Abstract:
A modular jack ( 100 ) is adapted to be mounted onto a horizontal mother printed circuit board (PCB). The modular jack comprises a housing ( 200 ) defining an upper row of ports and a lower row of ports vertically stacked in columns, a number of vertical PCBs ( 46, 47 ) extending along a front-to-rear direction and being aligned laterally, a number of shield modules ( 500, 54 ) each having a vertical shield plate ( 50, 548 ) and an insulating portion ( 48  and  49, 55 ) at least partially encapsulating the vertical shield plate. Each of the vertical PCB electrically connecting with a set of mating contacts extending into one of the upper row of ports and the lower row of ports. The vertical PCBs and the shield modules are stacked side by side in an alternating manner.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This application is one of three patent applications having a same title of “HIGH SPEED MODULAR JACK” and being filed on a same date. 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to modular jack, and particularly, to a high speed modular jack having stacked mating ports. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     U.S. Pat. No. 6,655,988, issued to Simmons et al. on Dec. 2, 2003, discloses a stacked jack modular jack assembly having a multi-port housing. The assembly includes the housing, a plurality of jack modules, a plurality of LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes), and a plurality of LED modules. The jack module  10  includes an outer insulating housing holding a jack subassembly. The jack subassembly comprises an upper jack portion, an intermediate shield, and a lower jack portion, a lower housing portion, two vertical component boards, and a vertical shield member disposed between the two vertical component boards. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 6,659,807, issued to Zheng et al. on Dec. 9, 2003, discloses another multiport modular jack. The modular jack has an insulating housing and a plurality of jack subassemblies. Each jack subassembly has a base member, a first and second horizontal printed circuit boards (PCB), a pair of insert portions mounted on corresponding PCBs, and a plurality of terminals insert molded in the insert portions. One of the insert portions has a plurality of first positioning posts and first mounting holes, the other insert portion has a plurality of second positioning posts and mounting holes second stably engaging with the first mounting holes and the first positioning posts. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 6,511,348, issued to Wojtacki et al. on Jan. 28, 2003, discloses another multiport modular jack. The modular jack comprises an outer housing and a plurality of modular jack subassemblies. The modular jack subassemblies are comprised of an elongate beam support having a plurality of modular jack contacts on both sides thereof. The contacts extend into printed circuit board contacts and extend to and beyond the side edges of the elongate beam support, leaving the space above and below the printed circuit board contacts and the beam support free, to accommodate signal conditioning component. Two printed circuit board modules are mounted orthogonally to the side edges of the beam support and include signal conditioning components. A vertical shield plate is interposed between two adjacent subassemblies. 
     Such multi-port connectors are used for networks and operated at high rates of one gigabyte and higher so that excellent conditioning of the signals to be transferred is required. Shielding is therefore normally necessary in order for example to provide a so-called Common Mode Rejection (CMR) and to guarantee a specified electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and/or resistance to electromagnetic disturbance. For the purpose of conditioning the signals it is therefore further necessary to incorporate within the arrangement corresponding components such as particularly magnet coils but also capacitive components in order to correspondingly condition the signals. 
     An object of the invention consequently consists of providing a new and substantially improved modular jack connector structure with respect to the prior art and particularly for use in the case of Ethernet networks so as to provide a modular jack connector with complete shielding between any two adjacent ports and required signals conditioning. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In accordance with the invention, a modular jack connector is therefore provided adapted to be mounted onto a horizontal mother PCB. The modular jack comprises a housing defining an upper row of ports and a lower row of ports vertically stacked in columns, a plurality of vertical PCBs extending along a front-to-rear direction and being aligned laterally, each vertical PCB electrical connecting with a set of mating contacts extending into one of the upper row of ports and the lower row of ports, a plurality of shield modules each having a vertical shield plate and an insulating portion at least partially encapsulating the vertical shield plate. The vertical PCBs and the shield modules are stacked side by side in an alternating manner. 
     In accordance with the invention, another modular jack connector is therefore provided to be mounted onto a horizontal mother PCB. The modular jack comprises a unitarily formed housing, a plurality of contact modules, and a plurality of shield modules. The housing defines an upper row of ports, a lower row of ports vertically stacked in columns, and a plurality of rear receiving spaces aligned forwardly to the columns of ports. The plurality of contact modules are respectively received in the rear receiving spaces, each contact module having an upper set of contacts extending into the upper port and a lower set of contacts extending into the lower port. The plurality of shield modules are laterally stacked with the contact modules in an alternating manner, each shield module having a vertical shield plate, the vertical shield plate having a rear portion laterally aligned to the contact module and a front portion laterally aligned to the upper row of ports and the lower row of ports. 
     Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       For a more complete understanding of the present invention, and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a stacked modular jack according to the present invention, mounted on a horizontal mother PCB; 
         FIG. 2  is a partly exploded view of the modular jack shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is another partly exploded view of the modular jack shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a partly exploded view of the contact module shown in  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 5  is another partly exploded view of the contact module shown in  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 6  is a partly exploded view of the mating contact module shown in  FIG. 4 ; 
         FIG. 7  is a side view of the contact module shown in  FIG. 4 , with part of components removed therefrom; 
         FIG. 8  is still another partly exploded view of the contact module shown in  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 9  is a perspective view of the housing shown in  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 10  is a scaled view of a circled portion shown in  FIG. 9 ; 
         FIG. 11  is a scaled view of a circled portion shown in  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 12  is a back view of two contact modules and a shield module shown in  FIG. 2 , with each aligned separated position in a horizontal direction; 
         FIG. 13  is a perspective view of the shield module shown in  FIG. 12 ; and 
         FIG. 14  is a cross-section view of the modular jack shown in  FIG. 1 , with the outer shell and the gasket removed. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Reference will now be made to the drawing figures to describe the present invention in detail. 
     Referring to  FIG.1 , a perspective view of a 2×4-port modular jack  100  is shown. The modular jack  100  is used to be mounted on a horizontal printed circuit board  120  (horizontal mother PCB). The modular jack  100  has an upper row of ports  204  and a lower row of ports  205 , each of which is used to receive a modular plug (not shown) with a high speed of 10 Gigbit/second. The modular jack  100  is covered with an outer metal shell including a front outer shell  126  and a rear outer shell  128 . The front outer shell  126  is equipped with a bracket board  124  and a gasket  122  of a conductive rubber supported by the bracket board  124 . The gasket  122  surrounds the front end of modular jack  100 . When the modular jack  100  is mounted into a panel (not shown), the gasket  122  is pressed between the bracket board  124  and the panel. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2-4 , the modular jack  100  further comprises a insulating housing  200 , four contact modules  400 , and three shield modules  54 . It is preferred that two of the contact modules  400  are assembled into a contact subassembly with a bottom printed circuit board  401 . Each contact module  400  comprises a center bracket  500 , a transferring module  52 , a left printed circuit board  46 , a right printed circuit board  47 , and a mating module  41 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 4-6 , the mating module  41  comprises an upper set of mating contacts  42 , a lower set of mating contacts  44 , an upper PCB  43  bearing the upper set of mating contacts  42 , a lower PCB  45  bearing the lower set of mating contacts  44 , a front plastic body  415  bearing the upper PCB  43  and the lower PCB  45 , and a horizontal shield plate  418  forwardly inserted into a slot (not shown) defined in the front plastic body  415  between the upper PCB  43  and the lower PCB  45  and seperating the corresponding receiving spaces, wherein the upper PCB  43  and the upper set of mating contacts  42  form an upper sub-mating module (not labeled), and wherein the lower PCB  45  and the lower set of mating contacts  44  form a lower sub-mating module (not labeled). The upper PCB  43  and the lower PCB  45  are designed with circuits for balancing crosstalk between signal channels in the same port. 
     The front plastic body  415  is unitarily injection molded with a horizontal board  410 . The horizontal board  410  has opposite top face and bottom face. The front plastic body  415  forms two upper guide slots  413  laterally opening face to face and an upper post  412  on the top face, and two lower guide slots  414  laterally opening face to face and a lower post (not shown) on the bottom face. When the upper circuit board  43  is assembled to the front plastic body  415 , the upper circuit board  43  is obliquely sliding onto the top face under the guide of the guide slots  413  and then positioned by engagement of the upper post  412  into a positioning hole  432  defined in the upper circuit board  43 . When the lower circuit board  45  is assembled to the front plastic body  415 , the lower circuit board  45  is obliquely sliding onto the bottom face under the guide of the guide slots  414  and then positioned by engagement of the lower post into a positioning hole  452  defined in the lower circuit board  45 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 4-5  and  7 - 8 , the center bracket  500  includes a vertical shield plate  50 , a left plastic body  48  and a right plastic body  49  sandwich the vertical shield plate  50 ; the center bracket  500  substantially forms another shield module. The left plastic body  48  has three fastening posts  486  and the right plastic body  49  and the vertical shield plate  50  define three holes  503  for holding the fastening posts  486 . The vertical shield plate  50  forms a pair of spring arms  502  extending forwardly. The pair of spring arms  502  define a slot  505  (shown in  FIGS. 4 and 7 ) therebetween and engage the horizontal shield plate  418 . The vertical shield plate  50  further forms a plurality of grounding tails  504  for connecting the horizontal mother PCB  120 , a left arm  506  connecting the left PCB  46  and a right arm  508  connecting the right PCB  47 . The vertical shield plate  50  forms a pair of project tips  509  extending rearward through the rear outer shell  128  and then are riveted oppositely laterally for fixing the rear outer shell  128 . The center bracket  500  has a front slot  560  receiving the mating module  41  therein. The front slot  560  has a pair of side walls (not labeled). The side walls have protrusions  485 ,  495  in front of the left PCB  46  and the right PCB  47 . The protrusions  485 ,  495  mate with the mating module  41 . 
     The vertical shield plate  50  has a marginal edge being scaled as possible so that the crosstalk is better shielded between the upper ports  204  and the lower ports  205 . In the present embodiment, the marginal edge extends beyond the marginal edges of the left PCB  46  and the right PCB  47  in all directions. The vertical shield plate  50  has an upper edge  501  (shown in  FIG. 8 ) extending along upwardly beyond a top face of the contact module  400  and reaching the outer shell  126 ,  128 . The housing  200  defines four top slots  201  each to receive the upper edge  501  of the vertical shield plate  50  (shown in  FIGS. 3 and 8 ). 
     The left PCB  46  and the right PCB  47  sandwich opposite sides of the center bracket  500 . The left PCB  46  and the right PCB  47  have interior faces facing to each other and a plurality of electronic components  462  mounted thereon. The left plastic body  48  defines cavities receiving the electronic components  462  on the left PCB  46 . The left PCB  46  defines a lower slot  464  opening forwardly and receiving a left edge  451  of the lower PCB  45 . A plurality of conductive pads  453  are disposed on opposite surface of the lower PCB  45  and lined along the left edge  451 . A corresponding number of conductive pads (not shown) are disposed along opposite sides of the lower slot  464  on an exterior face of the left PCB  46 . A number of connecting conductors  468  electrically connect the conductive pads  453  of the lower PCB  45  to the conductive pads of the left PCB  46 . The right plastic body  49  defines cavities receiving the electronic components on the right PCB  47 . The right PCB  47  defines an upper slot  474  opening forwardly and receiving a right edge  431  of the upper PCB  43 . A plurality of conductive pads  433  are disposed on opposite surface of the lower PCB  43  and lined along the left edge  431 . A corresponding number of conductive pads  476  are disposed along opposite sides of the upper slot  474  on an exterior face of the right PCB  47 . A number of connecting conductors  478  electrically connect the conductive pads  433  of the upper PCB  43  to the conductive pads  476  of the right PCB  47 . 
     It is noted that as an alternative embodiment of the present invention, the upper PCB  45  and the left PCB  46  are redesigned to be electrically connected, and the lower PCB  43  and the right PCB  47  are redesigned to be electrically connected. 
     Referring to  FIG. 8 , the transferring module  52  comprises a plurality of left transferring contacts  522  electrically connecting the left PCB  46  to the horizontal mother PCB  120 , a plurality of right transferring contacts  524  electrically connecting the right PCB  47  to the horizontal mother PCB  120 , and a bottom plastic body  520  fixing the left transferring contacts  522  and the right transferring contacts  524 . The bottom plastic body  520  defines a slot  526  between the left transferring contacts  522  and the right transferring contacts  524 . The shield plate  50  extends downwardly through the slot  526  and the ground tails  504  continue extending there from. 
     Referring to FIGS.  6  and  9 - 11 , the insulating housing  200  defines 2×4 cavities  208 ,  209  to form the 2×4 ports  204 ,  205  of the modular jack  100  and four rear receiving spaces  230  (labeled in  FIG. 2 ). The upper row of cavities  208  and the lower row of cavities  209  are separated by a horizontal wall  202 . Any adjacent two columns of cavities  208 ,  209  are separated by a vertical wall  203 . The insulating housing  200  defines three slots  232  in the vertical walls  203  respectively to receive the shield modules  54 , specifically, a front portion of the shield modules  54  including a front portion of the shield plate  548 , wherein the three shield modules  54  separate the four rear receiving spaces  230  (shown in  FIGS. 2 ,  3 ,  9 , and  14 ). The insulating housing  200  forms eight slots  206  behind each of the cavities  208 ,  209 . The mating contacts  42 ,  44  are fixed to the horizontal wall  202 . Each of the mating contacts  42 ,  44  comprises a contacting arm  420  and a tapered free end  421  (shown in  FIGS. 6 and 11 ). The free ends  421  are received in respective slots  206 . The mating contacts  42 ,  44  are formed and punched from a sheet material. Each of the mating contacts  42 ,  44  has two smooth surfaces  423  and two punched surfaces  424 . Each of the mating contacts  42 ,  44  forms two round front corners  425  connecting a front smooth surface  423  and two punched surfaces  424 , so that when the contact module  400  are inserted into the insulating housing  200 , scratch to the housing  200  and the chance of damage to the mating contacts  42 ,  44  is greatly decreased. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 12-14 , each of the three shield modules  54  is disposed between two adjacent contact modules  400 . The shield module  54  comprises a vertical shield  548  and a plastic body  55  over molding the vertical shield  548 . The vertical shield  548  extends forwardly beyond the upper mating contacts  43  and the lower mating contacts  45 , so that a more complete electrical shielding is formed between adjacent contact modules  400 . The vertical shield  548  forms a plurality of ground tails  546  for electrically connecting the horizontal mother PCB  120  and a pair of project tips  549  extending rearward through the rear outer shell  128  and then riveted oppositely laterally to fix to the rear outer shell  128 . The plastic body  55  has a front portion  558  inserted into the slots  232  of the insulating housing  200  (shown in  FIG. 14 ). 
     The plastic body  55  defines a left slot  552  and a right slot  553  extending along a front-to-rear direction on opposite side. The left slot  552  mates a rib (not shown) of the housing  200  and receives the right edge  431  of the upper PCB  43  (shown in  FIG. 12 ). The right slot  553  mates a rib  207  of the housing  200  and receives the left edge  451  of the lower PCB  45  (shown in  FIGS. 12 and 14 ). The right edge  431  of the upper PCB  43  and the left edge  451  of the lower PCB  45  constitute protruding parts of the contact modules  400  accommodated in the slots  552 ,  553  of the plastic body  55 . It is noted that the rib  207  protrudes from an inner side face of the slot  232  that is defined in the vertical wall  203  (shown in  FIG. 14 ). The shield plate  548  is bent according to the shape of the left slot  552  and the right slot  553 , so that the plastic body  55  could be easier for injection molding. The plastic body  55  further forms two ribs  556  extending along the front-to-rear direction and oppositely protruding below the contact modules  400 , which helps to fix the contact modules  400  and provide a press force when the modular jack  100  is mounted onto the PCB  120 . 
     It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.