Patent ID: 7621089

Claim:
A deck structure comprising a plurality of modular building panels, each of said plurality of building panels including a first element being relatively inflexible and of a material selected from among the group consisting of: stone, mineral, tile, and concrete product, and further including a second element of a fiber-reinforced composite material, said second element being disposed beneath the first element and coupled thereto, said second element supporting the building panel upon two of a plurality of joists of an underlying deck structure, each of said building panels further including a top side, a bottom side and a plurality of side edges extending from said top side to said bottom side, with at least one groove defined on said plurality of side edges; and a connector system defined by a plurality of connectors with each connector having a spline portion extending generally perpendicular to the plurality of joists and generally perpendicular to the side edges of the plurality of building panels and a support portion extending generally parallel to the joists, said spline portion engaging a pair of grooves in the side edges of an adjacent pair of building panels, and said support portion supporting corner regions of the adjacent pair of building panels away from the top face of said joist, with the plurality of connectors being secured to the joists by a plurality of threaded fasteners, and with each connector having a plurality of spacer elements, with said plurality of spacer elements being orthogonally aligned and maintaining a separation between adjacent pairs of the plurality of building panels.