Electrical connectors – With insulation other than conductor sheath – Plural-contact coupling part
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-20
2001-12-25
Patel, Tulsidas (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
With insulation other than conductor sheath
Plural-contact coupling part
C439S941000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06332810
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a modular telecommunication jack-type connector, hereafter merely called jack, generally used in telecommunication systems in association with a mating plug-type connector. The modular plug and jack combination is one of the principal components in a cabling system. A 8-pin modular combination comprising a well known RJ-45 male connector or plug as well as a RJ-45 female connector or jack is for instance standardized (I.E.C. 60603) or drafted for both the “Category 5” and “Category 6” connections, i.e. for transmission frequencies of up to 100 MHz and 200 MHz respectively. In these cases, incidence of electrical characteristics, particularly crosstalk effects such as the Near End CrossTalk or NEXT—, is relatively higher at the connections than in other parts of the cabling. The contact wires in the jack and in the plug are the major performance culprits, and the jack is usually designed to compensate these shortcomings. In other words, the jack has to compensate for imbalance created by the electrical contacts both in the plug and in this jack. To this end, the jack includes a crosstalk compensation arrangement as will be described in more detail below.
The present invention more particularly relates to a modular telecommunication jack-type connector comprising a dielectric housing means including a plug-receiving area, a plurality of terminals mounted on the housing means and a crosstalk compensation arrangement, the terminals of said plurality being mounted in parallel into said housing means and each terminal including a spring beam contact portion extending in cantilever fashion within the plug-receiving area, said contact portion having a first end extending to a curved base portion located in the housing means and being coupled to external connections of the modular connector, said crosstalk compensation arrangement comprising metallic plates connected to said terminals, wherein at least one other pair of terminals is associated to plates overlapping each other in parallel planes in order to define a physical capacitor between the associated other pair of terminals.
A classical method to compensating for the electrical anomalies caused by the split pair is the use of a printed board circuit. One or preferably more fixed capacitances are created, e.g. on a printed board circuit, to emulate a crossover effect. Such a jack is already known in the art, e.g. from the European Patent Application EP-A1-0 692 884 filed on Jul. 14, 1994 by MOLEX INCORPORATED (USA) and entitled “Modular connector with reduced crosstalk”. Therein, the terminals have, between the first end of the contact portion and the external connection, an intermediate portion with enlarged sections forming metallic surfaces or plates. These surfaces are mounted on opposite sides of an insulating strip or plate creating so the physical capacitor(s) of the crosstalk compensation arrangement.
It is to be noted that other techniques like pair crossover or longitudinal capacitance are also classically used. These are for instance known from the UK Patent Application GB-A-2 298 974 filed on Mar. 14, 1996 by HUBBELL INCORPORATED (USA) and entitled “Crosstalk noise reduction connector for telecommunication system”, or from the United States Patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,556,307 filed on Nov. 29, 1994 by THE WIREMOLD COMPANY (USA) and entitled “Modular telecommunication jack assembly”. However, the crosstalk compensation obtained by the assemblies disclosed in these latter documents is relatively lower than that obtained by the assembly disclosed in the first mentioned document.
Category 5 specification for crosstalk performance is 40 dB at a frequency of 100 MHz, whilst for Category 6 this performance raises up to 54 dB. The main problem with the known assemblies or connectors is that, due to the higher performances asked for Category 6 with respect to Category 5, it is necessary to specify the plug performance additionally to the specification of the jack performance. It is thus necessary to specify very exact values also for the characteristics of the plug. Moreover, due to the close relationship between the plug and jack specification, the interoperability may not be guaranteed for Category 6 connectors of different productions. If low crosstalk plugs and jacks are designed as Category 6 products, then mating a Category 6 low crosstalk plug with a Category 5 jack can produce a connection that does not even meet Category 5 requirement, and vice versa.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a modular telecommunication jack-type connector of the above known type but wherein the crosstalk compensation arrangement is adapted to easily reach the Category 6 or higher specification for any type or combination of modular connectors, e.g. of the RJ-45 type or any other connector with at least one pair of contact terminals.
According to the invention, this object is achieved due to the fact that the metallic plates of said crosstalk compensation arrangement are connected to a second end, opposite to said first end, of the spring beam contact portion of said terminals, and that the curved base portion of said terminals is directly connected to said external connections of said modular connector.
In this way, the crosstalk compensation arrangement is located very close to the contact point between the terminals of the plug and of the jack. This location is optimal for reaching the Category 6 specification with a broad range of plugs. Indeed, the known plug-jack combination can be seen as the series connection of the external terminals of the plug, the crosstalk compensation arrangement, the contact terminals of the plug, the contact terminals of the jack and external terminals thereof. On the other hand, in the present invention the plug-jack combination consists in the series connection of the external terminals of the plug, the contact terminals of this plug, the contact terminals of the jack and external terminals thereof, with the crosstalk compensation arrangement located over the contact terminals of both the plug and the jack. The present assembly, and more particularly the modular plug connector thereof is thus better adapted to give good results at relatively high frequencies.
Another characteristic feature of the present invention is that the parallel planes of said metallic plates are orthogonal to the plane formed by said plurality of terminals.
The metallic plates fixed to the spring beam contact portions of the terminals are then allowed to be displaced with respect to each other while avoiding to touch. Such displacements occur when the contact portions are bend in different ways by the contact terminals of the jack engaged in the present plug.
Also another characteristic feature of the present invention is that said metallic plates have different sizes.
In this way, some plates may be larger than necessary in order to obtain a same compensation, i.e. a same capacitive value, whatever the displacement of a contact portion with respect to another.
Still another characteristic feature of the present invention is that second ends of spring beam contact portions are crossed over each other prior to their connection to the associated metallic plates.
Physical capacitors can so be defined between different terminals, even if the latter are not adjacent neighbors.
Yet another characteristic feature of the present invention is that said metallic plates have different shapes.
Physical capacitors can so be defined between two non-adjacent metallic plates, i.e. when a third plate is located between them. The shape of the plates should then be so chosen that portions of the two plates can face each other without facing the third plate.
The present invention is further characterized in that said dielectric housing means comprises parallel grooves adapted to receive at least portions of said metallic plates, and in that said metallic plates are adapted to freely slide inside said grooves.
The dielectric characteristic of the housing means
Nexans
Patel Tulsidas
Sughrue & Mion, PLLC
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