PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-9490581-B2
Application Number: US-201414543803-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B2

Title: Connector insert assembly

Abstract:
Connector inserts having contacts with a high-impedance for good signal integrity and low insertion loss, a pleasant physical appearance, and that may be reliably manufactured. One example may provide connector inserts having signal contacts with a high impedance in order to improve signal integrity to allow high data rates. Another may provide connector inserts having a pleasant appearance by providing features to prevent light gaps from occurring between a plastic tip at a front of the connector insert and a connector insert shield. Another may provide reliable manufacturing by crimping a cap used to secure a cable to a connector insert with a multi-section die, where contacting surfaces of the die include various points or peaks along their surface. These points may effectively wrinkle or jog the perimeter of the cap, thereby reducing the dimensions of a cross-section of the cable.

Claims:
What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A connector insert comprising:
 a front housing portion; 
 a non-conductive tip around a front opening, the non-conductive tip having a first rear edge, a second rear edge behind the first rear edge, and a ledge between the first rear edge and the second rear edge; 
 a shield around the front housing portion, the shield meeting the non-conductive tip at the first rear edge of the non-conductive tip; and 
 a ground contact near the front opening and located in an opening in the front housing portion to contact the shield, the opening in the front housing portion formed such that it is behind the second rear edge of the non-conductive tip. 
 
     
     
       2. The connector insert of  claim 1  wherein the non-conductive tip is formed with the front housing portion. 
     
     
       3. The connector insert of  claim 2  wherein the non-conductive tip is formed of plastic. 
     
     
       4. The connector insert of  claim 1  further comprising a rear housing portion, wherein the rear housing portion is arranged to push the shield forward on the connector insert such that the shield remains in close contact with the first rear edge of the non-conductive tip. 
     
     
       5. The connector insert of  claim 4  wherein the rear housing portion comprises a plurality of arms that are compressed toward each other during assembly to allow the shield to be slid over the rear housing portion and the front housing portion. 
     
     
       6. The connector insert of  claim 5  wherein the arms have a sloped edge contacting the shield such that as the arms are released from compression they push the shield towards a front of the connector insert. 
     
     
       7. The connector insert of  claim 4  wherein the rear housing portion and the front housing portion are formed as a single piece. 
     
     
       8. The connector insert of  claim 4  wherein the rear housing portion and the front housing portion are formed as separate pieces. 
     
     
       9. A connector insert comprising:
 a housing; 
 a central ground plane in the housing; 
 a shield around the housing and having a first contour; 
 a first plurality of contacts above the central ground plane, each having a shape in a deflected state to substantially match the first contour; and 
 a second plurality of contacts below the central ground plane, each having a shape in a deflected state to substantially match the first contour. 
 
     
     
       10. The connector insert of  claim 9  wherein there is a first variation between the shape of the contact and the first contour, wherein the first variation is determined at least in part based on a desired contact force. 
     
     
       11. The connector insert of  claim 9  wherein the first contour is flat. 
     
     
       12. The connector insert of  claim 9  wherein the central ground plane has a second contour, wherein each of the plurality of contacts have a shape to substantially match second first contour. 
     
     
       13. The connector insert of  claim 12  wherein the second contour is flat. 
     
     
       14. The connector insert of  claim 9  wherein each contact has an angled leading edge, the leading edge having a tip, the tip having a surface at least approximately parallel to the shield around the connector insert when the contact is in the deflected state. 
     
     
       15. A connector insert comprising:
 a housing having a body and a plurality of flexible rear arms, where outer edges of the flexible rear arms are located at positions spaced further than the body of the housing and where the flexible rear arms may be compressed towards each other to be spaced narrower than the body of housing; 
 a front tip; and 
 a shield over the body of the housing and between the front tip and the flexible rear arms and contacting the front tip and the flexible rear arms. 
 
     
     
       16. The connector insert of  claim 15  further comprising a ground contact located in an opening in the housing near the front opening of the connector insert, where the opening for the ground contact has a front edge that is behind the rear of the front tip away from the front opening of the connector insert. 
     
     
       17. The connector insert of  claim 16  where the front edge of the opening for the ground contact is behind a leading edge of the shield. 
     
     
       18. The connector insert of  claim 15  wherein the flexible rear arms have a sloped leading edge contacting the shield such that as the arms are released from compression they push the shield towards the front tip. 
     
     
       19. The connector insert of  claim 18  further comprising a rear housing portion, where the rear housing portion prevents the flexible rear arms from being compressed towards each after assembly. 
     
     
       20. The connector insert of  claim 15  wherein the front tip is nonconductive and is a front end of the housing. 
     
     
       21. The connector insert of  claim 1  wherein the shield and the ground contact are formed separately.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional patent application No. 62/003,012, filed May 26, 2014, which is incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     The amount of data transferred between electronic devices has grown tremendously the last several years. Large amounts of audio, streaming video, text, and other types of data content are now regularly transferred among desktop and portable computers, media devices, handheld media devices, displays, storage devices, and other types of electronic devices. Power may be transferred with this data, or power may be transferred separately. 
     Power and data may be conveyed over cables that may include wire conductors, fiber optic cables, or some combination of these or other conductors. Cable assemblies may include a connector insert at each end of a cable, though other cable assemblies may be connected or tethered to an electronic device in a dedicated manner. The connector inserts may be inserted into receptacles in the communicating electronic devices to form pathways for power and data. 
     The data rates through these connector inserts may be quite high. To provide these high data rates, it may be desirable that these connector inserts have a high signal integrity and low insertion loss. This may require the impedance of signal contacts in the connector insert to be high. 
     These connector inserts may be inserted into a device receptacle once or more each day for multiple years. It may be desirable that these connector inserts have and maintain a pleasant physical appearance as a poor appearance may lead to user dissatisfaction with both the cable assembly and the electronic devices that it connects to. 
     Electronic devices may be sold in the millions, with an attendant number of cable assemblies and their connector inserts sold alongside. With such volumes, any difficulties in the manufacturing process may become significant. For such reasons, it may be desirable that these connector inserts may be reliably manufactured. 
     Thus, what is needed are connector inserts having signal contacts with a high-impedance for good signal integrity and low insertion loss, a pleasant physical appearance, and that may be reliably manufactured. 
     SUMMARY 
     Accordingly, embodiments of the present invention may provide connector inserts having contacts with a high-impedance for good signal integrity and low insertion loss, a pleasant physical appearance, and that may be reliably manufactured. 
     An illustrative embodiment of the present invention may provide connector inserts having signal contacts with a high impedance to improve signal integrity and low insertion loss in order to allow high data rates. For example, various embodiments of the present invention may include ground planes between rows of contacts in a connector in order to electrically isolate signals in the different rows from each other. Also, a grounded shield may surround these rows of contacts. The ground plane and shield may increase capacitance to the signal contacts, thereby lowering the impedance at the contacts and degrading signal integrity. Accordingly, in order to improve signal integrity, embodiments of the present invention may thin or reduce thicknesses of one or more of the shield, ground plane, or contacts in order to increase the distances between the structures. This increase in distance may increase the impedance at the contacts. 
     In other embodiments of the present invention, the shape of a signal contact when it is in a deflected or inserted state may be optimized. For example, a contact may be contoured to be at a maximum distance from the ground plane and shield over its length in order to increase impedance at the contact. In a specific embodiment of the present invention where the ground plane and shield are substantially flat, the signal contacts may be substantially flat as well, and where either or both the ground plane and shield are curved, the signal contacts may be substantially curved as well. 
     In this embodiment of the present invention, the signal contacts of a connector insert may be designed to be substantially flat when the connector insert is inserted into a connector receptacle. This design may also include a desired normal force to be applied to a contact on a connector receptacle by a connector insert signal contact. From this design, the shape of the connector insert signal contacts when the connector insert is not inserted in a connector receptacle may be determined. That is, from knowing the shape of a connector insert signal contact in a deflected state and the desired normal force to be made during a connection, the shape of a connector insert signal contact in a non-deflected state may be determined. The connector insert signal contacts may be manufactured using the determined non-deflected state information. This stands in contrast to typical design procedures that design a contact beginning with the non-deflected state. 
     These and other embodiments of the present invention may provide connector inserts having a pleasant appearance. In these embodiments, a leading edge of the connector insert may be a plastic tip. This plastic tip may be a front portion of a housing in the connector insert. Embodiments of the present invention may provide features to prevent light gaps from occurring between the plastic tip and shield. One illustrative embodiment of the present invention may provide a step or ledge on the plastic tip to block light from passing between the plastic tip and the shield. In other embodiments of the present invention, a force may be exerted on the shield acting to keep the shield adjacent to, or in proximity of, the plastic tip. This force may be applied at a rear of the shield by one or more arms having ramped surfaces, where the arms are biased in an outward direction and the ramps are arranged to apply a force to the shield. 
     After a connector insert portion has been manufactured, a cable may be attached to it. The cable may include a ground shield or braiding. During cable attachment, the braiding may be pulled back and a ground cap may be placed over the braiding. The cap may then be crimped to secure the cable in place. The crimping may be done with a multi-section die, where contacting surfaces of the die include various points or peaks along their surface. These points may effectively wrinkle or jog the perimeter of the cap, thereby reducing the dimensions of a cross-section of the cable. This reduction in cross section may improve the flow of plastic while a strain relief is formed around the cable. This may, in turn, increase the manufacturability of the connector insert. 
     In various embodiments of the present invention, contacts, shields, and other conductive portions of connector inserts and receptacles may be formed by stamping, metal-injection molding, machining, micro-machining, 3-D printing, or other manufacturing process. The conductive portions may be formed of stainless steel, steel, copper, copper titanium, phosphor bronze, or other material or combination of materials. They may be plated or coated with nickel, gold, or other material. The nonconductive portions may be formed using injection or other molding, 3-D printing, machining, or other manufacturing process. The nonconductive portions may be formed of silicon or silicone, rubber, hard rubber, plastic, nylon, liquid-crystal polymers (LCPs), or other nonconductive material or combination of materials. The printed circuit boards used may be formed of FR-4, BT or other material. Printed circuit boards may be replaced by other substrates, such as flexible circuit boards, in many embodiments of the present invention. 
     Embodiments of the present invention may provide connector inserts and receptacles that may be located in, and may connect to, various types of devices, such as portable computing devices, tablet computers, desktop computers, laptops, all-in-one computers, wearable computing devices, cell phones, smart phones, media phones, storage devices, portable media players, navigation systems, monitors, power supplies, adapters, remote control devices, chargers, and other devices. These connector inserts and receptacles may provide pathways for signals that are compliant with various standards such as one of the Universal Serial Bus (USB) standards including USB-C, High-Definition Multimedia Interface® (HDMI), Digital Visual Interface (DVI), Ethernet, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt™, Lightning™, Joint Test Action Group (JTAG), test-access-port (TAP), Directed Automated Random Testing (DART), universal asynchronous receiver/transmitters (UARTs), clock signals, power signals, and other types of standard, non-standard, and proprietary interfaces and combinations thereof that have been developed, are being developed, or will be developed in the future. Other embodiments of the present invention may provide connector inserts and receptacles that may be used to provide a reduced set of functions for one or more of these standards. In various embodiments of the present invention, these interconnect paths provided by these connector inserts and receptacles may be used to convey power, ground, signals, test points, and other voltage, current, data, or other information. 
     Various embodiments of the present invention may incorporate one or more of these and the other features described herein. A better understanding of the nature and advantages of the present invention may be gained by reference to the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a connector insert according to an embodiment of the present invention that has been inserted into a connector receptacle according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a portion of a connector system according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  illustrates signal contacts in a deflected or inserted state according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  illustrates signal contact in a non-deflected or extracted state according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 5  illustrates a front end of a connector insert according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 6  illustrates a portion of a connector insert according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 7  illustrates a portion of a connector insert according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 8  illustrates a cutaway view of a portion of a connector insert according to an embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 9  illustrates a structure for crimping a cap around an end of a cable according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a connector insert according to embodiments of the present invention that is been inserted into a connector receptacle according to an embodiment of the present invention. This figure, as with the other included figures, is shown for illustrative purposes and does not limit either the possible embodiments of the present invention or the claims. 
     Specifically, connector insert  110  has been inserted into connector receptacle  120 . Receptacle  120  may be located in various types of devices, such as portable computing devices, tablet computers, desktop computers, laptops, all-in-one computers, wearable computing devices, cell phones, smart phones, media phones, storage devices, portable media players, navigation systems, monitors, power supplies, adapters, remote control devices, chargers, and other devices. Connector insert  110  and receptacle  120  may provide pathways for signals that are compliant with various standards such as one of the Universal Serial Bus (USB) standards including USB-C, High-Definition Multimedia Interface® (HDMI), Digital Visual Interface (DVI), Ethernet, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt™, Lightning™, Joint Test Action Group (JTAG), test-access-port (TAP), Directed Automated Random Testing (DART), universal asynchronous receiver/transmitters (UARTs), clock signals, power signals, and other types of standard, non-standard, and proprietary interfaces and combinations thereof that have been developed, are being developed, or will be developed in the future. In other embodiments of the present invention, connector insert  110  and receptacle  120  may be used to provide a reduced set of functions for one or more of these standards. In various embodiments of the present invention, these interconnect paths provided by connector insert  110  and receptacle  120  may be used to convey power, ground, signals, test points, and other voltage, current, data, or other information. More information about connector insert  110  and receptacle  120  may be found in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/543,711, filed Nov. 17, 2014, titled CONNECTOR RECEPTACLE HAVING A SHIELD, which is incorporated by reference. 
     Connector insert  110  may include a number of contacts for conveying signals. These signals may include high-speed differential signals, as well as other types of signals. To increase signal integrity and reduce insertion losses, it may be desirable to increase an impedance of the signal contacts. This may be done by embodiments of the present invention by decreasing capacitances between the signal contacts in the connector insert to other conductive structures in the connector insert  110  and connector receptacle  120 . This may be done by increasing the physical spacing between the signal contacts and these other structures. 
     Various connector receptacles may include ground structures, such as shields or center ground planes, or both. These shields and ground planes may have a particularly contour, which may be but is not necessarily flat. The signal contacts may then be designed to have a similar contour when they are deflected due to the connector insert being inserted into a connector receptacle. From this deflected shape, a non-deflected shape may be determined. From this non-deflected shape the contact may be formed. Variations between the shape of the contact and the shape of the ground structures may exist. These variations may be adjusted based at least in part on a desired contact force between the contact for the connector insert and a corresponding contact in a connector receptacle. This contact force may also at least partially account for differences between the deflected and non-deflected shapes of the contact for the connector insert. An example of this is shown in the following figures. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates a portion of a connector system according to an embodiment of the present invention. This figure includes a connector insert  110  having signal contacts  112  and  114 , shield  118 , and center ground plane  119 . This figure also includes a connector receptacle  120  including a tongue  122  having a center ground plane  129 , shield  128 , and contacts  124 . Contacts  124  may engage contacts  112  and  114  at locations  113  when connector insert  110  is inserted into connector receptacle  120 . 
     Since contacts  112  and  114  are between shield  118  (and shield  128 ) and central ground planes  119  and  129 , contacts  112  and  114  may capacitively couple to shield  118  and center ground planes  119  and  129 . This capacitance may increase with decreasing distance. This increase in capacitance may reduce the impedance at signal contacts  112  and  114 , thereby reducing signal integrity. 
     Accordingly, embodiments of the present invention may reduce a thickness of one or more of signal contacts  112  and  114 , shield  118 , shield  128 , and center ground planes  119  and  129 . These decreasing thicknesses may increase a distance or spacing between these structures, thereby increasing impedance. In other embodiments of the present invention, signal contacts  112  and  114  may be contoured to increase distances, such as distances  202  and  204  to center ground planes  119  and  129 , and distances  208  and  209  to shields  118  and their associated ground contacts. For example, where shield  128  and center ground plane  119  may be curved, contacts  112  and  114  may be curved as well in order to maximize these distances. In a special case as illustrated, center ground plane  119 , center ground plane  129  in the connector receptacle tongue  122 , and shields  118  and  128  have substantially straight or flat surfaces. Accordingly, signal contact  112  and  114  may be arranged to be substantially flat in a deflected state when in the connector insert is inserted into the connector receptacle. 
     Signal contacts  112  and  114  may be designed using a method according to an embodiment of the present invention, where the design process begins with signal contacts  112  and  114  in this nearly flat or straight deflected state. That is, signal contacts may be designed to follow the contours of the central ground planes  119  and  129  and shields  118  and  128  in the state where connector insert  110  is inserted into connector receptacle  120 . A desired normal force at location  113  may be factored in as well. From this, a shape of signal contacts  112  and  114  in a non-deflected or extracted state may be determined. Signal contacts  112  and  114  may be manufactured in this state and used an embodiment of the present invention. This stands in contrast to conventional design techniques that begin by designing a signal contact in a non-deflected or non-inserted state. 
     Unfortunately, it may be problematic to form signal contacts  112  and  114  such that they are completely flat in a deflected state. For example, at least a slight amount of curvature at location  113  may be desirable such that contact is made between signal contact  112  in the connector insert and signal contact  124  in the connector receptacle. Specifically, without such curvature, a portion of connector insert signal contact  112  may rest on a front of the tongue  122 . This may cause contact  112  to lift at location  113  and disconnect from connector receptacle contact  124 . Also, to avoid tongue  122  from engaging an edge of signal contact  112  during insertion, a raised portion  115  having a sloped leading edge and a tip  116  may be included at an end of signal contact  112 . This raised portion  115  may cause a localized drop or dip in the impedance of signal contact  112 . To reduce this dip or reduction in impedance, raised portions  115  may have a substantially flat surface at tip  116  in an attempt to increase the distance between tip  116  and shield  118 . That is, tip  116  may have a top surface that is substantially parallel to shield  118 . 
       FIG. 3  illustrates signal contacts in a deflected or inserted state according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown, contacts  112  may be substantially flat. Deviations from this at location  113  may be present, as described above. From this arrangement, as well as the desired force to be applied at location  113 , the shape of signal contacts  112  in a non-deflected state may be determined. An example is shown in the following figure. 
       FIG. 4  illustrates signal contact in a non-deflected or extracted state according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown, contacts  112  and  114  may bend towards each other in the non-inserted state. Signal contacts  112  and  114  may be manufactured in the non-deflected state and used an embodiment of the present invention. Again, when the connector insert including contact  112  is inserted in a corresponding connector receptacle, contact  112  may defect to a substantially flat or straight position. 
     Various embodiments of the present invention may include a tip, formed of plastic or other material, on a front leading edge of a connector insert. In these embodiments of the present invention, it may be desirable to ensure that there are no gaps or spaces visible between the plastic tip and shield of a connector insert. Accordingly, embodiments of the present invention may provide features to reduce or limit these gaps. Examples are shown in the following figures. 
       FIG. 5  illustrates a front end of a connector insert according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this example, plastic tip  520  may be located on a front of the connector insert next to shield  510 . That is, shield  510  may meet the plastic tip  520  at a rear of the plastic tip  520  away from a front of the connector insert. While plastic tip  520  may be made of plastic, it may instead be formed of other non-conductive material. A plastic tip  520  may be used to avoid marring of the connector insert and corresponding connector receptacle and to preserve their appearance over time. Plastic tip  520  may also be durable as compared to metallic or other types of front ends. Plastic tip  520  may be a front end of a molded portion or housing  524  in the connector insert. 
     A gap  530  between plastic tip  520  and shield  510  may exist. This arrangement may allow light from opening  550  to pass through opening  522 , which may be present for ground contacts  560  to electrically connect to shield  510 , through gap  530  where it may be visible to a user. Accordingly, plastic tip  520  may include a ledge portion  540  to block light that may otherwise pass through gap  530 . Specifically, ledge  540  may be present between edges  544  and  542 . Ledge  540  may effectively cover an end of gap  530 , thereby preventing light leakage. Put another way, opening  522  may be formed such that it has a leading edge  542  that is behind gap  530  in the direction away from the front opening of the connector insert. 
     In other embodiments of the present invention, a force may be applied to the remote end of shield  510  to reduce the gap  530  between shield  510  and plastic tip  520 . An example is shown in the following figure. 
       FIG. 6  illustrates a portion of a connector insert according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this example, shield  510  may be adjacent to or in close proximity to plastic tip  520 . This close proximity may be caused by a force being applied to shield  510 . Specifically, during assembly, arms  620  may be compressed or folded in closer to each other such that shield  510  may be slid over plastic portion  610 . When shield  610  reaches plastic tip  520 , arms  620  may be released, whereupon they may push out and against an end of shield  510 . That is, arms  620  may be biased outward such that when they are released, they push out and against a rear portion of shield  510 . Specifically, a surface  630  of arms  620  may be ramped or sloped such that a force is applied to shield  510  moving it adjacent to or in close proximity to plastic tip  520 . A molded piece  650  may be inserted through a back end of shield  510  in order to force arms  620  outward, thereby holding shield  510  in place against plastic tip  520 . 
     In this example, tape piece  670  may be included. Tape piece  670  may help to prevent signal contacts in the connector insert from contacting shield  510 . Tape piece  670  may be sloped as shown so that it is not caught on the leading edge of shield  510  as shield  510  slides over plastic housing  610  during assembly. 
     Once this connector insertion portion is complete, a housing and cable may be attached to a rear portion of the assembly. This may be done in a way that avoids or reduces various problems in the manufacturing process An example is shown in the following figure. 
       FIG. 7  illustrates a portion of a connector insert according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this example, cable  780  may pass through cap  770 . Cap  770  may be covered or partially covered by strain relief  760 . Conductors  740  in cable  780  may terminate on printed circuit board  730  at contacts  750 . Traces (not shown) on printed circuit board  730  may connect contacts  750  to contacts in the connector insert. The printed circuit board  730  of a connector insert may be housed in housing  720 . 
       FIG. 8  illustrates a cutaway view of a portion of a connector insert according to an embodiment of the present invention. Again, conductors  740  may terminate at pads  750  on printed circuit board  730 . Braiding  810  of cable  780  may be folded back onto itself and crimped by cap  770 . An example of how this crimping maybe done is shown in the following figure. 
       FIG. 9  illustrates a structure for crimping a cap around an end of a cable according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this example, four tool die pieces  900  may be used. These die pieces may be pushed inwards until gap  910  is reduced to a small or zero distance between each tool die  900 . This may crimp cap  770  around the braiding  6410  of cable  780 . The tool die piece  900  may include various points or peaks, such as  920  and  930 . These points may effectively wrinkle or jog the perimeter of the cap, thereby reducing the dimensions of a cross-section of cable  780 . This may improve the flow of plastic while forming strain relief  760  around cable  780 . 
     In various embodiments of the present invention, contacts and other conductive portions of connector inserts and receptacles may be formed by stamping, metal-injection molding, machining, micro-machining, 3-D printing, or other manufacturing process. The conductive portions may be formed of stainless steel, steel, copper, copper titanium, phosphor bronze, or other material or combination of materials. They may be plated or coated with nickel, gold, or other material. The nonconductive portions may be formed using injection or other molding, 3-D printing, machining, or other manufacturing process. The nonconductive portions may be formed of silicon or silicone, rubber, hard rubber, plastic, nylon, liquid-crystal polymers (LCPs), or other nonconductive material or combination of materials. The printed circuit boards used may be formed of FR-4, BT or other material. Printed circuit boards may be replaced by other substrates, such as flexible circuit boards, in many embodiments of the present invention. 
     Embodiments of the present invention may provide connector inserts and receptacles that may be located in, and may connect to, various types of devices, such as portable computing devices, tablet computers, desktop computers, laptops, all-in-one computers, wearable computing devices, cell phones, smart phones, media phones, storage devices, portable media players, navigation systems, monitors, power supplies, adapters, remote control devices, chargers, and other devices. These connector inserts and receptacles may provide pathways for signals that are compliant with various standards such as one of the Universal Serial Bus (USB) standards including USB-C, High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), Digital Visual Interface (DVI), Ethernet, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt, Lightning, Joint Test Action Group (JTAG), test-access-port (TAP), Directed Automated Random Testing (DART), universal asynchronous receiver/transmitters (UARTs), clock signals, power signals, and other types of standard, non-standard, and proprietary interfaces and combinations thereof that have been developed, are being developed, or will be developed in the future. Other embodiments of the present invention may provide connector inserts and receptacles that may be used to provide a reduced set of functions for one or more of these standards. In various embodiments of the present invention, these interconnect paths provided by these connector inserts and receptacles may be used to convey power, ground, signals, test points, and other voltage, current, data, or other information. 
     The above description of embodiments of the invention has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form described, and many modifications and variations are possible in light of the teaching above. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical applications to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. Thus, it will be appreciated that the invention is intended to cover all modifications and equivalents within the scope of the following claims.

Metadata:
Filing Date: 20141117
Publication Date: 20161108
Grant Date: 20161108
Priority Date: 20140526
Inventors: NG NATHAN N.
GAO ZHENG
AMINI MAHMOUD R.
KIM MIN CHUL
ABRAHAM COLIN J.
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "H01R43/26", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "Y10T29/4921", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01R43/20", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01R13/646", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "Y10T29/49206", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01R13/658", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01R13/658", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "Y10T29/49206", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01R43/20", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01R43/20", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "Y10T29/4921", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01R13/658", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "Y10T29/49206", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "Y10T29/4921", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01R13/646", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01R43/26", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 54556745