Patent Publication Number: US-6699065-B1

Title: Electrical connector with LEDs mounted on an internal PCB

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is related to a co-pending U.S. Patent application entitled “STACKED ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR HAVING EASILY DETACHABLE ELECTRONIC MODULE”, invented by Leonard K. Espenshade and Kevin E. Walker, with a Ser. No. 10/236,614, which is assigned to the common assignee. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to the field of electrical connectors and in particular to an electrical connector with LEDs exposed at a mating face thereof for providing a visible indication of the connection between the electrical connector and a mating connector. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Electrical connectors, such as Modular jacks, usually use LEDs for indicating an electrical connection with a mating plug. There are several means of mounting the LEDs to the electrical connectors. U.S. Pat. No. 5,613,873 issued to Bell, Jr. on Mar. 25, 1997 discloses a conventional modular jack with a pair of integral LEDs. The modular jack has a jack housing defining a recess in a front face and a pair of passageways extending from the recess to a back face. A light-emitting portion of each LED is received in the recess and a pair of electrical leads of each LED is inserted through corresponding passageways and is bent to be mounted on a mother PCB. However, inserting the electrical leads, which have little rigidity, through the long passageways is a difficult process, and replacing burned out LEDs will be difficult. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 6,227,911 issued to Boutros et al. on May 8, 2001 solves the above problem by using an LED sub-module attached to a rear portion of a jack housing. A pair of LEDs is mounted on the sub-module and extends to a mating face of the housing. The electrical leads from the LEDs extend downwardly close to and substantially parallel with contact leads of the connector before they are secured to a mother PCB. Since LEDs generate a significant amount of electrical noise, the proximity of the LED leads to the connector contact leads could adversely affect data transmitted through the connector. 
     U.S. Pat. 6,428,361 issued to Imschweiler et al. on Aug. 6, 2002 teaches a related modular jack using a PCB attached to a rear portion of a jack housing. A pair of LEDs, together with contacts and toroids for filtering applications, are mounted on the PCB and terminate to a mother PCB via wiring patterns on the PCB. However, attachment of the LEDs to the same jack PCB contributes to crowding of circuit traces, and fails to mitigate noise from the LEDs since the LED electrical traces are still very near those of the connector contacts. 
     Hence, an electrical connector with improved LED mounting means is needed to overcome the foregoing shortcomings. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A main object of the present invention is to provide a compact electrical connector with LEDs. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector having improved performance. 
     An electrical connector for being mounted to a mother PCB includes an insulative housing defining at least one receiving slot for receiving at least one mating connector, a plurality of conductive terminals received in the insulative housing and extending into the at least one receiving slot, and an LED subassembly attached to the housing. The LED subassembly includes a pair of LEDs and an internal PCB to which the LEDs are mounted. The internal PCB is separately connected to the mother PCB, so the LED circuitry is electrically isolated from the conductive terminals before their connection to the mother PCB. 
    
    
     Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a connector according to the present invention. 
     FIG. 2 is another exploded view of the connector of FIG. 1 viewed from a rear aspect. 
     FIG. 3 is a partially assembled view of FIG. 1, wherein a shield is removed. 
     FIG. 4 is a partially assembled view of FIG. 2, wherein the shield is removed. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a stacked Local Area Network (LAN) connector  100 , for mounted on a mother PCB (not shown), includes an insulative housing  1 , a shielded Universal Serial Bus (USB) connector  2 , a modular jack subassembly  3 , an LED subassembly  4 , and a shield  5  substantially surrounding the housing  1 . 
     The insulative housing  1  includes a front mating face  13 , a rear face  15  opposite to the mating face  13 , a lower mounting face (not shown), a top wall  14 , and opposite side walls  16 . The housing  1  defines an upper and a lower receiving slots  11 ,  12  exposed to the mating face  13  in a stacked arrangement. A pair of longitudinal slots  141  is defined in the top wall  14  and respectively adjacent to a corresponding side wall  16 . A partition  142  is defined in a rear portion of each slot  141  and divides the rear portion of the slot  141  into a first and a second channels  143 ,  144 . An upper and a lower mounting portions  161 ,  162  extend rearwardly from each side wall  16 . Rear faces of the upper and lower mounting portions  161 ,  162  are in a same vertical plane and are spaced from the rear face  15 . A mounting post  1611  extends rearwardly from each upper mounting portion  161 . The mounting posts  1611  are preferably cylindrical and have different diameters. 
     The shielded USB connector  2  has an insulative base member (not labeled), a plurality of conductive terminals (not labeled) received in the base member for electrically engaging with mating connectors, and an internal shield  21  substantially surrounding the base member. 
     The modular jack subassembly  3  includes a horizontal compensation PCB  32 , a plurality of parallel conductive terminals  31  surface mounted on circuit traces (not labeled) of the compensation PCB  32 , a daughter PCB  34  and a magnetic module  33 . The daughter PCB  34  incorporates circuit traces (not shown) and plurality of electronic components  341 , such as resistors and capacitors, connected with the circuit traces. The magnetic module  33  carries magnetic coils (not shown) and conductors  36 ,  38  electrically connected with the magnetic coils. One end of each conductor  36  electrically connects with a circuit trace of the compensation PCB  32  and one end of each conductor  38  electrically connects to a circuit trace of the daughter PCB  34 , thereby electrically connecting the conductive terminals  31  with the magnetic coils and the conductive terminals  31  with the circuit traces of the daughter PCB  34 , whereby the magnetic module  33  and the daughter board  34  act as a first and second noise suppressing modules for signal conditioning. 
     The LED subassembly  4  includes an internal PCB  41 , a pair of LEDs  40  mounted on an upper portion of the internal PCB  41  and a pair of foot contacts  44  mounted on a lower portion of the internal PCB  41 . The internal PCB  41  incorporates two pairs of circuit traces  416  therein and a pair of mounting holes  412  in an upper portion thereof. Upper and lower ends of each circuit trace  416  respectively terminate at an upper and a lower plated through holes  411 ,  413 . Each pair of circuit traces  416  includes an electronic element, such as a resistor  414 , therein. The mounting holes  412  have different diameters for respectively engaging with corresponding mounting posts  1611  of the housing  1 . Each LED  40  includes an illuminating portion  43  and a pair of leads  42  extending rearwardly from the illuminating portion  43 . Each foot contact  44  includes a carrier  442 , a pair of solder bodies  443  extending downwardly from the carrier  442  and a pair of solder tails  444  respectively extending downwardly from a corresponding solder body  443 . Each solder body  443  forms a stamped tab  441  extending rearwardly from a middle portion thereof, and thereby defining a corresponding hole  445  therein. 
     The LEDs  40  electrically connect to the circuit traces  416  by a rear end of each lead  42  soldered in a corresponding upper plated through hole  411 . Leads  42  and illuminating portions  43  extend forwardly from the internal PCB  41 . The foot contacts  44  are mounted on a lower portion of the internal PCB  41 . Each tab  441  extends through a corresponding lower plated through hole  413  from one side of the internal PCB  41  and is bent over and against the other side of the internal PCB  41 . The hole  445  is filled with solder, thereby soldering the tab  441  in the lower plated through hole  413  and electrically connecting the solder body  443  with a corresponding circuit trace  416 . The carriers  442  are cut away thereafter. The solder tails  444  extend downwardly below a lower edge of the internal PCB  41  for being soldered in corresponding circuit traces on the mother PCB. 
     Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, in assembly, the shielded USB connector  2  is received in the lower receiving slot  12  of the housing  1  for electrically engaging with mating USB plugs (not shown). The modular jack subassembly  3  is attached to a rear portion of the housing  1  with the conductive terminals  31  extending into the upper receiving slot  11  for electrically engaging with a mating modular plug (not shown). The daughter PCB  34  abuts against the rear face  15  of the housing  1 . The LED subassembly  4  is mounted to a rear portion of the housing  1 . The leads  42  are received in corresponding first and second channels  143 ,  144  and the illuminating portion  43  is received in a front portion of the slot  141  and is exposed to the mating face  13  of the housing  1 . The mounting posts  1611  with different diameters are respectively engaged in corresponding mounting holes  412  of the internal PCB  41 . The upper and lower mounting portions  161 ,  162  abut against the internal PCB  41 , whereby the internal PCB  41  is spaced from the daughter PCB  34 . Since the circuitry of the LEDs  40  is physically spaced from the circuitry of the daughter PCB  34 , noise from the LEDs has less effect on the signal transmitting through the modular jack subassembly  3 , thereby improving the modular jack&#39;s performance. 
     It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous, characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set fourth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosed 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.