Abstract:
Assembly with integrated connector savers. The connector savers are connected to an indented subassembly board, that is connected directly to a circuit board. The other side of the connector savers are at precisely the right level to be connected to from the exterior surface of the chassis. A retention plate holds the connection savers in place, at exactly the right height, but also allows the connector savers to be easily removed and replaced

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    Today&#39;s video systems often use connectors that are inserted and removed. In order to the usable in the portable industry of a commercial video environment, a connector must be capable of being readily connected and disconnected many different times to be truly useful. 
         [0002]    Some connectors, however, are rated to only have a rated number of cycles of matings and dematings. Equipment gets disconnected and connected every time it is used in a commercial video operation. For a connector such as a DVI connector, which may only be rated for 50 insertions and removals, frequent connections will damage the connector. Since the connectors are permanently connected to the unit itself, for example hardwired directly to a circuit board, the replacement of those parts can be costly and difficult. 
         [0003]    DVI “savers” use a plug that has DVI connectors at both ends, where one end connects to the unit, the other to the connector. The DVI savers are sacrificial: when the connector on the saver unit fails, the unit as a whole can be removed and replaced. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0004]    The present application describes an assembly that is sized to hold connector savers. The connector savers are retained by a plate that keeps them from falling off. The main connectors are recessed into the chassis so that the connector of the connector saver is extended to the outside level of the perimeter of the chassis. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0005]    in the drawings: 
           [0006]      FIG. 1  shows a top view of the chassis with connectors indented connector savers according to an embodiment; 
           [0007]      FIG. 2  shows an exploded view of the connector savers and the covering plate; 
           [0008]      FIG. 3  shows a rear view of the assembly with the plate connected; and 
           [0009]      FIG. 4  shows a close-up connector with the connector plate openings. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0010]    The inventor recognized a number of issues with DVI savers. First of all, since the DVI savers often hang off the back of the unit, they may look unsightly, and worse, may actually stress the connector as they put additional torque on the connector portion that the connector portion was not designed to take. In addition, they extend outside the perimeter of the unit, and may take up more space and may even prevent the unit from fitting properly into a racking system or transportation case. 
         [0011]    The embodiments address these and other issues. 
         [0012]      FIG. 1  shows a top view of the embodiments. In the  FIG. 1  view, the device is configured as being a DVI splitter. The DVI splitter may be part of a video device, such as a media player and/or media server, but the techniques described herein can be used in other units. The device is shown without the top cover. However, any device which uses any kind of connector which can wear out or may need replacement can be used according to embodiments. 
         [0013]    The embodiment described herein describes using a DVI connector. The device includes an internal circuit board  100 , connected to an input DVI connector  105 .  FIG. 2  shows the assembled device, showing the connectors from the outside of the device, and showing the other side of connector  105 . Connector  105  is connected to the circuit board, which can carry out the DVI splitting function to create multiple outputs at multiple different DVI connectors  110 ,  111 ,  112  and  113 . 
         [0014]    Each of the connectors  105 ,  110 ,  111 ,  112  and  113  are connected to the circuit board and thus would be extremely inconvenient to replace. In the embodiment, the perimeter of the chassis  120  is formed by a back plate  121 , a front plate  122 , and side plates  123  and  124 . As conventional, the front and back plates  121 ,  122  are substantially flat. However, a sub chassis  130  is formed indented from the connector portion  131  of the chassis.  FIG. 2  shows how the connector portion  130  is indented relative to the remaining portion  120  of the back portion. 
         [0015]    Each connector of the connector portion includes a DVI saver connected thereto shown generally as  140 . The DVI saver has DVI connectors at each end acting as a DVI coupler. One end of the DVI saver  140  is connected to a corresponding connector on the indented sub chassis  130 . The other end of the DVI saver forms the output connector. The output connector is held in place by a retention plate  150  that is shown in  FIG. 2 . The retention plate  150  includes cutout portions  151  that are matched in size to the area of the protrusion  141  from the DVI saver  140 . 
         [0016]    In addition, the DVI savers include screw portions  143 ,  144  into which the DVI connector from the cable can be connected. The cutouts  151  may also include cutouts such as  152 ,  153  through which the screw portions extend. All of these surfaces, and also the rear surface of the sub chassis  130 , thus further hold the DVI coupler in place. All of these things can hold the DVI savers in place and prevent them from falling out or moving based on connector forces or on forces from the cables. In addition, when looking at the device from the rear with a retention plate installed, one cannot actually tell that these are DVI savers because the rear of the device has a consistent flat plate holding in the DVI savers. 
         [0017]    In one embodiment, the connector itself shown as  410  may fit loosely into the hole, thus leaving room for the connector outer metal portion to extend slightly below the surface of the connector plate  150 . However, the screw portions  400   402  may fit more tightly, since those screw portions are intended in any case to be structural. 
         [0018]    In operation, DVI savers  140  are each screwed into the respective connectors  105  on the subchassis  130 , which is held below the surface  120 . Once in place, the retention plate  150  is mounted around each of the output connectors  141  of each of the DVI savers, and the retention plate is then mounted to mounting surfaces  211 ,  212  of the rear surface  120 . The retention plate includes outer edges that are slightly wider than the width of the indented portion and attach to a slightly recessed area  220  which is recessed by the thickness of the retention plate  150 . This forms a completely flat surface on the back of the chassis. Respective screws  213 ,  214  hold the retention plate in place. This plate stops the DVI savers from falling off or being lost. However, it is a simple matter, when the connector wears out, to replace the DVI saver with a new DVI saver. 
         [0019]    However, the user does not necessarily know that there are DVI savers, because the user sees the back panel shown in  FIG. 4 , where all the connectors are the normal height with no extending connector parts from the DVI saver, and all held into place by the retention plate  150 . 
         [0020]    A detailed view of the retention plate  150  is shown in  FIG. 5 , that shows 5 different connector holes,  500 ,  501 ,  502 ,  503  and  504 . Each of these connector holes forms an area for a connector saver of the type described herein. The connector holes in this embodiment include a first connector area  510  and second areas  511 ,  512  to hold the retaining screws and nuts. 
         [0021]    Although only a few embodiments have been disclosed in detail above, other embodiments are possible and the inventors intend these to be encompassed within this specification. The specification describes certain technological solutions to solve the technical problems that are described expressly and inherently in this application. This disclosure describes embodiments, and the claims are intended to cover any modification or alternative or generalization of these embodiments which might be predictable to a person having ordinary skill in the art. For example, other connectors other than DVI connectors can be used. Moreover, any connector coupler can be used behind the plate of any sort. In one embodiment, the screws  213  and  214  can be knurled screws of a type intended to unscrew with a user&#39;s finger. 
         [0022]    Those of skill would further appreciate that this system can be used with various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software running on a specific purpose machine that is programmed to carry out the operations described in this application, or combinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the exemplary embodiments. 
         [0023]    The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein, may be implemented or performed with a general or specific purpose processor, or with hardware that carries out these functions, e.g., a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processor can be part of a computer system that also has an internal bus connecting to cards or other hardware, running based on a system BIOS or equivalent that contains startup and boot software, system memory which provides temporary storage for an operating system, drivers for the hardware and for application programs, disk interface which provides an interface between internal storage device(s) and the other hardware, an external peripheral controller which interfaces to external devices such as a backup storage device, and a network that connects to a hard wired network cable such as Ethernet or may be a wireless connection such as a RF link running under a wireless protocol such as 802.11. Likewise, external bus  18  may be any of but not limited to hard wired external busses such as IEEE-1394 or USB. The computer system can also have a user interface port that communicates with a user interface, and which receives commands entered by a user, and a video output that produces its output via any kind of video output format, e.g., VGA, DVI, HDMI, displayport, or any other form. This may include laptop or desktop computers, and may also include portable computers, including cell phones, tablets such as the IPAD™ and Android platform tablet, and all other kinds of computers and computing platforms. 
         [0024]    A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration. These devices may also be used to select values for devices as described herein. 
         [0025]    The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, using cloud computing, or in combinations. A software module may reside in Random Access Memory (RAM), flash memory, Read Only Memory (ROM), Electrically Programmable ROM (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM (EEPROM), registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of tangible storage medium that stores tangible, non transitory computer based instructions. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in reconfigurable logic of any type. 
         [0026]    In one or more exemplary embodiments, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. 
         [0027]    The memory storage can also be rotating magnetic hard disk drives, optical disk drives, or flash memory based storage drives or other such solid state, magnetic, or optical storage devices. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, includes compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media. The computer readable media can be an article comprising a machine-readable non-transitory tangible medium embodying information indicative of instructions that when performed by one or more machines result in computer implemented operations comprising the actions described throughout this specification. 
         [0028]    Operations as described herein can be carried out on or over a website. The website can be operated on a server computer, or operated locally, e.g., by being downloaded to the client computer, or operated via a server farm. The website can be accessed over a mobile phone or a PDA, or on any other client. The website can use HTML code in any form, e.g., MHTML, or XML, and via any form such as cascading style sheets (“CSS”) or other. 
         [0029]    The computers described herein may be any kind of computer, either general purpose, or some specific purpose computer such as a workstation. The programs may be written in C, or Java, Brew or any other programming language. The programs may be resident on a storage medium, e.g., magnetic or optical, e.g. the computer hard drive, a removable disk or media such as a memory stick or SD media, or other removable medium. The programs may also be run over a network, for example, with a server or other machine sending signals to the local machine, which allows the local machine to carry out the operations described herein. 
         [0030]    Also, the inventor(s) intend that only those claims which use the words “means for” are intended to be interpreted under 35 USC 112, sixth paragraph. Moreover, no limitations from the specification are intended to be read into any claims, unless those limitations are expressly included in the claims. 
         [0031]    Where a specific numerical value is mentioned herein, it should be considered that the value may be increased or decreased by 20%, while still staying within the teachings of the present application, unless some different range is specifically mentioned. Where a specified logical sense is used, the opposite logical sense is also intended to be encompassed. 
         [0032]    The previous description of the disclosed exemplary embodiments is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present invention. Various modifications to these exemplary embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.