Electrical connectors – With insulation other than conductor sheath – Plural-contact coupling part
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-24
2002-08-06
Nguyen, Khiem (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
With insulation other than conductor sheath
Plural-contact coupling part
C439S620040, C439S490000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06428361
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to surface-mountable modular electrical connector assemblies including a printed circuit board. Electrical signal processing components, such as magnetic components for filtering common mode and differential mode interference and for eliminating high frequency noise, and/or light emitting means for indicating, e.g., electrical coupling with the connector assembly, may be mounted on the printed circuit board.
As used herein, “surface-mountable” means that the connector assemblies are mountable onto a surface of a substrate, such as a printed circuit board, and include terminal pins adapted to engage solder portions on the planar surface of the substrate.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Modular jack connectors or connector assemblies are well known in the telecommunications industry and have been adapted for mounting to printed circuit boards. These connector assemblies are typically used for electrical connection between two electrical communication devices. There are basically two ways to mount a connector assembly to a printed circuit board, namely surface mounting in which the terminal pins (or terminal portions of the contacts) engage soldering portions on a planar surface of the substrate and through-hole mounting in which the terminal pins pass through apertures in the printed circuit board.
One recurring problem with surface-mountable connector assemblies has been to achieve co-planarity between the terminal portions of all of the contacts in the connector assembly or all of the terminal pins. The terminal portions or pins are designed to engage solder regions of a planar substrate onto which the connector assembly is mounted. It is important that each of the terminal portions or pads engage the respective solder region in order to ensure proper electrical connection between the contacts and the substrate and because if the terminal portions or pads are situated in different planes, problems may arise during the soldering of the terminal portions or pads to the printed circuit board.
Another general problem with connector assemblies is that they are frequently subject to adverse operation in the presence of radio frequency interference in the electrical lines connecting the devices including such connector assemblies to, e.g., data communication lines. The electrical devices are not only susceptible to such interference, they also function as a source of such interference. Filters must therefore be interposed between connected electrical devices to screen out the interference and minimize its effect on the operation of the electrical devices. This interference may cause two types of distortion of the power circuit wave form, viz., common mode interference where identical wave forms are impressed on the electrical lines connecting the electrical devices, and differential mode interference which appears as a voltage difference between the connecting electrical lines. Circuitry exists to filter radio frequency interference, but for optimum effectiveness and cost, it has been found to be more efficient to treat the two types of interference independently, i.e., to provide one group of electrical components to serve as a common mode filter and another group of electrical components to serve as a differential mode filter.
Since electrical devices are often coupled by modular jack connector assemblies, it is desirable to construct modular jack connector assemblies with integral magnetic filter components to avoid the need for additional, external filter components. One such connector assembly is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,736,910 (Townsend et al.). Townsend et al. describes a modular jack connector assembly mounted on a main printed circuit board and having a receptacle into which a modular plug of an electronic component is inserted. The connector assembly includes a housing, a first set of contacts arranged in the housing each adapted to engage one of the contacts of the plug, a second set of contacts at least partially arranged in the housing and adapted to engaging the main printed circuit board, contact coupling circuit means for electrically coupling the first and second sets of contacts, a capacitor for providing impedance to high frequency noise and interference and a metallic shield at least partially surrounding the housing and connected to a grounding region on the main printed circuit board. The contact coupling circuit means include the filtering components which is one embodiment are toroidal coil pairs which function separately as either a differential mode filter or a common mode filter. The entire disclosure of Townsend et al. is incorporated by reference herein.
Furthermore, once the connector assemblies are mounted to the substrate, in order to ensure that a proper connection has been made and therefore a link is created between a mating plug and the connector assemblies, indicators are often incorporated into circuits on the substrate, i.e., printed circuit board. These indicators are typically light emitting diodes (LEDs) which are turned on when a circuit is completed between the mating connector assemblies and the communication devices. Additionally, LEDs can be mounted on the printed circuit board to indicate a number of other conditions including the passage of communications signals between the two communication devices, indication of power, or indication that an error in transmitting the signals has occurred. Thus, LEDs provide an easy visual reference for enabling the tester of a circuit card to test the operation of circuits on the card as well as providing a status indicator during normal operation of the card.
In an effort to miniaturize printed circuit boards and increase the available space on the printed circuit board, visual indicators have been integrated into these connector assemblies. An example of such a connector assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,978,317 to Pocrass which describes a connector assembly for receiving a plug having a visual indicator positioned within the front wall of the electrical connector housing. Incorporation of the indicator into the electrical connector eliminates the need for a separate location on the printed circuit board for mounting of such an indicator. The LED indicator is inserted into a recess of the housing of the electrical connector such that its electrical leads pass through a wall of the housing and connect to the printed circuit board. The indicator is then cemented into the recess or attached to the housing using an appropriate adhesive. The LEDs may also be molded into the electrical connector during the molding process of the housing.
A problem arises with these connector assemblies in that because the anode and cathode leads of the LED are side by side confusion and misconnection can result prior to board mounting. It is desirable to eliminate the need for securing the LEDs in the housing by cementing or attaching with an adhesive.
Another problem arises in that in the LEDs are situated at the front of the connector assembly, in the narrow space between the mating connector opening and the top or bottom and sides of the connector assembly. Since the connector assemblies, typically telephone jack or “RJ”-type connector assemblies, are generally limited to predetermined dimensions, and because these connector assemblies were not initially designed to accommodate lights or other components at the front of the connector assembly, the available space is very small, and thus the LEDs are also limited in size and power. In addition, the placement of the LEDs at the front of the connector assembly presents the problem that the lead wires for the LEDs must be run through the connector assembly and bent at a ninety degree angle in order to reach the circuit board to which they are to be connected, making installation of the lights in the connector assembly difficult.
Another example of a connector assembly including an indicator light is U.S. Pat. No. 5,601,451 to Driones et al. Driones et al. shows a connector assembly having LEDs situat
Hess John
Imschweiler Derek
Locati Ronald
Nguyen Khiem
Steinberg & Raskin, P.C.
Stewart Connector Systems, Inc.
Zarroli Michael C.
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