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Patent EP0574133A2 successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
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EP0574133A2 Expired / Lapsed EP ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Switching midplane and interconnection sytem for interconnecting large numbers of signals

Assignee: Quickturn Design Systems Inc
•
Filing: 1993-05-10
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2013-05-10
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Abstract

Abstract A physical interconnection architecture for making connections between a plurality of first printed-circuit boards and a plurality of second printed-circuit boards includes a midplane printed-circuit board having a plurality of first connectors oriented in a first direction mounted on a first face thereof for making connections to the first printed-circuit boards. Each first connector includes a plurality of rows of connection pins on a first face thereof for making electrical contact with the midplane printed-circuit board and a plurality of rows of connection pins on a second opposing face thereof for making electrical contact with conductors of a mating first printed-circuit board connector mounted on a printed-circuit board to be connected to the midplane printed-circuit board on its first face. A plurality of second connectors are mounted on a second face of the midplane printed-circuit board and are oriented in a second direction orthogonal to the first connectors. The second high-density printed-circuit-board connectors are used to make connections to mating connectors for printed-circuit boards to be connected to the midplane printed-circuit board on its second face. Each second connector includes a plurality of rows of connection pins on a first face thereof for making electrical contact with the midplane printed-circuit board and a plurality of rows of connection pins on a second opposing face thereof for making electrical contact with conductors of a mating second printed-circuit board connector mounted on a printed-circuit board to be connected to the midplane printed-circuit board on its first face. The row and column spacing of the connection pins of both the first and second connectors are equal. The connectors are positioned such that the connection pins in the region of intersection of the first and second connectors are double-ended connection pins common to both the first and second connectors. The remaining connection pins of the first and second connectors are single-ended connection pins which are connected to the single-ended connection pins of the second connectors by conductive traces on the midplane printed-circuit board.

Inventors

  • 👤 Stephen P. Sample
  • 👤 Terry Lee Goode

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction EP
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-10-30 17:02
CPC Classifications
H; H05; H05K; H05K7/00; H05K7/14; H05K7/1438; H05K7/1439; H05K7/1445; H05K1/00; H05K1/02; H05K1/14; H05K2201/00; H05K2201/04; H05K2201/044

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 5
Claim 1
Independent Claim 391 words
A printed-circuit board interconnect system for making interconnections between a plurality of first printed-circuit boards and a plurality of second printed-circuit boards, said interconnect system comprising: a midplane printed-circuit board including a first face and a second face parallel to said first face, and having a plurality of conductive traces disposed thereon; a plurality of first printed-circuit board connectors mounted in parallel relationship to one another on said first face of said midplane printed-circuit board, each of said first printed-circuit board connectors comprising a plurality of rows and columns of connection pins disposed on a first face thereof for making electrical connections to said midplane printed-circuit board, said connection pins oriented perpendicular to said first and second faces and having a row spacing and a column spacing which are equal to one another, each of said first printed-circuit-board connectors also including a plurality of rows of connection elements on a second opposing face thereof configured to make electrical contact with connection elements of a mating first printed-circuit board connector mounted on one of said first printed-circuit boards to be connected to the midplane printed-circuit board; a plurality of second printed-circuit board connectors mounted in parallel relationship to one another on said second face of said midplane printed-circuit board, each of said second printed-circuit board connectors comprising a plurality of rows and columns of connection pins disposed on a first face thereof for making electrical connections to said midplane printed-circuit board, said connection pins oriented perpendicular to said first and second faces and having a row spacing and a column spacing which are equal to said row spacing and said column spacing of said connection pins of said first printed-circuit board connectors, each of said second printed-circuit-board connectors also including a plurality of rows of connection elements on a second opposing face thereof configured to make electrical contact with connection elements of a mating second printed-circuit board connector mounted on one of said second printed-circuit boards to be connected to said midplane printed-circuit board; wherein said first and second printed-circuit board connectors are relatively located on said midplane printed-circuit board such that the positions of first ones of said connection pins of said first and second printed-circuit board-connectors coincide and said first ones of said connection pins comprise double-ended connection pins which are common to both said first and second printed-circuit connectors.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 107 words
The printed-circuit board interconnect system of claim 1 further including second ones of said connection pins of said first and second printed-circuit board-connectors located at positions which do not coincide and wherein said second ones of said connection pins comprise single-ended connection pins, a first group of which are unique to said first printed-circuit connectors and a second group of which are unique to said second printed-circuit connectors, selected ones of said single ended connection pins in said first group are electrically connected to selected ones of said single-ended connection pins in said second group by ones of said conductive traces disposed on said midplane printed-circuit board.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 122 words
The printed-circuit board interconnect system of claim 1 further including: a plurality of first printed-circuit boards, each of said first printed-circuit boards including a mating first printed-circuit board connector mounted thereon, each of said first printed-circuit boards mounted to said first face of said midplane printed-circuit board by an interface between its said mating first printed-circuit board connector and one of said first printed circuit-board connectors; a plurality of second printed-circuit boards, each of said second printed-circuit boards including a mating second printed-circuit board connector mounted thereon, each of said second printed-circuit boards mounted to said second face of said midplane printed-circuit board by an interface between its said mating second printed-circuit board connector and one of said second printed circuit-board connectors.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 33 words
The printed-circuit board interconnect system of claim 1 where said double-ended connector pins each comprise single-ended connector pins press-fitted from both said first and said second faces of said midplane printed circuit board.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 30 words
The printed-circuit board interconnect system of claim 1 further including external I/O connectors on an edge of said first printed-circuit boards opposite to said mating first printed circuit board connectors.

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