Title: High-density multi-port RJ connector
Abstract: The present invention is directed to a modular jack or RJ connector incorporated into a multi-port arrangement for use as an input/output interface connector for computers and the like. The multi-port connector comprises a single housing having a plurality of openings therein. Each opening is formed to provide at least two connecting ports to receive two corresponding plugs therein. Thus, the opening is formed without a dividing wall separating the two connecting ports. The removal of the dividing wall allows more connecting ports to be incorporated into the multi-port connector without increasing the size of its footprint.
Patent Number: 6,887,110 Issued on 05/03/2005 to Karir
| Inventors:
|
Karir; Arvind (Toronto, CA)
|
| Assignee:
|
Amphenol Corporation (Wallingford, CT)
|
| Appl. No.:
|
615037 |
| Filed:
|
July 9, 2003 |
| Current U.S. Class: |
439/676 |
| Intern'l Class: |
H01R 024//00 |
| Field of Search: |
439/660,676,217-224,692,697
|
References Cited [Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Duverne; J. F.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Blank Rome LLP
Claims
1. A multi-port connector comprising a plurality of openings, each of said plurality
of openings being bounded by a top and bottom wall and two side walls and each
of said plurality of openings being capable of receiving at least two jack connectors
therein concurrently.
2. The multi-port connector of claim 1, wherein each of said at least two jack
connectors has a set of flexible spring wire contacts for forming electrical connections
with electrical contacts on a plug.
3. The multi-port connector of claim 1, wherein each of said at least two jack
connectors has a latch protrusion for locking with a resilient latching arm on
a plug.
4. The multi-port connector of claim 1, wherein each of said at least two jack
connectors has guiding surfaces for guiding the plug into proper mating position.
5. The multi-port connector of claim 1, further comprising an internal shield
between the at least two jack connectors.
6. The multi-port connector of claim 1, wherein said at least two jack connectors
are RJ connectors.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to the field of electrical connectors, and in particular,
to an arrangement for providing multiple input/output ports on a printed circuit
board or interface card having increased ports without increasing the length or
footprint of the assembly, yielding higher port density.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Electrical connectors known as modular phone receptacles or jacks have
been available for many years. Although connectors of this type were originally
designed for use in telephone systems, they have found wide acceptance in a variety
of other contexts. For example, modular jacks referred to as RJ connectors, which
may be incorporated into single port or multi-port arrangements, are now commonly
used as input/output (I/O) interface connectors for enabling computers to communicate
with each other and with a variety of peripheral equipment, and in particular as
connectors between a local area network (LAN) and an appropriately configured interface card.
In order to receive a corresponding modular plug, the conventional modular jack
or RJ connector is generally made up of a socket housing which includes a plug-receiving
opening, opposed top and bottom surfaces joined by opposed side surfaces extending
from the opening to a back surface, and a plurality of stamped, metallic elongated
contacts mounted in the housing for engaging contacts of the corresponding plug.
Each contact in this type of connector includes a contact mating portion at one
end extending diagonally into the socket, a vertically extending lead portion at
the other end, and a horizontally extending intermediate portion between the contact
mating portion and the lead portion. Generally, the lead portions of the contacts
are inserted directly into openings in the interface card and soldered in place.
In order to reduce the cost and space requirements, these modular jacks have
been
integrated in a single housing in a juxtaposed manner for mounting onto a PC board
as shown in FIG. 1. Due to the high data transmission speed of many computers
today, such multi-port modular jacks are also provided with shielding around the
external surface of the integral housing. It is also an advantage to have a large
number of modular jacks mounted to the edge of a same printed circuit board, however
increasing the number of parts would lengthen the connector assembly in the prior
art solution shown in FIG. 1, as the modular jacks are arranged in a single row.
The connector assembly length however is limited by the external size of the computer
and the length of the printed circuit board to which it is mounted. It would therefore
be desirable to increase the number of ports without increasing the length of the
connector. In doing so, one should ensure that the resilient latches of the modular
plugs that connect with the jacks are easily accessible in order to easily release
the plug from the jack. Certain data transmission standards such as 10 Base T,
require connector assemblies to function reliably for very high data transmission
speeds and also high voltages. High data transmission speeds e.g. 100 Mhz require
effective shielding, and high voltages mean that the signal contacts should be
sufficiently spaced from the grounding circuits in order to avoid flashover.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,775,946 to Briones, which is incorporated herein by reference,
discloses a shielded multi-port connector having a row of ports capable of receiving
RJ-type connector plugs. The connector disclosed in this patent uses a single molded
housing having multiple jack openings and a one-piece external shield in order
to increase port density without significantly increasing assembly costs.
Another solution to increase port density, with minimal increase in the footprint
of the assembly, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,099,349 and 6,244,896, both to
Boutros, which are incorporated herein by reference. These patents discloses a
connector arrangement made up of two discrete rows multi-port connectors, each
with an external shield, that are vertically stacked. The first connector is a
conventional single row multi-port connector (FIG. 1); and the second connector
is a single row multi-port connector with a vertical extension that houses a single
row of contact tails that fits behind the first multi-port connector when the second
connector sits on top of the first connector.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,531,612 to Goodall et al., which is incorporated herein by reference,
discloses a multi-port connector having two rows of jacks that are assembled to
a common integral housing and disposed in back-to-back mirror image symmetry. Shielding
is provided around the connector assembly and between the two rows.
The prior art multi-port connectors contain walls dividing the individual jack
openings, effectively providing one opening to one port configuration. These walls
take up valuable space. Despite of the advances of the prior art, there remains
a need to further increase the port density of a multi-port connector assembly
without increasing the length or footprint of the assembly.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a multi-port modular jack
assembly for mounting on a printed circuit board, with an increased number of ports
without increasing the length of the assembly.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a multi-port modular jack
assembly for mounting on a printed circuit board that is able to function reliably
with systems operating under high data transmission rates and high voltages.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a compact and relatively
inexpensive
modular jack assembly with good access for latching and unlatching of complementary
modular plugs for connection therewith.
The objects of the present invention can be accomplished by providing a multi-port
connector having at least one opening. The at least one opening is designed to
accommodate at least two plugs therein. Effectively, each opening provides at least
two connecting ports.
In an embodiment of the invention, each opening has and internal shield to provide
an EMI cage around each port.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 shows a typical prior art multi-port connector.
FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the present invention having two ports per opening.
FIG. 3 shows a plug for use with the present invention.
FIG. 4 depicts an embodiment of the present invention having internal shields.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring first to FIG. 1, a prior art multi-port connector assembly is
shown at
10 comprising a single row of juxtaposed modular jack connectors
12, such as RJ connectors, mounted in an integral main housing
14.
Each modular jack connector
12 comprises a plurality of juxtaposed flexible
spring wire contacts
16 for making electrical contact with a complementary
modular jack inserted into an opening
18 of the modular jack connector
12,
whereby the contacts
16 are integrally linked to printed circuit board pin
portions
20 extending below the bottom of the connector assembly
10.
Each modular jack connector
12 are separated from adjacent jack connectors
12 with walls
22 that physically separate the jack connectors
12.
The modular jack connectors
12 further comprise a latching protrusion
24 cooperable with resilient latching arms of the complementary modular
plug for securely locking the modular plug thereto. The modular plug is disconnected
from the modular jack connector
12 by elastically biasing the latching arm
thereof inwards and pulling the plug out. The front face
26 of the connector
assembly
10 is positioned proximate an outer surface of a computer within
which the printed circuit board is mounted, so that access to the modular jack
connectors
12 is possible from the exterior and the latching means easily
accessible by hand. Effectively, each opening
18 of the prior art multi-port
connector assembly
10 can only accommodates a single plug.
Realizing that the walls
22 of the prior art multi-port connector
assembly
10 takes up valuable space, the present invention proposes removal
of some of the walls to acquire space for additional connectors without increasing
the length or footprint of the multi-port connector assembly.
FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the present invention where some of the walls
of the prior art are removed. Four jack connectors
28, preferably RJ connectors,
are shown in FIG. 2, however, any number of connectors is appropriate for the present
invention. The front face
32 of the multi-port connector
30 contains
a plurality of openings
34 for receiving modular plugs therein. As illustrated
in FIG. 2, each opening
34 contains two jack connectors
28 which
accommodate two plugs; however, more jack connectors
28 can be incorporated
into a single opening to accommodate more than two plugs can also be appropriate
depending on the design of the multi-port connector
30.
In the case illustrated in FIG. 2, each opening contains two sets of flexible
spring wire contacts
36, with each set of spring wire contacts
36
making electrical contact with a corresponding plug. Like the prior art, contacts
36 are integrally linked to printed circuit board pin portions extending
below the bottom of the connector assembly
30. Instead of having walls separating
adjacent jack connectors, the present multi-port connector
30 allows for
side by side location of the plugs. Importantly, for guiding the plug into connector,
the present multi-port connector has guiding surfaces
38 locating at the
top and bottom of the jack connector. These guiding surfaces
38 allows the
plug to mate properly with the jack connector without requiring assistance of walls
diving the individual jack connectors. Each jack connector
28 of the present
invention is also provided with a latch protrusion
40 similar to that of
the prior art to secure the plug to the connector.
FIG. 3 shows a modular plug
42 for use with the multi-port connector
30. The modular plug
42 comprises a housing
44 designed to
fit into the openings
34 of the multi-port connector
30. The housing
44 contains slide surfaces
46 that slides along the guide surfaces
38 of the multi-port connector
30 to guide the modular plug
42
into the jack connector
28. Electrical contacts located within recesses
48 of the housing
44 make contact with the spring wire contacts
36
of the jack connector
28 to form an electrical connection between the plug
and the jack connector. The electrical contacts are electrically connected to a
cable
50 extending from the rear of the housing
44. On top of the
modular plug
42 is a resilient latching arm
52 that cooperates with
the latch protrusion
40 to secure to the modular plug
42 in the jack
connector
28. In its natural position, the resilient latching arm
52
locks with the latch protrusion
40 to lock the plug in place. To disconnect
the modular plug
42 from the jack connector
28, the resilient latching
arm
52 is elastically biased toward the housing
44; and the modular
plug
42 is pulled out.
In a further embodiment of the present invention, EMI shielding may be provided
with the multi-port connector. Methods of shielding multi-port connectors, such
as that of U.S. Pat. No. 5,775,946 to Briones, which is incorporated herein by
reference, are known in the art and are applicable with the present invention.
Typically, an external shield, such as that of U.S. Pat. No. 5,775,946, surrounding
the multi-port connectors assembly is effective to shield the assembly from nearly
electronic equipment. However, under certain circumstances shielding may be desirable
between individual jack connector
28 to prevent cross talks. In such case,
a shield may be inserted between the two jack connectors
28.
FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of the present invention where EMI shielding between
adjacent jack connectors
28 can be effected. Here, an internal metal shield
54 is inserted vertically between the two jack connectors
28. Preferably,
the internal shield
54 slides into groves
58 cut into the top and
bottom walls of the opening
34. The groves
58 preferably provide
a tight fit to effectively hold the internal shield
54 in place. To provide
an EMI cage around each port, the internal shield is preferably electrically connected
to the external shield. In a preferred embodiment, the internal shield
54
further includes ground tabs
56 to accommodate shielded plugs. The ground
tabs
56 electrically connect the shield of the plug to that of the jack connector.
Although certain presently preferred embodiments of the invention have been
specifically described herein, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art
to which the invention pertains that variations and modifications of the various
embodiments shown and described herein may be made without departing from the spirit
and scope of the invention. Accordingly, it is intended that the invention be limited
only to the extent required by the appended claims and the applicable rules of law.
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