Patent ID: 6899566

Claim:
An electrical connector assembly comprising: a header connector; an array of signal contacts secured to said header connector and arranged in a pattern of signal contact pairs; an array of ground shields secured to said header connector, each ground shield having one of an L-shape and C-shape and isolating only one side and at least one end of a corresponding signal contact pair; and a receptacle connector including a mating face having an array of contact-receiving holes, said contact-receiving holes being arranged in hole pairs corresponding to said pattern, said hole pairs being matable with said signal contact pairs, each hole pair including first and second holes spaced apart by a hole-to-hole distance, each hole pair being spaced apart from adjacent hole pairs by a hole pair-to-pair distance that differs from said hole-to-hole distance, said hole-to-hole distance within a first hole pair being less than said hole pair-to-pair distance between any of said adjacent hole pairs, wherein said mating face of said receptacle connector further includes an array of notches adapted to receive said ground shields, each notch having one of an L-shape and C-shape that partially surrounds a corresponding hole pair, wherein each notch includes a blade receiving portion and at least one leg receiving portion, said at least one leg receiving portion having a length that differs from a length of said blade receiving portions.