Optical waveguides – With disengagable mechanical connector – Optical fiber to a nonfiber optical device connector
Reexamination Certificate
2002-06-20
2003-07-08
Bruce, David V. (Department: 2882)
Optical waveguides
With disengagable mechanical connector
Optical fiber to a nonfiber optical device connector
C385S088000, C439S577000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06588947
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical connector adapted to be used as an optical signal input terminal for receiving an optical signal or an optical signal output terminal for outputting an optical signal, and more particularly, to a miniaturized optical connector adapted to be suitably used in any one of many kinds of audio visual apparatuses, personal computers, mobile communication apparatuses, etc., by mounting the optical connector thereto as an optical signal input terminal or an optical signal output terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Miniaturized audio visual apparatuses such as a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk) player/recorder, MD (Mini-Disk) player/recorder, CD (Compact Disk) player/recorder, etc., portable audio apparatuses such as an MD portable player/recorder, CD portable player/recorder, memory type audio apparatus (audio apparatus using a memory card), etc., personal computers, mobile communication apparatuses such as a mobile phone, pocket or portable telephone, etc., or the like have been miniaturized more and more in their external configurations or shapes and dimensions or sizes, and accordingly, an input terminal and/or output terminal built in or mounted to these electronic apparatuses have been also miniaturized. Particularly, in recent years, with the advance of optical technology, there have been appeared many kinds of electronic apparatuses and appliances, each having an optical connector mounted thereto as an optical signal input terminal for receiving an optical or light digital signal or an optical signal output terminal for outputting an optical or light digital signal.
An optical connector mounted to any one of various electronic apparatuses and appliances has a light receiving element or light emitting element housed in the connector body thereof, and for instance, one of two optical plugs mounted to an optical cable (for example, optical fiber) at opposed ends thereof respectively, that transmits an optical or light digital signal is directly plugged in the optical connector, so that an optical digital signal is transmitted from the optical cable to the optical connector or from the optical connector to the optical cable.
In Japan, there have been generally used as optical connectors for many kinds of audio visual apparatuses an optical plug having its plug portion of 3.5 mm in outside diameter and an optical receptacle or jack configured such that an optical plug of this size can be plugged therein, and an optical plug having its plug portion of 2.5 mm in outside diameter and an optical receptacle or jack configured such that an optical plug of this size can be plugged therein. However, as stated above, with the miniaturization of various kinds of electronic apparatuses and appliances, there have been proposed optical plugs each having its plug portion of 2 mm or smaller than 2 mm in outside diameter, and the necessity of providing optical receptacles or jacks each being configured such that corresponding one of such optical plugs can be plugged therein is increased.
The assignee of the present application has been proposed an ultra-miniaturized optical receptacle or jack (hereinafter, referred to as optical connector) configured such that an optical plug having its plug portion of 2.5 mm in outside diameter can be plugged therein. At first, such ultra-miniaturized optical connector proposed by the assignee of the present application will be described in detail with reference to
FIGS. 6
to
9
.
The optical connector comprises a connector body
11
of generally rectangular shape in section and made of an insulation material, and a sleeve
12
formed integrally with the connector body
11
at the front end thereof and projecting forward from the connector body
11
. An optical element accommodation section
15
is formed in the connector body
11
at the rear end portion thereof. As is clear from
FIG. 7
, a plug-in hole
13
configured such that an optical plug having its plug portion of 2.5 mm in outside diameter can be plugged therein is formed through the sleeve
12
and is in communication with a plug guide hole
11
A in substantially coaxial relation therebetween, the plug guide hole
11
A being formed through the connector body
11
in the longitudinal direction thereof and extending from the front end surface of the body
11
to the optical element accommodation section
15
.
The optical element
14
is housed in the optical element accommodation section
15
. The optical element
14
is arranged such that in case the optical connector is an optical signal input terminal, the light receiving surface of the optical element
14
is faced to the opening at the rear end of the plug guide hole
11
A and in case the optical connector is an optical signal output terminal, the light emitting surface of the optical element
14
is faced to the opening at the rear end of the plug guide hole
11
A. In such cases, as shown in
FIG. 8
, the optical element
14
is arranged such that the optical axis P thereof and the axis of the plug guide hole
11
A align or accord with each other. As a result, an optical plug plugged in the plug-in hole
13
and the optical plane of the optical element
14
are optically coupled with each other with a low optical loss, and hence it is possible to transmit an optical digital signal with high efficiency from an optical cable that has been connected to the optical plug to the optical element
14
or from the optical element
14
to the optical cable.
Further, in the illustrated example, the optical element
14
is an element of the type that four terminals
16
thereof are led out backward in parallel with one another from the bottom of the package of the optical element
14
. Accordingly, the optical element accommodation section
15
has its bottom opened as shown in
FIG. 9
, and in the top wall of the optical element accommodation section
15
is formed a slit-like opening that is elongate in its width direction as shown in
FIG. 6
, the slit-like opening serving to position the top of the package of the optical element
14
. As a result, the optical element
14
is inserted into the optical element accommodation section
15
from the bottom side of the connector body
11
, and is mounted in place therein by fitting the top of the package in the slit-like opening and positioning the package in place.
Meanwhile, a pair of ground terminals
17
are mounted to the connector body
11
in such manner that they project outwardly respectively from the opposed side surfaces of the connector body
11
at the forward locations thereof to the optical element accommodation section
15
. In addition, as shown in
FIGS. 7 and 9
, the pair of ground terminals
17
have resilient plug holding pieces
19
integrally formed therewith, respectively, and these plug holding pieces
19
are inserted into recesses
18
respectively that are formed at opposite sides of the plug guide hole
11
A of the connector body
11
in such manner that they are opposed to each other. These recesses
18
are in communication with the plug guide hole
11
A, and when the pair of plug holding pieces
19
are inserted into the corresponding recesses
18
respectively, as shown in
FIG. 7
, bent portions of the pair of plug holding pieces
19
formed in the vicinity of the forward ends thereof protrude in the plug guide hole
11
A in such manner that the bent portions are diametrically opposed to each other, and therefore, the plug guide hole
11
A becomes narrower at that portion. Accordingly, when an optical plug having its plug portion of 2.5 mm in outside diameter is inserted into the plug-in hole
13
, the tip portion of the optical plug advances between the bent portions of the pair of plug holding pieces
19
so that the bent portions are broadened outwardly. The instance that the maximum diameter portion of the tip portion pass beyond the bent portions, the end surface of the larger diameter portion of the optical plug abuts against the front end surface of the sleeve
12
, and h
Mine Keiji
Nakagawa Hiroshi
Ohbayashi Yoshiaki
Bruce David V.
Caley Michael H
Gallagher & Lathrop
Hosiden Corporation
Lathrop, Esq. David N.
LandOfFree
Optical connector does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Optical connector, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Optical connector will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3013636