Portable hard disk drive cartridge having adaptable interface

Details Portable hard disk drive cartridge having adaptable interface Portable hard disk drive cartridge having adaptable interface

2002-12-09

2004-04-20

Reichard, Dean A. (Department: 2831)

Electricity: electrical systems and devices

Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical...

For electronic systems and devices

C369S076000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06724621

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a portable hard disk drive cartridge, and more particularly to a hard disk cartridge having adaptable interface so as to mate with different hard disk from different brand name.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
The hard disk drive (HDD) is standard equipment for personal computer, server or industrial computer. In order to easily make copy for security reason, portable along with information manager, or replace a new one when the old one is malfunctioned, a HDD mobile rack is provided to meet such a requirement.
In a typical HDD, it is provided with connectors for signal transmission as well as power transmission. In general, the HDD is provided with headers for signal transmission as well as power connector for receiving power from a switching power supply mounted within a computer. Generally, the HDD is electrically connected with a motherboard of the computer by means of a signal cable assembly and a power cable assembly interconnected between the motherboard and the switching power supply.
The conventional HDD mobile rack generally includes a cartridge in which the HDD can be fixedly supported therein, and a rack mounted within a HDD mounting bracket of an enclosure of the computer. The cartridge is provided with an interface on a rear bracket thereof and which includes first female connectors for interconnecting signal and power connectors of mounted HDD, and second male connectors for electrical connecting with the cable assembly mounted on the bracket. Accordingly, when the cartridge is inserted along the rack and finally reaches to its final position, an electrical connection between the HDD and the motherboard is established.
However, the HDD is not a standardized product, the signal and power connectors on the rear portion thereof from one company are slightly different from a second company. Even the positions of the connectors are same, there is a difference around five (5) mm. along a horizontal direction. In order overcome this inconvenience, the first connectors are mounted to the cartridge by means of a cable so as to compensate the five mm variation.
It can be easily understood that when a cable assembly is involved during the manufacturing of the cartridge, the cost is increased inevitably. In addition, malfunction will be experienced resulted from poor electrical connection. One of the solution is to attach the first female connectors directly on a printed circuit board so as to overcome the inconvenience resulted from using cable assembly. However, as the position of the connectors in the printed circuit board is fixed with respect to a certain HDD from a certain manufacturer, a HDD from a second manufacturer will certainly not mate to the connectors on the printed circuit board because of the horizontal variation of the connectors on the HDD. In order to overcome this inconvenience, there has to be many different printed circuit board for different HDD from different manufacturer. This is really not an appropriate solution. Accordingly, there is still a room for providing a better solution for the a HDD mobile cartridge so as to receive HDD from different manufacturers without making different printed circuit board. According to my observation, there are three typical dimension in arranging the signal and power connectors on the rear end of the HDD among the manufacturers. As such, an improvement is provided.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of this invention to provide a portable hard disk drive cartridge adapted to receive different HDD from different manufacturers.
In order to achieve the object set forth, a portable hard disk drive cartridge in which an adapting device is provided on a rear bracket thereof such that printed circuit boards having connectors mate able with HDD connectors can be readily adjusted along a horizontal direction so as to electrically receive different HDD therein.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a printed circuit board is adjustably mounted on a rear bracket of the cartridge.


REFERENCES:
patent: RE34369 (1993-09-01), Darden et al.
patent: 5579204 (1996-11-01), Nelson et al.
patent: 6634909 (2003-10-01), Lin
patent: 2003/0151891 (2003-08-01), Paul

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