification with respect to the installation of communication connections to a plurality of workstations. The current suggestions, however, provide only minor advancements with respect to the problems associated with the current systems and do not provide the degree of selection and flexibility desired or required so as to greatly simplify the installation and the reconfiguration of such systems on furniture, particularly wall panels. The known attempts, to the best of the inventors' knowledge, have not achieved significant commercial acceptance or utilization. Examples of these prior attempts are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,272,277, 5,160,276 and 4,928,303.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved modular communication system particularly for use on office furniture including wall panels, which improved system overcomes many of the significant problems and disadvantages which are associated with conventional communication cabling systems and which have been tolerated for a long period of time in view of the lack of a desirable solution thereto.
More specifically, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved modular communication cabling system which is particularly desirable for mounting on or within furniture wall panels which define a plurality of workstations, with the modular system incorporating a plurality of communication links which can be selectively tapped off at various workstations to facilitate connection to communication equipment such as telephones, computers and the like.
A further object of the invention is to provide a modular communication system, as aforesaid, which permits prefabrication of a minimal number of modules which make up the system, which modules can be easily and efficiently mounted on the panels and interconnected at the job site so as to greatly simplify the initial installation of the communication system, and at the same time greatly simplify subsequent modification or reconfiguration of either the communication system or of the paneling system. If desired, some of the modules can be mounted on the panels at the factory and shipped to the job site, so that remaining modules are then easily and efficiently installed at the job site so as to interconnect the system.
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