Patent ID: 7278791

Claim:
A multicontact connector comprising: a support including at least two slots each configured to receive a contact element; and at least a first contact element, the contact element being configured to be connected to another contact element of another, complementary multicontact connector, the contact element comprising: a body including two longitudinal ends, the body being configured to be capable of being mounted in a slot of an insulating insert of a multicontact connector; at least one optical termination at one of the ends of the body; at least one electrical termination at the other one of the ends of the body; and an optoelectronic converter housed at least in part in the body and configured to convert at least one of an optical signal coming from the optical termination and an electrical signal coming from the electrical termination into a respective electrical signal or optical signal for sending to the electrical termination or the optical termination, respectively, the contact element being mounted in a cell of the support; a second contact element with only one of electrical terminations and optical terminations; the connector being configured so that the first and second contact elements are interchangeably mountable in the slots of the support.