Abstract:
A cable assembly includes an insulative housing, a number of contacts retained in the insulative housing and a metal shell covering the housing to form a receiving space with the tongue portion for receiving an electrical plug. The housing has a base portion and a tongue portion extending forwardly from the base portion. The contacts consist of two pairs of differential signal contacts and a pair of grounding contacts between the two pairs of differential signal contacts. Each contact has a contact portion. All contact portions are arranged in a row on one side of the tongue portion.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a cable assembly, more particularly to a lower profile cable assembly for high speed transmitting. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     CN Pat. No. 200720058542 issued on Sep. 17, 2007 to Xu discloses a cable assembly according to High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) standard. The cable assembly includes an insulative housing, nineteen terminals supported by the insulative housing, an insulator mounted to a back side of the insulative housing and a metallic shell shrouding the insulative housing. The terminals are arranged into two distinct rows along a vertical direction. The insulator defines a plurality of grooves in upper and lower sides thereof. Tail portions of the terminals are accommodated in the grooves, respectively. Wires of the cable assembly are soldered to the tail portions of the terminals. 
     HDMI cable connectors are widely used in consumer electronic devices for electrically connecting the electronic devices with each other to transmit signals. The HDMI cable connector has nineteen contacts arranged in two rows and including three pairs of differential contacts (Data+, Data−), a pair of clock contacts (Clock+, Clock−), five grounding contacts, a CEC signal contact, a SCL signal contact, a SDA signal contact, a reserved signal contact, a +5V power contact, and a hot plug detect contact. It is to see that the HDMI cable connector has so many types of the contacts sorted in function that the chipset designed for the HDMI cable connector is complicated. The HDMI cable connector need many contacts to transmit so many different types of data, and the manufacturing costs of the C type HDMI connector is increased. 
     Hence, an improved cable connector is desired to overcome the above problems. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a lower profile and easily manufactured cable assembly. 
     In order to achieve the object set forth, a cable assembly in accordance with the present invention comprises an insulative housing having a base portion and a tongue portion extending forwardly from the base portion, a cavity defined in a top side of the tongue portion; a plurality of terminals received in the housing, the terminals arranged in a row along a transversal direction and consisting of two differential pairs and two grounding terminal between the two differential pairs, each terminal having a contacting portion extending into the cavity in the tongue portion; and a cable having plurality of wires electrically connected to the terminals. 
     The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. 
    
    
     
       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 cable assembly according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded view of the cable assembly shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a view similar to  FIG. 2 , while taken from a different aspect; 
         FIG. 4  is a partially assembled view of the cable assembly; 
         FIG. 5  is a view similar to  FIG. 4 , but viewed from other direction; and 
         FIG. 6  is a cross-section view of the  FIG. 4  taken along line  6 - 6 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without such specific details. In other instances, well-known circuits have been shown in block diagram form in order not to obscure the present invention in unnecessary detail. For the most part, details concerning timing considerations and the like have been omitted inasmuch as such details are not necessary to obtain a complete understanding of the present invention and are within the skills of persons of ordinary skill in the relevant art. 
     Reference will be made to the drawing figures to describe the present invention in detail, wherein depicted elements are not necessarily shown to scale and wherein like or similar elements are designated by same or similar reference numeral through the several views and same or similar terminology. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1-6 , a cable assembly  100  in the present invention is in accordance with a miniature DiiVA (Digital Interactive Interface for Video &amp; Audio) standard. 
     The cable assembly  100  includes an insulative housing  1 , a positioning member  10  mounted to a back segment of the insulative housing  1 , a plurality of terminals  2  received in the insulative housing  1 , a pair of latching members  3  mounted to the insulative housing  1 , a cable  4  for electrically connecting with the terminals  2 , a metallic shell  5  shrouding the insulative housing  1 , a front cover  6  attached to a front segment of the metallic shell  5  and a back cover  7  attached to a back segment of the metallic shell  5  and the cable  4 . 
     The insulative housing  1  includes a base portion  11  and a tongue portion  12  extending forwardly from the base portion  11 . The tongue portion  12  has a top side  121  and a bottom side  122  opposite to the top side  122 . A cavity  1211  is defined in the top side  121  and a depression  1221  is defined in the bottom side  122 . 
     There are six terminal slots  123  defined in the insulative housing and arranged in a row along a transversal direction. The terminal slots  123  forwardly extend into the cavity  1211  and backwardly extend outward through the base portion  11 . A front portion  1231  of the terminal slot  123  is deeper than the other portion  1232  of the terminal slot  123 . Two mounting slots  124  are defined in lateral sides of the insulative housing  1 . 
     The base portion  11  defines a first positioning cavity  112  in a top side of a back portion thereof, and a second positioning cavity  112 ′ is located in the front portion of the first positioning cavity  112 . Therefore, a stopper  113  is formed under the first positioning cavity  112  and disposed behind the second positioning cavity  112 ′. A recess  110  extends into the base portion  11  form a back edge thereof, and a flange  114  is located underneath the recess  110 . 
     There are six terminals  2  arranged in a row along the transversal direction. The six terminals  2  consist of one differential pair  21  for unidirectionally transmitting video signals, the other differential pair  22  for bidirectionally transmitting hybrid signals and two grounding contacts G disposed between the differential pairs  21 ,  22 . As there are two grounding contacts G arranged between the two differential pairs  21 ,  22 , and a distance between the two differential pairs  21 ,  22  increases and cross-talk problem is declined. In addition, the grounding contacts G are proximate to a front edge of the tongue portion  12 , which can pre-contact with a complementary connector (not shown) to eliminate electrostatic problem. 
     Each terminal  2  has a planar retention portion  202  disposed at a first level, a curved contacting portion  201  extending forwardly from the retention portion  202 , a tail portion  204  disposed at a second level lower than the first level and a connecting portion  203  joining the retention portion  202  and the tail portion  204 . The contacting portion  201  extends into the cavity  1211  and disposed above the front portion  1231  of the corresponding terminal slot  123 . The retention portion  202  is accommodated in the terminal slot  123 . The connecting portion  203  abuts against inward side  1110  of the recess  110 . The tail portion  204  is supported by the flange  114  and backwardly projects beyond the rear edge of the base portion  11 . 
     The positioning member  10  has a horizontal main part  101 , a first arm  103  downwardly extending from a back end of the main part  101 , a second arm  102  downwardly extending from a front end of the main part  101 . The first arm  103  is longer than the second arm  102 . A concave  1032  is defined in an inner side of a lower segment of the first arm  103 . 
     The positioning member  10  is assembled to the base portion  12  of the insulative housing along a up-to-down direction. The main portion  101  is received in the first positioning cavity  112 . The second arm  102  is inserted into the second positioning cavity  112 ′ and further presses onto the retention portion  202  of the terminal  2 . The stopper  113  is located behind the second arm  102 . The first arm  103  extends into the recess  110  and presses onto the tail portion  204  of the terminal  2 . Thus, the terminals  2  combine with the insulative housing  1  more reliably. 
     Each latching member  3  has a L-shaped retaining segment  31 , a latching arm  32  forwardly extending from the retaining segment  31 . The retaining segment  31  engages with the base portion  11 . The latching arm  32   124  is accommodated in the mounting slot  124 . A hook  33  is formed at a front end of the latching arm  32 . 
     The cable  4  includes a pair of first signal wires  41 , a pair of second signal wires  42  and a pair of grounding wires  43 . Each first signal wire  41  has a first conductor  410  which is soldered to the corresponding tail portion  204  of the differential pair  21 . Each second signal wire  42  has a second conductor  420  which is soldered to the corresponding tail portion  204  of the differential pair  22 . The grounding wires  43  are soldered to the tail portions  204  of the grounding terminals G. 
     The metallic shell  5  includes a first shell  51 , a second shell  52 . The first shell  51  has a frame  510 , an inverted U-shaped body  511  connected to the frame  510  and a tab  5110  projecting backwardly from the inverted U-shaped body  511 . The second shell  52  has a U-shaped body  521  and a holding segment  522  projecting backwardly from the U-shaped body  521 . The insulative housing  1  is firstly mounted to the first shell  51 , with the tongue portion  11  received in the frame  510 , the base portion  12  accommodated in the inverted U-shaped body  511 . The second shell  52  is assembled to the first shell  51 , with the U-shaped body  521  latching with the inverted U-shaped body  511 . The holding segment  522  grips the cable  4  and the tab  5110 . A bottom side of the frame  510  is inwardly recessed to match with the depression  1221  of the tongue portion  12 . 
     The front cover  6  is molded over a back segment of the frame  510 , front segments of the inverted U-shaped body  511  and the U-shaped body  521 . The back cover  7  is molded over rear segments of the inverted U-shaped body  511  and the U-shaped body  521 , the holding segment  522  and partial of the cable  4  adjacent to the holding member  522 . In alternative embodiment, the front cover  6  and the back cover may be a unitary body. 
     There are only six terminals  2  of the cable assembly  100 , thus it is relatively simply to manufacture the cable assembly  100 . Therefore, less material is needed to finish the cable assembly  100  and thus the cable assembly  100  also has a lower profile. 
     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.