Patent Abstract:
An RJ45 Communication jack has a housing with a top, bottom, front, and back. A foil is immediately adhered to and partially covers the housing. A top or bottom of the housing is covered by a first portion and a second portion of the foil wherein the first portion and the second portion are separated by a nonconductive gap. The gap extends from the front of the housing to the rear of the housing.

Full Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/157,748, filed Jan. 17, 2014, which will issue as U.S. Pat. No. 8,979,588 on Mar. 17, 2015; which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/432,969, filed Mar. 28, 2012, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,632,362 on Jan. 21, 2014; which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/628,732, filed Dec. 1, 2009, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,167,661 on May 1, 2012, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/119,231, filed on Dec. 2, 2008, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     There is a continuing need to obtain more margin in communication channels for near-end and far-end crosstalk (NEXT and FEXT), and alien near-end and far-end crosstalk (ANEXT and AFEXT). A major source of NEXT and FEXT occurs within the plug of a plug/jack combination and is typically compensated for within the jack. A major source of alien crosstalk is common mode noise that couples between channels, particularly between adjacent jacks, and becomes converted into differential alien crosstalk (mode conversion). 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIGS. 1A and 1B  are perspective views of an embodiment of a jack with a foil shield according to the present invention; 
         FIGS. 2A and 2B  are perspective views of another embodiment of a jack with a foil shield according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional view taken along section line  3 - 3  in  FIGS. 1A and 1B , illustrating a stack-up for the adhesive foil material according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic view illustrating alien crosstalk occurring due to common mode propagation along jack foil shields in nearby jacks which converts back into differential crosstalk in the jack; 
         FIG. 5  is a fragmentary perspective of an embodiment of a communication system according to the present invention; 
         FIGS. 6A and 6B  are exploded perspective views of an embodiment of a modular jack according to the present invention; 
         FIGS. 7A and 7B  are perspective views of some aspects of the jack of  FIGS. 6A and 6B ; 
         FIG. 8  is a perspective view of the plug interface contacts of the jack of  FIGS. 6A and 6B ; 
         FIG. 9  is a see-through perspective view of the multi-layer flex circuit board of the jack of  FIGS. 6A and 6B ; 
         FIG. 10  is a schematic view of the flex circuit board of  FIG. 9 ; 
         FIG. 11  is a see-through perspective view of the multi-layer rigid circuit board of the jack of  FIGS. 6A and 6B ; 
         FIG. 12  is a schematic view of the rigid circuit board of  FIG. 11 ; 
         FIG. 13  is a schematic view illustrating how alien crosstalk is reduced according to the present invention by blocking common mode propagation along jack foil shields through the use of a split foil; 
         FIG. 14  is a perspective exploded view of another embodiment of a jack with a foil shield according to the present invention, where the foil shield is continuous but the metallization layer has a gap; 
         FIG. 15  is a perspective exploded view of another embodiment of a jack with a foil shield according to the present invention, where the foil shield is continuous but the metallization layer is present only on a base and one side; 
         FIG. 16  is a perspective exploded view of another embodiment of a jack with a foil shield according to the present invention, where the foil shield is continuous but there are selected areas of the foil which have metallization layers; and 
         FIG. 17  is a perspective exploded view of another embodiment of a jack with a foil shield according to the present invention, where the foil shield is continuous with continuous metallization but the foil only includes a single side and top portions. 
     
    
    
     Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views. The examples set out herein illustrate some preferred embodiments of the invention, and such examples are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention in any manner. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Compensation methods and devices are described in a novel design for an improved category 6A (CAT6A) RJ45 jack design, to exceed TIA category 6A standards at 500 MHz, in U.S. Pat. No. 8,137,141, which is based off of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/090,403, entitled “High-Speed Connector with Multi-Stage Compensation,” filed Aug. 20, 2008, which is incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein. This jack addresses the need within the industry to obtain more margin for near end crosstalk (NEXT), far end crosstalk (FEXT), and return loss in order to meet the needs of demanding customers. Additionally, this jack reduces the differential to common and common to differential mode conversion (herein referred to as “mode conversion”) that occurs within the jack to improve the alien crosstalk performance of the system. 
     U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0134995, also incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein, discloses communications jacks which are provided with conductive covering layers to reduce the amount of ANEXT between connectors at insulation displacement contacts (IDCs) when the jacks are installed alongside one another. These conductive layers or foils are also part of the above cited U.S. Pat. No. 8,137,141. 
     In other advances, the present invention addresses some of the current limitations in channel and permanent link performance respective to jack return loss margin at higher frequencies. In one embodiment of the present invention the jack transmission line components can include plug interface contacts (PICs) that mate with a plug and wrap around a sled and interface with a rigid circuit board, a flex circuit board that wraps around the sled with components in contact with the PICs, rigid circuit board circuit elements, and IDCs which also interface with the rigid circuit board and which allow for wires within cabling to connect with the IDCs. The plug/PICs, flex board, PIC region of the rigid board, and a compensation region of the rigid board can be considered a first impedance region; and the IDC vias region of the rigid board and IDCs can be considered a second impedance region following the first impedance region. If a jack connector has a relatively low impedance region (at the first impedance region) followed by a relatively high impedance region (at the second impedance region) there is more return loss margin at lower frequencies, but less return loss margin at higher frequencies. A jack with only the first low impedance region and not a relatively high impedance second region has less margin at lower frequencies, but more relative margin (as compared to a jack having a low impedance region followed by a relatively high impedance region) at higher frequencies. This same relationship applies when the magnitude values are opposite of that described, such as a jack with a high impedance region followed by a low impedance region, where an increase in the impedance of the low impedance region improves return loss. 
     Pair  4 - 5  is typically the pair with the worst return loss margin at higher frequencies in present day jack designs. Generally speaking, pair  4 - 5  has a low impedance region caused by the plug/PICs, flex board, PIC region of the rigid board, and compensation region of the rigid board, followed by a high impedance region caused by the respective IDCs and wire cap. A feature of the present invention is to reduce the impedance of the high impedance region so that the return loss gets relatively worse at lower frequencies, but the margin improves at high frequencies, which results in overall improved return loss margin relative to the CAT6A specification. Since the relationship between impedance and capacitance generally follows Z=√(L/C), capacitance is added in the high impedance region to reduce the impedance of the high impedance region. 
     In a patch panel or outlet where there are many jacks clustered within an area, high levels of alien crosstalk can occur between these neighboring jacks. Previous understanding of this concept indicated that this coupling was primarily due to inductive differential coupling caused by the proximity of the neighboring wires and blades in adjacent plugs and jacks, and particularly parallel portions which run adjacent to each other. The foil label designs of  FIGS. 1 and 2  address this problem. In  FIG. 1 , jack assembly  20  includes jack  22  and an adhesively mounted foil label or shield  24 . Jack  22  can be a CAT6A jack design, for example. Alternatively, other jacks such as CAT6, CAT7, or others can be used.  FIG. 2  illustrates jack assembly  26  which includes jack  22  and an adhesively mounted foil label  28  with extended sides  29 . These foil labels  24 ,  28  are primarily used to reduce the amount of alien crosstalk occurring between neighboring jacks, as the level of coupling from non-neighboring jacks is already very low due to the fact that they are relatively far apart. Although not shown in  FIGS. 1-2 , jacks  20 ,  26  typically can include a wirecap as shown in  FIG. 6  and other elements of  FIG. 6 . The foil labels include an adhesive material  18  with a metal liner  14 , then a paint layer  12  and protective coating  10 , which is shown in  FIG. 3 . 
     However, it has been observed, that in a channel environment with a high level of common mode noise, that the foil shields provide an electrical connection (comprising a conductive path around the jack with capacitive coupling to adjacent jacks) for a common mode current to flow to and beyond neighboring jacks  27  as is shown by the arrows A in  FIG. 4 . This is a significant cause of alien crosstalk between non-neighboring jacks, as well as further increasing the amount of alien crosstalk between neighboring jacks. When several jacks, each of which include the foil shields according to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , are near each other, there exists a very low loss path for a common mode current to travel between jacks due the large amount of capacitive coupling between neighboring electrically conductive foils  29 , and at least one embodiment of the present invention addresses this problem. In the example of  FIG. 4 , capacitive couplings  31  occur between neighboring foils  29  due to their close proximity and large overlapping surface areas. This allows for common mode transmission with low attenuation for frequencies approximately between 100 and 500 MHz. A common mode current, I, can be formed, as shown by the arrow B. In the illustration of  FIG. 4 , the spacing between the jacks  27  is enlarged for clarity, and the foils  29  are shown as separated from the jack housings for illustrative purposes. The common mode signal in the jacks becomes ANEXT and/or AFEXT. 
     In another aspect according to the present invention, it is desirable to have balanced capacitive and inductive loads between all differential pair combinations within the plug/jack combination in order to minimize mode conversion. It is also desirable to have each differential pair balanced with respect to the foil label design surrounding parts of the jack in order to further reduce mode conversion. 
     Herein described is a novel design for a jack with a foil label and an improved rigid circuit board that improves the balance of each differential pair on the jack with respect to the foil label, in addition to making improvements addressing the problems discussed above. The present invention reduces the mode conversion of the jack and improves alien crosstalk. 
     Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to  FIG. 5 , there is shown a communication system  30 , which can include communication cables, such as patch cables  32  and horizontal cables  33 , connected to equipment  34 . Equipment  34  is illustrated as a patch panel in  FIG. 5 , but the equipment can be passive equipment or active equipment. Examples of passive equipment can be, but are not limited to, modular patch panels, punch-down patch panels, coupler patch panels, wall jacks, etc. Examples of active equipment can be, but are not limited to, Ethernet switches, routers, servers, physical layer management systems, and power-over-Ethernet equipment as can be found in data centers/telecommunications rooms; security devices (cameras and other sensors, etc.) and door access equipment; and telephones, computers, fax machines, printers and other peripherals as can be found in workstation areas. Communication system  30  can further include cabinets, racks, cable management and overhead routing systems, and other such equipment. 
     Communication cables  32  and  33  are shown in the form of an unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cable, and more particularly a CAT6A cable which can operate at 10 Gb/s. However, the present invention can be applied to and/or implemented in connection with a variety of communications cables. Cables  33  can be terminated directly into equipment  34 , or alternatively, can be terminated in a variety of punchdown or jack modules  40  such as RJ45 type, jack module cassettes, and many other connector types, or combinations thereof. Patch cables  32  are typically terminated in plugs  36 . 
       FIG. 6  shows a more detailed exploded view of jack  40  which generally includes housing  42  that fits an RJ45 plug, a nose  44  that has eight PICs  56  that mate with a plug and wrap around sled  60 , and interface with a rigid board  46 . Rigid board  46  connects to IDCs  48 , and rear sled  50  that holds the IDCs. A wire cap  52  allows for wires within cabling to connect with the IDCs, and this is also part of the jacks of  FIGS. 1-2 , although not shown in the views. Nose  44  includes a flex circuit board  54 , plug interface contacts  56 , front bottom sled  58  and front top sled  60 .  FIGS. 1 and 2  are different from  FIG. 6  in that they respectively show the two foil label designs  24 ,  28 , whereas  FIG. 6  illustrates an improved foil label  70  (see also  FIG. 7 ) having a first side  72  and a mirror image second side  74 , with a gap  76  therebetween. The design of rigid board  46  described herein works with all three of these foils  24 ,  28  and  70 . Like foil  28 , foil label  70  includes extensions  78  that help reduce coupling between plugs and PICs in adjacent jacks. 
     Crosstalk compensation components can be included on both PICs  56  and flexible board  54 , as shown in  FIG. 8  and  FIGS. 9-10 , respectively.  FIG. 8  shows the PICs  56  in order from the first through the eighth contacts. Areas shown in  FIG. 8  include: (a) an area  81  that creates capacitive and inductive coupling between the conductors  4  and  6  in the nose (compensation between pair  4 - 5  and pair  3 - 6 ); (b) an area  83  that creates capacitive and inductive coupling between conductors  6  and  8  in the nose (compensation between pair  3 - 6  and pair  7 - 8 ); (c) an area  85  that creates capacitive coupling between conductors  3  and  5  in the nose (compensation between pair  4 - 5  and pair  3 - 6 ); and (d) an area  87  that creates capacitive and inductive coupling between conductors  1  and  3  in the nose (compensation between pair  3 - 6  and pair  1 - 2 ). An area  89  of the nose that interfaces with the plug is removed for clarity. In  FIG. 9 , the flex board  54  with its capacitors is shown. The portion of the flex board that makes contact with the PICs at the nose is shown at  91 , and the contact areas  1 ″- 8 ″ make contact with plug interface contacts  1 - 8  as shown in  FIG. 8 . Referring particularly to  FIGS. 11 and 12 , rigid board  46  also includes crosstalk compensation components (either the same or opposite of polarity of plug crosstalk components), which are identified particularly in  FIG. 12 , with the exception of C 45 . C 45  improves return loss margin at higher frequencies in pair  4 - 5  by reducing the relatively high impedance of the second impedance region, as previously discussed. Although the return loss gets relatively worse at lower frequencies as a result of this modification, the overall margin improves over the frequency band of interest. Rigid board  46  includes lattice type compensation as also discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,137,141. 
     One of the novel aspects of the present invention is that it addresses a naturally unbalanced coupling which exists between all pairs and the foil label on the jack. The primary reason for this unbalance is shown in  FIG. 6 . The IDCs  48  that are near the edge of the jack (pins  5 ,  2 ,  6 ,  7 ) capacitively couple more strongly to the foil than the IDCs  48  (pins  4 ,  1 ,  3 ,  8 ) not near the edge of the jack. This is especially true on pair  4 - 5  and pair  1 - 2  where IDCs  5  and  2  are near the foil, and  1  and  4  are far away from it. 
     An embodiment of a rigid board solution for balancing the pairs with respect to the foil shield is shown in  FIG. 11 .  FIG. 11  shows the location of foil covering  70  at D (labeled D( 70 ) in the figure). In this embodiment rigid board  46  has four layers of conductive traces. The IDC vias receive and retain IDCs. The IDC vias are numbered  5 ′- 4 ′- 1 ′- 2 ′ at the top of the board in  FIGS. 11 , and  7 ′- 8 ′- 3 ′- 6 ′ on the bottom edge of the board, and are also plated through holes which interconnect some of the traces on the various layers. Signals or noise can couple relatively strongly to foil label  70 , particularly through the IDC vias and IDCs  5 ′,  2 ′,  6 ′, and  7 ′. For pair  4 - 5 , for example, IDC via  5 ′ and IDC  5 ′ are much closer to the foil label  70  than IDC via  4 ′ and IDC  4 ′ are. To balance this pair, conductive trace stub  90  is routed close to the edge of board  46  near the foil  70  and is electrically connected to trace  4  (a conductive trace interconnecting PIC via  4  with IDC via  4 ′) by its connection to PIC via  4 . Stub  90  thereby balances conductor  4  with respect to conductor  5  and the foil. Additionally and/or alternatively, trace  4  can be routed relatively close to the edge of rigid board  46  to increase the coupling to foil  70 . In the embodiment shown stub  90  is 0.008 inches wide by 0.220 inches long in one half ounce copper (approximately 0.0007 inches thick), although other thicknesses, widths and lengths are possible.  FIG. 11  shows at  1 - 8  the vias where the corresponding plug interface contacts are attached to the rigid board  48 . 
     Similarly for pair  1 - 2 , for example, IDC via  2 ′ and IDC  2 ′ are much closer to foil  70  than IDC via  1 ′ and IDC  1 ′ are. To balance this pair, conductive trace stub  92  is routed close to the edge of board  46  near the foil  70  and connected to trace  1  (conductive trace interconnecting PIC via  1  with IDC via 1 ′) via plated through hole  94 . Stub  92  is similar to stub  90 ; however, because of space limitations on rigid board  46 , stub  92  is only 0.005 inches wide by 0.075 inches long, also in one ounce copper (approximately 0.0014 inches thick plus additional plating to achieve a thickness between 0.002-0.0035), although other thicknesses, widths and lengths are possible. To compensate for this relatively short length the pair  1 - 2  is further balanced by moving trace  1  very close to the board edge (closer to foil  70 ), and plated through hole  94  provides significant surface area in a third dimension (board thickness) which also capacitively couples to foil  70 , giving stronger coupling between conductor  1  and the foil  70 , thereby balancing the pair  1 - 2  with respect to foil  70 . Unplated through holes generally at  96  reduce capacitance between traces  4  and  5  closer to the area of NEXT compensation to lessen the effects of compensation elements on return loss, by better impedance matching. 
     The result of the pair balancing with respect to the foil, and the use of a split foil is illustrated in  FIG. 13 . Capacitive couplings  101  between neighboring foils  72  and  74  are significantly attenuated by the gaps  76 . The present invention achieves less common mode current I′ in the direction of arrowCon the foil due to pair balancing relative to the foil, and the split foil eliminates the low-loss path for propagation of the common mode current from adjacent jack to adjacent jack. The overall improvement in alien crosstalk margin has been shown to be at least  4  dB with the improvements of the present invention. Further, the present invention can be used advantageously with each of the symmetric foil designs of  FIGS. 1, 2, 6 and 14 , although the designs of  FIGS. 1 and 2  would not have the characteristics and advantages of the split shield.  FIG. 14  includes a continuous single piece foil  103  with a gap  105  in the metallization. 
     In other aspects of the present invention, through hole  100  (shown in  FIG. 11 ) is meant to have the opposite effect as C 45 , and through hole  98  can be eliminated as unnecessary. The addition of capacitor C 24  and elimination of C 15  improves NEXT on pair combination  45 - 12 , relative to the invention of U.S. Pat. No. 8,137,141. Some other comparisons to U.S. Pat. No. 8,137,141 are as follows. Using inductive trace L 3 , along with the new inductor L 3 L, connects trace  3  to C 38  and uses the lattice compensation and improves  36 - 78  NEXT. Changing the orientation of L 6  to move it further away from the side of the rigid board reduces coupling to the foil. Moving the location of C 58  and C 16  better accommodates the new artwork of the present invention. 
     The asymmetric foil designs of  FIGS. 15-17  typically require modifications to the balance circuitry shown in  FIG. 11 , such as smaller balance components on the side of rigid board  46  which have less, or no, conductive shielding. That is, smaller balance components are being provided on a particular portion of the rigid board that does not lie adjacent any conductive foil or shielding. Conceptually, each differential pair needs to achieve balance with each part of the foil so multiple foil parts require each foil part to be balanced with respect to the jack.  FIG. 15  illustrates an embodiment of the foil label  107  where one side  109  does not have any metal (note that the embodiment shown here could be flipped so the opposite side is metalized). In the embodiment of the  FIG. 15 , the side  109  without metal may consist of adhesive, paint, and protective layers only, while the other side  111  is provided with a metal liner.  FIG. 16  illustrates an embodiment of the foil label  113  with areas  115  selectively chosen for metallization; and  FIG. 17  illustrates an embodiment of the foil label  117  which is an L-shaped metalized foil where one side of the jack and the top or base are covered by the foil leaving one side without any covering. Note that the embodiment shown in  FIG. 17  can be modified by making the opposite side with a foil and the side shown in  FIG. 17  removed. 
     Alternative embodiments of the present invention include a jack with the circuit board of  FIG. 11 , but with a capacitor C 15  between IDC vias  1  and  5 , or a jack with the circuit board of  FIG. 11 , but with capacitor C 24  completely removed from the board along with any traces connected to it. Another alternative embodiment of the present invention eliminates the flex board. 
     While this invention has been described as having a preferred design, the present invention can be further modified within the spirit and scope of this disclosure. This application is therefore intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the invention using its general principles.

Technology Classification (CPC): 7