Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US20030207623?dq=6,998,619
Timestamp: 2017-11-18 13:20:10
Document Index: 515978384

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 68', 'art 68', 'art 28', 'art 30', 'art 28', 'art 28', 'art 28']

Patent US20030207623 - High frequency electrical connector - Google Patents
A high frequency electrical connector including a plurality of parallel contacts, a plurality of terminals, and conductors interconnecting the contacts to the terminals in a manner such that signals flowing through proximate contacts are transmitted in opposite directions to reduce near-end crosstal...http://www.google.com/patents/US20030207623?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US20030207623 - High frequency electrical connector
Publication number US20030207623 A1
Application number US 10/444,412
Also published as CN1122170A, DE69508305D1, DE69508305T2, EP0688473A1, EP0688473A4, EP0688473B1, US5639266, US6602097, US6877222, WO1995019056A1
Publication number 10444412, 444412, US 2003/0207623 A1, US 2003/207623 A1, US 20030207623 A1, US 20030207623A1, US 2003207623 A1, US 2003207623A1, US-A1-20030207623, US-A1-2003207623, US2003/0207623A1, US2003/207623A1, US20030207623 A1, US20030207623A1, US2003207623 A1, US2003207623A1
Inventors Anila Patel
Patent Citations (1), Referenced by (63), Classifications (18), Legal Events (5)
US 20030207623 A1
1. A method for reducing electrical crosstalk and common mode interference in a modular jack, comprising the steps of:
(a.) positioning conductive means in said jack in a first plane which is comprised of a rear section having an upper edge, an upper section extending forwardly from the upper edge of said vertical section and itself having a front edge and a terminal angular plane sloping downwardly and rearwardly from said front edge; and
(b.) positioning other conductive means in said jack in a second plane which has a lower section having an upper edge and an oblique section extending upwardly and forwardly from said upper edge.
This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/014,439 which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/507,468 filed Aug. 23, 1995, which in turn is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/327,425 filed Oct. 21, 1994, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,639,266, which in turn is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/179,983, now abandoned.
Near-end crosstalk (“NEXT”) is especially troublesome in the case of telecommunication connectors of the type specified in sub-part F of FCC part 68.500, commonly referred to as modular connectors. Such modular connectors include modular plugs and modular jacks. The ELA/TIA of ANSI has promulgated electrical specifications for near-end crosstalk isolation in network connectors to ensure that the connectors themselves do not compromise the overall performance of the unshielded twisted pair interconnect hardware typically used in LAN systems. The EIA/TIA Category 5 electrical specifications specify the minimum near-end crosstalk isolation for connectors used in 100 ohm unshielded twisted pair Ethernet type interconnects at speeds of up to 100 MHz.
High speed data transmission cable typically comprise four circuits defined by eight wires arranged in four twisted pairs. The cable is typically terminated by modular plugs having eight contacts, and specified ones of the four pairs of the plug contacts are assigned to terminate respective specified ones of the four cable wire pairs according to ANSI/EIA/TIA standard 568. The four pairs of plug contacts in turn engage four corresponding pairs of jack contacts. In particular, the standard 568 contact assignment for the wire pair designated “1” is the pair of plug and jack contacts located at the 4-5 contact positions. The cable wires of the pair designated “3” are, according to standard 568, terminated by the plug and jack contacts located at the 3-6 positions which straddle the “4-5” plug and jack contacts that terminate wire pair “1”. Near-end crosstalk between wire pairs “1” and “3” during high speed data transmission has been found to be particularly troublesome in connectors that terminate cable according to standard 568.
In a preferred embodiment, the modular jack has a plurality of contact/terminal wires, each of which defines a contact, a pin-like terminal, and a conductor portion interconnecting the contact and terminal. The contact/terminal wires of a first set each have a “rearward facing” configuration, i.e., the free end of the jack contact faces toward the closed end of the jack with the respective jack terminal being interconnected to the contact at the region of the open end of the jack so that signals transmitted through the contact flow toward the open end of the jack. In accordance with the invention, the jack is provided with a second set of contact/terminal wires, each of which is configured to define a jack contact that “faces forwardly” , i.e., the free end of the jack contact faces toward the open end of the jack with the respective jack terminal being interconnected to the contact at the region of the closed end of the jack. Signals transmitted through the contacts of the second set flow toward the closed end of the jack, i.e., in a direction substantially opposite to the direction in which the signals flow through the contacts of the first set.
[0026]FIG. 1a shows in exploded schematic perspective a jack connector in accordance with the invention in use for coupling high speed communication equipment to a printed circuit board via a communication cable terminated by a modular plug;
[0027]FIG. 1b is a front elevation view of a jack connector in accordance with an embodiment of the invention illustrating the wire-plug contact assignments specified for a mating plug by ANSI/EIA/TIA standard 568 by reference to the jack contacts to be engaged by those plug contacts;
[0028]FIG. 2 is a longitudinal section view of the jack illustrated in FIG. 1b taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1b;
[0029]FIG. 3 is a top plan view of an assembly of the contact housing part and the contact/terminal wires of the jack illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2;
[0030]FIG. 4 is a side elevation view of the assembly illustrated in FIG. 3; and
[0031]FIG. 5 is a bottom plan view of the assembly illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4.
Referring now to the drawings wherein like reference characters designate identical or corresponding parts throughout the several views, FIG. 1 a illustrates a jack 10 in accordance with the invention for coupling high speed communication hardware 12 to a printed circuit board 14 via a high speed communication cable 16 terminated by a modular plug 18. The jack 10 has a receptacle 20 adapted to receive the modular plug 18. Coupling of the hardware 12 to the printed circuit board 14 is made more convenient by the use of connectors 10 and 18 having standard modular features of the type specified in sub-part F of F.C.C. part 68.500. The connector 10 is mechanically mounted to the printed circuit board 14 by means of posts 22 which are received in corresponding openings 23 in the printed circuit board.
The rearward facing contacts 26 a are positioned with respect to the forward facing contacts 26 b in accordance with an arrangement which has been found to provide substantial isolation of near-end crosstalk when jack 10 is coupled to a modular plug whose contacts are assigned to terminate the cable wires according to ANSI/EIA/TIA standard 568. Twisted wire or cable signal pair “3” assigned to plug/jack contacts at positions “P3” and “P6” is typically used to transmit and receive information in such cable, and in accordance with the invention, the jack contact/terminal wires situated at positions “P3” and “P6” have asymmetrical forward and rearward facing configurations. Likewise, the jack contacts that are situated at positions “P4” and “P5” which are engaged by corresponding plug contacts that terminate the twisted wire pair designated “1” are asymmetrical, rearward and forward facing contacts 26 a and 26 b. In the illustrated embodiment, the jack contacts situated at positions “P1” and “P2” which are engaged by corresponding plug contacts that terminate twisted wire pair “2” are both rearward facing contacts 26 a as are the jack contacts situated at positions “P7” and “P8” that are engaged by corresponding plug contacts that terminate twisted wire pair “4”. It has been found that with this particular positional arrangement of the eight forward facing (F) and rearward facing (R) jack contacts, i.e., RRFRFRRR, optimum isolation for source/victim twisted wire pairs “1” and “3” (which generally generate the greatest NEXT) is achieved when coupled to an eight position modular plug whose contacts are assigned to terminate 4 twisted wire pair cable according to ANSI EIA/TIA standard 568. This is accomplished without introducing additional NEXT failures associated with the jack contacts at positions “P4”-“P5” (wire pair“1”) and the jack contacts at positions “P1”-“P2” (wire pair “2”) or “P7”-“P8” (wire pair “4”).
Jack housing 24 comprises a contact housing part 28 and an outer housing part 30 formed of suitable plastic material which together define the receptacle 20 for receiving a modular plug of the type designated 18 in FIG. 1a. Contact housing part 28 has a generally L-shaped configuration including a back portion 34 and a frame-shaped top portion 36 extending from the top of the back portion 34 in a cantilever fashion. A first set of four tapered parallel bores 40 extend through the rear part of the back portion 34, and a second set of four tapered parallel bores 40 extend through the front part of back portion 34. As seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, the central upper region of the front part of back portion 34 is notched out at 41 so that the two of the four bores 40, designated 40′, that extend through the front part of back portion 34 at locations corresponding to contact positions 3 and 5, open onto an upwardly facing surface 42 situated at about the mid-height of back portion 34. Thus, six full height bores 40 open onto the top surface of back portion 34 while two bores 40′ open onto the surface 42 situated at the mid-height of the back portion. As best seen in FIG. 3, the frame-shaped top portion 36 includes a pair of elongate side portions 44 projecting forwardly from the upper end of back portion 34 and a transversely extending front portion 46 extending transversely between side portions 44. Guide channels 48 are formed on the upper surface of front portion 46 at locations corresponding to contact positions P1, P2, P4 and P6-P8, i.e., at locations corresponding to the positions of rearward facing contacts 26 a and curve around to the lower surface of the front portion 46 with the curved portion recessed behind the front surface 46′ of front portion 46. As seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, the transverse front portion 46 has upwardly facing stop surfaces 50 formed at locations corresponding to contact positions P3 and P5, i.e., at locations corresponding to the positions of forward facing contacts 26 b.
Each of the six “rearward” contact/terminal wires 110 a is formed of an appropriate resilient conductive material, such as phosphor bronze, and is shaped to include a length portion defining a rearwardly facing contact 26 a, a length portion defining an associated pin-like terminal 25 a and a length portion defining a conductor 112 a interconnecting the contact 26 a from its front end 26 a′ to terminal 25 a. The rearward contact/terminal wires 110 a are assembled to contact housing part 28 as follows. Each pin-like terminal 25 a is positioned in a respective one of the six full height bores 40 and has a length such that a bottom length portion 25 a′ projects out from the bottom of bore 40 for connection to the printed circuit. Each conductor 112 a extends longitudinally from the upper end of a respective terminal 25 a across the open space defined by frame-shaped top portion 36 and is received in a respective one of the guide channels 48 formed in front portion 46. Each contact 26 a extends rearwardly in a downward direction from the curved front end of a respective conductor 112 a situated in a guide channel 48 and terminates at the free end 27 a.
Each of the two “forward” contacts/terminal wires 110 b is also formed of resilient conductive material and is shaped to include a length portion defining forwardly facing contact 26 b, a length portion defining an associated pin-like terminal 25 b and a length portion defining a conductor 112 b interconnecting the contact 26 b from its rear end 26 b′ to terminal 25 b. The forward contact/terminal wires 110 b are assembled to contact housing part 28 as follows. Each pin-like terminal 25 b is positioned in a respective one of the two shorter bores 40′ and has a length such that a bottom length portion 25 b′ projects out from the bottom of bore 40′ for connection to the printed circuit. Each conductor 112 b extends longitudinally from the upper end of a respective terminal 25 b for a relatively short distance. Each contact 26 b extends forwardly in an upward direction from the front end of a respective conductor 112 b and terminates at the free end 27 b which is shaped to overlie a respective one of the stop surfaces 50 (FIG. 2) formed in front portion 46.
Obviously, numerous modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. The invention may be applied in connectors other than of a type adapted for use with cables whose wires are assigned to contacts in a manner other than as specified by ETA/TIA standard 568 of ANSI. For example, the arrangement of forward and rearward facing contacts may vary from that shown and described, e.g., and/or signals may flow from a forward facing contact in one direction to and through a rearward facing contact in another direction. Connectors in accordance with the invention may be other than of a type adapted for connection to printed circuit boards, and other configurations of conductors, terminals and contacts are possible in accordance with the invention. Accordingly, it is understood that other embodiments of the invention are possible in the light of the above teachings.
International Classification H01R24/64, H01R13/6474, H01R13/6461, H01R9/22, H05K1/00, H01R13/33, H01R24/00, H01L43/00
Cooperative Classification Y10T29/49169, Y10T29/4922, Y10T29/49204, Y10S439/941, H01R24/64, H01R13/6474, H01R13/6461