Electrical connectors – With circuit component or comprising connector which fully... – Termination circuit
Reexamination Certificate
1998-04-01
2001-01-09
Bradley, Paula (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With circuit component or comprising connector which fully...
Termination circuit
C439S676000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06171152
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to electronic jacks and connectors, and more particularly to modular phone-style RJ-45 Category-3 and Category-5 network physical interface connectors.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
Network interface connections have conventionally included some form of signal conditioning near the RJ-45 Category-3 or Category-5 modular connector. The usual purpose is to block spurious signals, e.g., high frequency noise, differential-mode direct current (DC), and common mode voltages. Various magnetics assemblies from HALO Electronics (Redwood City, Calif.) like the ULTRA™ series of sixteen-pin SOIC isolation modules are used to meet the requirements of IEEE Standard 802.3 for 10/100BASE-TX and ATM155 applications. A very informative background on connectors and their network applications, and a long citation of prior art, is provided by John Siemon, et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,474,474, issued Dec. 12, 1995. Such patent is incorporated herein by reference.
A few connector manufacturers have started to put some signal conditioning components inside the bodies of their connectors. For example, Peter Scheer, et al., describe a connector jack assembly with a rear insert that includes signal conditioning components, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,647,767, issued Jul. 15, 1997. However, the descriptions show there is a rather large housing extension necessary in the back of the connectors to accommodate a horizontally oriented printed circuit board. The footprint that results would prohibit the embodiments of Peter Scheer, et al., from being able to make a form, fit, and function substitution of ordinary connectors already designed into various network products. Venkat A. Raman also describes another connector jack with an insert body having encapsulated signal conditioning components, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,587,884, issued Dec. 24, 1996. A common mode choke and other magnetics are described as being encapsulated in the insert molding. The Raman disclosure also describes a rather large connector housing to accommodate a small horizontally oriented printed circuit board for the magnetics in the rear. So it too would not be able to directly substitute for many of the standard connections being marketed.
Gregory Loudermilk, et al., recognized the need for a filtered modular jack that provides the signal conditioning needed by high speed communications systems, and that “occupies approximately the same amount of board space on a printed circuit motherboard as do current modular jacks”. But then their U.S. Pat. No. 5,687,233, issued Nov. 11, 1997, diagrams and describes a mounting pin array with a large extension to the rear to accommodate a transmit and receiver printed circuit board in a rear housing.
A very modest rearward extension to a RJ-11 modular jack is described by Yukio Sakamoto, et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,069,641, issued Dec. 3, 1991. A small printed circuit board is shown vertically oriented directly above the line of mounting pins and has a common mode choke coil mounted to it. Gregory Loudermilk, et al., commented that Yukio Sakamoto, et al., did not teach signal conditioning in their RJ-11 connector that was sophisticated enough for high speed applications like LAN and ATM switches.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a modular connector with integrated signal conditioning in a component package that has a compatible footprint with prior art modular connectors that lack such signal conditioning.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a modular connector system in which a single-row multi-port modular connector for printed circuit board mounting may accept a second single-row multi-port modular connector.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a modular connector system that will reliably survive motherboard solder operations during the assembly of other components.
Briefly, a two-row, eight-port modular connector embodiment of the present invention comprises a lower row with a four-bay insulative housing that accepts four RJ-45 style jacks from its front, and a short-height gang of four separate molded inserts from the opposite side. The four-bay insulative housing and each molded insert are essentially the same as a standalone four-port, single-row modular connector so that the single-row modular connector can be quickly and easily converted to the eight-port, two-row modular connector. Such a conversion would include an upper row four-bay insulative housing that also accepts four RJ-45 style jacks from its front and a tall gang of four molded inserts that have forward extensions of their spring contacts so they can reach from behind far enough forward over the lower first row. A three-piece Faraday shield comprises a lower middle part that covers the rear of each of the four first-row lower-row molded inserts, an aft part that covers the rear of each of the four upper-row molded inserts, and a forward part that covers the front and sides of both the four-bay insulative housings and part of the top of the housing. After assembly, the three Faraday shield pieces are electrically connected so that they constitute a continuous shield around the whole of the eight-port, two-row modular connector. Each molded insert includes a signal conditioning circuit that provides a proper electrical coupling between a physical interface device (PHY) or encoder/decoder and an unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cable to a high speed computer network. The circuit connections for the integrated signal conditioning in each insert may be welded, rather than soldered.
An advantage of the present invention is that a multi-port modular connector is provided that can be used to retrofit ordinary modular connectors because the integrated signal conditioning does not require a back extension to the main housing.
Another advantage of the present invention is that a multi-port modular connector is provided with integrated signal conditioning that will not disconnect during soldering operations of the motherboard.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after having read the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments which are illustrated in the various drawing figures.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4726638 (1988-02-01), Schroeder, III
patent: 5037330 (1991-08-01), Fulponi et al.
patent: 5069641 (1991-12-01), Sakamoto et al.
patent: 5295869 (1994-03-01), Siemon et al.
patent: 5362257 (1994-11-01), Neal et al.
patent: 5474474 (1995-12-01), Siemon et al.
patent: 5531612 (1996-07-01), Goodall et al.
patent: 5587884 (1996-12-01), Raman
patent: 5628653 (1997-05-01), Haas et al.
patent: 5639267 (1997-06-01), Loudermilk
patent: 5647765 (1997-07-01), Haas et al.
patent: 5647767 (1997-07-01), Scheer et al.
patent: 5656985 (1997-08-01), Lu et al.
patent: 5687233 (1997-11-01), Loudermilk et al.
patent: 5735712 (1998-04-01), Haas et al.
patent: 5759067 (1998-06-01), Scheer
patent: 5971813 (1999-10-01), Kunz et al.
patent: WO 97 10625 (1997-03-01), None
patent: WO 97/10625 (1997-03-01), None
Stewart Connector, MagJack Modular Jacks with Integrated Magnetics, 72 Series, SCS-MJ-Nov. 1997.
Blakely , Sokoloff, Taylor & Zafman LLP
Bradley Paula
Davis Katrina
Regal Electronics, Inc.
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