Input/output connector for portable communication device and process for mounting the said connector

An input/output connector for a portable communication device, wherein the input/output connector is to be surface mounted on a printed circuit board. The input/output connector comprises an insulating housing, contacts and means for shaping the contacts. The insulating housing has two positioning dogs fixed to lateral parts of the insulating housing. The two positioning dogs are to be soldered to the printed circuit board when the input/output connector is mounted thereto. The contacts are also to be soldered to the printed circuit board when the input/output connector is surfaced mounted to the printed circuit board. The means for shaping the contacts are received and mounted rigidly on a specified reference surface of the insulating housing. The means for shaping the contacts constrain and wedge the contacts relative to the reference surface of the insulating housing so that each of the contacts is contained in a common plane of reference for the coflatness of the contacts.

The present invention relates to an input/output connector intended to be 
surface-mounted on a printed circuit board PCB comprising, among other 
things, an insulating housing on whose lateral parts are fixed, two 
positioning dogs to be soldered to the PCB, contacts to be soldered to the 
PCB. It also relates to the process for mounting the said connector. 
In a general and known manner, the input/output connector of a portable 
communication device, for example a mobile telephone, which is of very 
small dimensions, is surface-mounted on a printed circuit board PCB. For 
the sake of conciseness and simplification the printed circuit board will 
hereafter be referred to as PCB ("Printed Circuit Board"), the term 
commonly used by those skilled in the art. This connector thus makes it 
possible to connect and disconnect an exterior electronic device, equipped 
with a complementary connector, to the portable communication device so as 
to permit dialogue between the two devices, or the testing of the 
functions or components installed on the PCB. Given the very small size of 
the connector used for this type of application and the vital need for 
highly accurate positioning during the mounting thereof so that the 
bearing plane of the connector coincides or at least almost coincides with 
the plane of the PCB, specific means for positioning and fixing the 
connector as well as the contacts must be provided. Thus, when 
implementing the product, the surface-mounting of the component, and also 
throughout the lifetime of the portable device, sometimes under severe 
handling conditions, all the contacts of the complementary connectors 
should be able to engage with one another and ensure that the contact 
pressure is adequate for good electrical transmission. Thus, it has been 
observed that for this function to be effective, it is necessary for the 
bearing plane of the connector to coincide or at least almost coincide 
with the plane of the PCB. In fact, this coplanarity provides for an 
efficient answer to a requirement for so-called coflatness, necessary for 
the implementation of the surface-mounting process, which requirement 
implies that any contact must be located within a maximum tolerance 
interval, which is desired to be small (for example of the order of 0.1 
mm), in relation to the plane of bearing of the connector on the PCB, 
which bearing plane defines the plane of reference for the said 
coflatness. 
International application WO 96/07221 describes such a connector which uses 
metal soldering fixings intended for holding it and setting it in position 
on the PCB. However, the use of such fixings has a considerable drawback 
since it does not allow the abovementioned necessary accuracy and hence 
the coflatness requirement to be met sufficiently rigorously. This is 
because the fixings described rest on the PCB over the whole of the 
surface of their base whilst, moreover, the connector rests at the rear on 
the said PCB either on a mounting surface or on a set of contacts. Thus, 
three surfaces which are independent and consequently whose probability of 
being coplanar is extremely small, the two surfaces of the bases of the 
fixings and the surface via which the rear of the connector rests on the 
PCB, are in this case involved in determining the plane of bearing of the 
connector on the PCB. Moreover, the dimensional constraints of the product 
do not allow sufficiently accurate guiding of the contacts. All of the 
above implies that this bearing plane evidently cannot be determined in an 
accurate and reproducible manner and yet, as was stated earlier, this 
bearing plane defines the plane of reference for the coflatness of the 
contacts and thus a considerable scatter is created as regards the 
coflatness. 
In this context, the object of the present invention is efficiently to 
overcome this considerable drawback exhibited by the prior art and 
proposes an input/output connector whose design makes it possible to 
guarantee that the contacts, during mounting on the PCB, will all lie 
accurately and reproducibly at least in a predetermined tolerance 
interval, the maximum tolerance interval, and that the coflatness 
requirement can thus be satisfied rigorously. 
To do this, the input/output connector mentioned in the preamble is 
noteworthy in that it comprises, received on a specified reference surface 
of its insulating housing, means for shaping the contacts intended to 
constrain and wedge the said contacts, in relation to the said reference 
surface of the insulating housing, in such a way that, thus constrained, 
each of the contacts is in a position such that it is contained in a plane 
of reference for the coflatness of the said contacts. 
In a subsidiary manner, the input/output connector comprises, received on a 
specified reference surface of its insulating housing, means for shaping 
the contacts intended to constrain and wedge the said contacts, in 
relation to the said reference surface of the insulating housing, in such 
a way that, thus constrained, each of the contacts is in a position such 
that it lies in a predetermined tolerance interval with respect to a plane 
of reference for the coflatness of the said contacts. 
In a preferred manner, the means for shaping the contacts consist of a 
shaping wedge mounted rigidly on the reference surface which is situated 
on the rear part of the insulating housing, the surface of the wedge 
pressing on the contacts for their shaping itself constituting a second 
reference surface in relation to the reference surface of the insulating 
housing, the contacts then bearing by elastic deformation on this second 
reference surface, thus being set in position and held by pressing. 
Preferably, the wedge for shaping the contacts is mounted on the rear part 
of the insulating housing according to a jointing of the mortise and tenon 
type, the tenon consisting of the rear part of the insulating housing and 
the mortise consisting of the shaping wedge. 
In a likewise noteworthy manner, according to the present invention, there 
is provided a process for mounting the input/output connector, in the 
course of which, in a first step, the shaping wedge is mounted rigidly on 
the reference surface which is situated on the rear part of the insulating 
housing according to a joining of the mortise and tenon type, the contacts 
being thus set in position and constrained, while in a second step the 
connector is presented so as to be jammed into a housing of the PCB 
provided for this purpose, while the assembly thus pressed together is 
surface-mounted on the PCB in the exact desired plane. 
Thus, the invention consists advantageously in designing a connector 
provided with shaping means arranged on the insulating housing which, once 
the wedge has been inserted and while the connector is being placed on the 
PCB, will make it possible to keep the contacts pressing on the said 
shaping means in a position such that, at this precise moment, each of the 
said contacts is contained in a plane of reference for the coflatness of 
the signal contacts, or at the worst, subsidiarily, lies in the 
predetermined maximum tolerance interval with respect to the said plane of 
reference. Indeed, since the uncertainty as to the mutual coflatness of 
the contacts is related to their straightness and to their thickness 
tolerance, it is then easy to comply with the said requirement between 
contacts. Since the shaping means are mounted rigidly on a reference 
surface of the insulating housing, the contacts which are elastically 
deformed by bearing on a second reference surface which depends on the 
first are therefore shaped in relation to the reference surface of the 
insulating housing. The contacts are moreover redirected, this signifying 
that the contacts are then in an ideal position in terms of direction and 
height, in a reference frame specific to the insulating housing, in a 
stable manner in accordance with the coflatness requirement. This 
technique is accurate, efficient and reproducible and the coflatness 
requirement is thus guaranteed to be complied with in full. Moreover, by 
virtue of the shaping means claimed herein, which make it possible to hold 
the contacts constrained in the desired position, an operation of 
cementing the said contacts may be regarded as superfluous and may thus be 
dispensed with, this constituting another considerable advantage.

FIGS. 1, 2a and 2b will be utilized simultaneously for a proper 
understanding of the characteristics of the connector in accordance with 
the invention. Represented in perspective in FIG. 1 is a connector 1 
intended to be surface-mounted, that is to say to be soldered according to 
the "surface-mounted components" (termed SMC by those skilled in the art) 
technology, on a printed circuit board PCB which comprises a housing H to 
which the connector 1 is presented (the arrow labelled S in FIG. 1 
specifies the direction of placement) and then jammed fast. The connector 
1 consists chiefly of an insulating body 2, it comprises a set of contacts 
3, a pair of interlocks 4 intended to be soldered to the PCB as well as a 
pair of positioning dogs 5 likewise intended to be soldered to the PCB to 
hold the connector in position on the said PCB. Preferably, the 
positioning dogs 5 are mounted in a removable manner on the body 2 which, 
in order to receive them, has on its two side walls two lugs 6 in the 
shape of an inverted L and under which each positioning dog 5 is slid and 
immobilized. Each positioning dog 5 can comprise, on its flat part 51 
intended to come into contact with the PCB and located towards its end 
situated furthest outboard of the PCB, a projection or boss 52 of small 
height designed to form a point contact with that part of the PCB intended 
to receive it. The two points of contact of the two projections 52 
therefore mathematically determine a straight line support for an axis of 
rotation XX' of the connector allowing it, while it is being mounted, to 
swing in such a way that the contacts 3 are brought close in turn to 
corresponding contact pads of the PCB (which are not shown in the 
drawing). This projection 52 and its characteristics are disclosed in 
detail in a French Patent Application filed on the same date by the same 
applicant, this Patent Application being incorporated herein by way of 
reference. In accordance with the invention the input/output connector 1 
is noteworthy in that it comprises, received on a specified reference 
surface R1 of its insulating housing 2, means 7 for shaping the contacts 3 
intended to constrain and wedge the said contacts, in relation to the said 
reference surface R1 of the insulating housing, in such a way that, thus 
constrained, each of the said contacts is in a position such that it is 
either contained in a plane of reference for the coflatness of the said 
contacts, or lies in a predetermined tolerance interval with respect to 
the said plane of reference. 
Preferably, the means for shaping the contacts 3 consist of a compression 
member or shaping wedge 7 mounted rigidly on the reference surface R1 
which is situated on the front part 21 of the insulating housing 2, the 
surface of the wedge 7 pressing on the contacts 3 for their shaping itself 
constituting a second reference surface R2 in relation to the reference 
surface R1 of the insulating housing 2, the contacts 3 then bearing by 
elastic deformation on this second reference surface R2, thus being set in 
position and held by pressing. As seen best in FIGS. 2a-2b, the reference 
surface R1 of the insulating housing 2 is disposed over the contacts 3, 
and the shaping wedge 7 is compressed between the reference surface R1 of 
the housing and the contacts 3 of the connector. 
In a preferred manner, and as is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2b, the wedge 7 for 
shaping the contacts 3 is mounted on the rear part of the insulating 
housing 2 according to a jointing of the mortise and tenon type, the tenon 
consisting of the front part of the insulating housing 21 and the mortise 
consisting of the shaping wedge 7. According to two non-limiting 
embodiments, in FIG. 1 the tenon 21 has the shape of a T while in FIG. 2 
the tenon 21 comprises two half-dovetails 210 situated on its two lateral 
parts. 
In a non-exhaustive manner, three preferred embodiments of the shaping 
means 7 will be described with the aid of FIGS. 3a, 3b and 3c. FIGS. 3a 
and 3b are front views of the connector represented, for the sake of 
simplification, in a highly schematic manner, while FIG. 3c is a partial 
side view of a contact shaped over a shaping wedge of curved profile. FIG. 
3a therefore depicts a first embodiment of the shaping means 7. In this 
first embodiment, the surface of the shaping wedge 7 pressing on the 
contacts 3, (which are not represented) itself constitutes, in relation to 
the reference surface R1 of the insulating housing 2, a second reference 
surface R2 which here is a plane surface. 
In the second embodiment of the shaping means 7 depicted in FIG. 3b, the 
surface of the shaping wedge 7 pressing on the contacts 3 (which are not 
represented) has notches 71 (which can also be seen in FIG. 2b) at the 
bottom of which the contacts 3 are set in position and thus constrained, 
the second reference surface R2 then passing through the bottom of the 
notches 71. In this case the notches 71 also ensure a redirecting in 
parallelism of the rear parts of the contacts nearest the soldering 
region. 
With the third embodiment of the shaping means 7, depicted in FIG. 3c, 
there is proposed a partial side view of a contact 3 shaped over a shaping 
wedge 7 of curved profile. Indeed, in this embodiment the surface of the 
shaping wedge 7 pressing on the contact 3 which itself constitutes a 
second reference surface R2 is a curved surface. Here, the contacts can 
only bear on part of the reference surface R2 and they are bowed 
accordingly. 
It should be noted, as may be seen in FIGS. 3a and 3b, that in order to 
allow simple and accurate mounting, lateral play is provided on either 
side of the shaping wedge 7/insulating housing 2 joint. Thus, only the 
surfaces R1, R2 and the upper lateral surfaces of the mortise and tenon 
joint need to be determined accurately. 
When surface-mounting the input/output connector according to the 
invention, the following process may advantageously be utilized. Thus, 
according to this easily implemented mounting process, in a first step, 
the shaping wedge 7 is mounted rigidly on the reference surface R1 which 
is situated on the front part 21 of the insulating housing 2 according to 
a jointing of the mortise and tenon type, the contacts 3 being thus set in 
position and constrained, while in a second step the connector 1 is 
presented so as to be jammed into the housing H of the PCB provided for 
this purpose, while the assembly thus pressed together is surface-mounted 
on the PCB in the exact desired plane. 
This technique implemented in a non-limiting manner according to the 
various embodiments, whilst offering excellent reproducibility since it 
allows the contacts to be secured in their attachment region in a stable 
and accurate position whilst avoiding any relaxation of the said contacts, 
affords a simple and efficient solution to the problem posed by the 
requirement of coflatness. Moreover, as was stated earlier, such a 
technique using shaping means makes it possible, if so desired, to 
dispense with the operation of cementing the said contacts simply through 
the fact that it makes it possible to hold the constrained contacts in the 
desired position by altering their elasticity.