Abstract:
A connector for transmitting electrical signals from a first board to a second board includes at least one conductive media. The conductive media includes a plurality of insulating layers and a plurality of conductive layers. Each conductive layer is formed between two insulating layers. The connector further includes a frame including at least one hollow space for accommodating the conductive media.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a connector, and more specifically, to a connector for connecting a first board to a second board. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     In order to connect devices and interfaces, various kinds of connectors are widely used in electronic products such as notebooks, motherboards and interface cards etc. Most of the connectors transmit electrical signals through mutual contact of metal lines. Please refer to FIG.  1 . FIG. 1 is a 3-dimensional diagram of a metal line connector  10  according to the prior art. The metal line connector  10  includes a male connector  12  installed on an interface card  14  and a female connector  16  installed on a circuit board  18 , wherein the male connector  12  and the female connector  16  are detachable by inserting the male connector  12  into the female connector  16 . Please refer to FIG.  2 . FIG. 2 is a side-view diagram of the metal line connector  10  while separated. The transmission of electrical signals between the interface card  14  and the circuit board  18  depends on mutual contact of metal lines  20  on the male connector  12  and metal lines  22  on the female connector  16 . Please refer to FIG.  3 . FIG. 3 is a side-view diagram of the metal line connector  10  while connected. The male connector  12  and the female connector  16  of the metal line connector  10  are connected by pressing both connectors  12 ,  16  to insert the male connector  12  into the female connector  16 , so that the metal lines  20  and the metal lines  22  can contact each other completely to ensure the signal transmission. Please refer to FIG.  4 . FIG. 4 is a top-view diagram of the female connector  16  connected to the circuit board  18 . Electrical signals output by the interface card  14  are transmitted from the metal lines  20  of the male connector  12  to the metal lines  22  of the female connector  16 , then transmitted to the circuit board  18  through goldfingers  24  on the circuit board  18  connected to the metal lines  22 . 
     However, the metal line connector  10  according to the prior art depends on connection of rigid bodies, therefore due to the height of the connector itself, the two boards to be connected cannot be adhered to each other. To keep pace with the trend requiring electronic products to be compact, the required space of the connector must be reduced. Secondly, the interval distance between the metal lines is limited in manufacturing process. Considering the technology and the cost, the interval distance can be reduced to approximately 0.6 mm. The required space of the connector can be reduced through a further reduction of the interval distance of the metal lines. Thirdly, metal line connectors are widely used devices produced in enormous quantities. It is beneficial to the industry if other cost-saving materials are used. 
     SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
     It is therefore a primary objective of the present invention to provide a connector to solve the problems of the prior art mentioned above. 
     Briefly summarized, a connector according to the present invention is used to connect a first board to a second board, which includes at least one conductive media comprising a plurality of insulating layers and a plurality of conductive layers, in which each layer is formed between two insulating layers. The connector further includes a frame comprising a hollow space for holding the conductive media. 
     These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a 3-dimensional diagram of a metal line connector according to the prior art. 
     FIG. 2 is a side-view diagram of the metal line connector of FIG. 1 while separated. 
     FIG. 3 is a side-view diagram of the metal line connector of FIG. 1 while connected. 
     FIG. 4 is a top-view diagram of the female connector of FIG. 1 connected to the circuit board. 
     FIG. 5 is a side-view diagram of a first connector while separated according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIG. 6 is a diagram of the conductive medium shown in FIG.  5 . 
     FIG. 7 is a top-view diagram of the first lower frame shown in FIG. 5 connected to the circuit board. 
     FIG. 8 is a top-view diagram of the conductive media shown in FIG. 5 held in place by the hollow spaces. 
     FIG. 9 is a side-view diagram of the first connector shown in FIG. 5 while connected. 
     FIG. 10 is a side-view diagram of a second connector while separated according to the second embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIG. 11 is a side-view diagram of a third connector while separated according to the third embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIG. 12 is a top-view diagram of the second lower frame shown in FIG. 11 connected to the circuit board. 
     FIG. 13 is a top-view diagram of the conductive medium shown in FIG. 11 held in place by the hollow spaces. 
     FIG. 14 is a side-view diagram of the third connector shown in FIG. 11 while connected. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Please refer to FIG.  5 . FIG. 5 is a side-view diagram of a first connector  26  while separated according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The first connector  26  includes a first upper frame  28  installed on an interface card  14  and a first lower frame  30  installed on a circuit board  18  which could be a printed circuit board (PCB). The first upper frame  28  includes two upper hooks  32 , and the first lower frame  30  includes two lower hooks  34  so that the first upper frame  28  and the first lower frame  30  are detachable by hooking the upper hooks  32  and the lower hooks  34  together. The first upper frame  28  and the first lower frame  30  are plastic frames, and the first connector  26  further comprises two rectangular cubic shaped rows of conductive media  36  running parallel to each other. (Because FIG. 5 is a side-view, only one row of conductive media  36  is visible in FIG. 5.) Please refer to FIG.  6 . FIG. 6 is a diagram of the conductive media  36 . The conductive media  36  includes a plurality of conductive layers  38  which can be composed of conductive ceramic particles, metal particles or conductive metal lines, and a plurality of insulating layers  40  which can be composed of insulating rubber or insulating ceramic materials. The conductive layers  38  and the insulating layers  40  are arranged alternately so that the conductive layers  38  do not contact with each other in order to be insulated. 
     Please refer to FIG.  7 . FIG. 7 is a top-view diagram of the first lower frame  30  connected to the circuit board  18 . The first lower frame  30  includes two hollow spaces  42  for holding the two rows of conductive media  36 . The lower sides of the conductive layers  38  on the conductive media  36  are electrically connected directly to the goldfingers  24  on the circuit board  18 . Please refer to FIG.  8 . FIG. 8 is a top-view diagram of the conductive media  36  held in place by the hollow spaces  42 . Each one of the conductive layers  38  is connected to a metal line of the goldfingers  24  in order to transmit electrical signals between the conductive layers  38  and the circuit board  18 . The structure of the first upper frame  28  is the same to that of the first lower frame  30 , which includes two hollow spaces  42 . The connection of the first upper frame  28  and the interface card  14  is the same to that shown in FIG.  7 . The upper sides of the conductive layers  38  on the conductive media  36  are electrically connected directly to the goldfingers  24  on the interface card  14 , each one of the conductive layers  38  is connected to a metal line of the goldfingers  24  in order to transmit electrical signals between the conductive layers  38  and the interface card  14 . A similar descriptive diagram is hereby omitted. 
     The conductive media  36  are fixed to the hollow spaces of the first upper frame  28  and the first lower frame  30 . Please refer to FIG.  9 . FIG. 9 is a side-view diagram of the first connector  26  in connection. The first upper frame  28  and the first lower frame  30  are connected to each other by pressing both frames  28 , 30  to hook the upper hooks  32  and the lower hooks  34 , so that the upper sides of the conductive layers  38  are electrically connected to the goldfingers on the interface card  14 , and the lower sides of the conductive layers  38  are electrically connected to the goldfingers on the circuit board  18 . In this way the electrical signals between the interface card  14  and the circuit board  18  can be transmitted through the conductive layers  38 . 
     Please refer to FIG.  10 . FIG. 10 is a side-view diagram of a second connector  44  while separated according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The second connector  44  includes a frame  45  installed on a circuit board  18 . The circuit board  18  can be a PCB. The frame  45  includes two top plugs  48 , and an interface card  14  includes two apertures  46  so that the interface card  14  is fixed to the frame  45  by inserting the top plugs  48  on the frame  45  to the apertures  46 . The frame  45  is a plastic frame, and the second connector  44  further comprises two rectangular cubic shaped rows of conductive media  36  running parallel to each other. The conductive media  26  according to the second embodiment are of the same structure as the conductive media  26  in FIG. 6, and the electrical connection between the interface card  14  and the circuit board  18  is the same as that in the first embodiment, therefore further descriptions are hereby omitted. 
     Please refer to FIG.  11 . FIG. 11 is a side-view diagram of a third connector  50  while separated according to the third embodiment of the present invention. The third connector  50  includes a second upper frame  52  installed on an interface card  14  and a second lower frame  54  installed on a circuit board  18 . The circuit board  18  can be a PCB. The second upper frame  52  includes two upper hooks  32 , and the second lower frame  54  includes two lower hooks  34  so that the second upper frame  52  and the second lower frame  54  are detachable by hooking the upper hooks  32  and the lower hooks  34  together. The difference when compared to the previously mentioned embodiments is that the third connector  50  has only one row of conductive media  36 . 
     Please refer to FIG.  12 . FIG. 12 is a top-view diagram of the second lower frame  54  connected to the circuit board  18 . The difference with the previously mentioned embodiments is that, the second lower frame  54  only has one hollow space  42  for holding the conductive media  36 . The lower sides of the conductive layers  38  on the conductive media  36  are electrically connected directly to the goldfingers  24  on the circuit board  18 . Please refer to FIG.  13 . FIG. 13 is a top-view diagram of the conductive media  36  held in place by the hollow space  42 . Each one of the conductive layers  38  is connected to each metal line of the goldfingers  24  in order to transmit electrical signals between the conductive layers  38  and the circuit board  18 . The structure of the second upper frame  52  is the same to that of the second lower frame  54 , which includes one hollow space  42 . The connection of the second upper frame  52  and the interface card  14  is the same as shown in FIG.  12 . The upper sides of the conductive layers  38  on the conductive media  36  are electrically connected directly to the goldfingers  24  on the interface card  14  and each one of the conductive layers  38  is connected to a metal line of the goldfingers  24  in order to transmit electrical signals between the conductive layers  38  and the interface card  14 . A descriptive diagram is hereby omitted. 
     The conductive media  36  is fixed to the hollows space of the second upper frame  52  and the second lower frame  54 . Please refer to FIG.  14 . FIG. 14 is a side-view diagram of the first connector  26  while connected. The connection and the transmission of electrical signals are the same as that in the first embodiment and further descriptions are therefore omitted. 
     In contrast to the prior art, highly flexible materials such as rubber can be used as insulating materials in conductive media to form the connector according to the present invention. In this way the interval distance between circuit boards can be reduced so that the connector can be more widely applied in electronic products with limited available space. Secondly, the thickness of the conductive layers and the insulating layers is much less than the interval distance between metal lines according to the prior art. In the present invention this distance can be reduced to approximately 0.05 mm so that the space required by the connector is reduced. Thirdly, the cost of the connector according to the present invention is reduced to less than 50 percent of the cost of the prior art, therefore it is very suitable for mass production. 
     Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the meters and bounds of the appended claims.