US6364710B1
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Electrical connector with grounding system
Assignee: FCI Americas Technology LLC
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Filing: 2000-03-29
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Granted: 2002-04-02
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Expires: 2020-03-29
Abstract
Abstract An electrical connector comprising a housing and electrical contacts connected to the housing. The electrical contacts comprise paired signal and ground contacts, and additional ground contacts. The additional ground contacts are arranged relative to the paired contacts to divide the paired contacts into subdivisions of equal numbers of the paired contacts. The subdivisions and the additional ground contacts are arranged to allow for multiple relative orientation connections of a mating connector.
Inventors
- 👤 Timothy B. Billman
- 👤 John H. Weaver, Jr.
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-05 17:43
CPC Classifications
H; H01; H01R; H01R13/00; H01R13/648; H01R13/02; H01R13/22; H01R13/24; H01R13/2407; H01R13/2414; H01R12/00; H01R12/70; H01R12/71; H01R12/72; H01R12/722; H01R12/727; H01R13/658; H01R13/6581; H01R13/6585
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 29
Claim 1
Independent Claim
66 words
An electrical connector comprising: a housing; and electrical contacts connected to the housing, the electrical contacts comprising paired signal and ground contacts, and additional ground contacts separate from the paired signal and ground contacts, wherein the additional ground contacts are arranged relative to the paired contacts to divide the paired contacts into subdivisions of equal numbers of the paired contacts, wherein the subdivisions comprise four quadrants.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
66 words
An electrical connector comprising: a housing; and electrical contacts connected to the housing, the electrical contacts comprising paired signal and ground contacts, and additional ground contacts separate from the paired signal and ground contacts, wherein the additional ground contacts are arranged relative to the paired contacts to divide the paired contacts into subdivisions of equal numbers of the paired contacts, wherein the subdivisions comprise four quadrants.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
63 words
An electrical connector comprising: a housing; and electrical contacts connected to the housing, the electrical contacts comprising paired signal and ground contacts, and additional ground contacts, wherein the additional ground contacts are arranged relative to the paired contacts to divide the paired contacts into subdivisions of equal numbers of the paired contacts, and wherein the additional ground contacts form a general cross shape.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
63 words
An electrical connector comprising: a housing; and electrical contacts connected to the housing, the electrical contacts comprising paired signal and ground contacts, and additional ground contacts, wherein the additional ground contacts are arranged relative to the paired contacts to divide the paired contacts into subdivisions of equal numbers of the paired contacts, and wherein the additional ground contacts form a general cross shape.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
78 words
An electrical connector comprising: a housing; and electrical contacts connected to the housing, the electrical contacts comprising paired signal and ground contacts, and additional ground contacts, wherein the additional ground contacts are arranged relative to the paired contacts to divide the paired contacts into subdivisions of equal numbers of the paired contacts, and wherein the additional ground contacts comprise a row of horizontally centered and a column of vertically centered connection areas at a mating connector connection area.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
78 words
An electrical connector comprising: a housing; and electrical contacts connected to the housing, the electrical contacts comprising paired signal and ground contacts, and additional ground contacts, wherein the additional ground contacts are arranged relative to the paired contacts to divide the paired contacts into subdivisions of equal numbers of the paired contacts, and wherein the additional ground contacts comprise a row of horizontally centered and a column of vertically centered connection areas at a mating connector connection area.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
74 words
An electrical connector comprising: a housing; and electrical contacts connected to the housing, the electrical contacts comprising paired signal and ground contacts, and additional ground contacts, wherein the additional ground contacts are arranged relative to the paired contacts to divide the paired contacts into subdivisions of equal numbers of the paired contacts, and wherein the subdivisions and the additional ground contacts are arranged to allow for multiple relative orientation connections of a mating connector.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
74 words
An electrical connector comprising: a housing; and electrical contacts connected to the housing, the electrical contacts comprising paired signal and ground contacts, and additional ground contacts, wherein the additional ground contacts are arranged relative to the paired contacts to divide the paired contacts into subdivisions of equal numbers of the paired contacts, and wherein the subdivisions and the additional ground contacts are arranged to allow for multiple relative orientation connections of a mating connector.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
84 words
An electrical connector comprising: a housing; and electrical contacts connected to the housing, the electrical contacts comprising paired signal and ground contacts, and additional ground contacts, wherein the additional ground contacts are arranged relative to the paired contacts to divide the paired contacts into subdivisions of equal numbers of the paired contacts, and wherein a portion of the housing, the paired contacts, and some of the additional ground contacts are formed as subassembly wafers which are subsequently sandwiched together to form the electrical connector.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
84 words
An electrical connector comprising: a housing; and electrical contacts connected to the housing, the electrical contacts comprising paired signal and ground contacts, and additional ground contacts, wherein the additional ground contacts are arranged relative to the paired contacts to divide the paired contacts into subdivisions of equal numbers of the paired contacts, and wherein a portion of the housing, the paired contacts, and some of the additional ground contacts are formed as subassembly wafers which are subsequently sandwiched together to form the electrical connector.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
29 words
An electrical connector as in claim 5 wherein the additional ground contacts include at least one of the additional ground contacts being sandwiched between two of the subassembly wafers.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
92 words
An electrical connector comprising: subassembly wafers, at least two of the wafers comprising a housing, paired signal and ground contacts, and an additional ground contact in a general center of a connection area for the paired contacts; and a ground plane member located between at least two of the wafers, the ground plane member having contact areas located between at least some of the paired contacts of one of the at least two wafers and at least some of the paired contacts of the other one of the at least two wafers.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
92 words
An electrical connector comprising: subassembly wafers, at least two of the wafers comprising a housing, paired signal and ground contacts, and an additional ground contact in a general center of a connection area for the paired contacts; and a ground plane member located between at least two of the wafers, the ground plane member having contact areas located between at least some of the paired contacts of one of the at least two wafers and at least some of the paired contacts of the other one of the at least two wafers.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
29 words
An electrical connector as in claim 7 wherein the at least two wafers each have equal numbers of paired contacts on opposite sides of their respective additional ground contact.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
29 words
An electrical connector as in claim 7 wherein the ground plane member has contact areas located between all the paired contacts of the one wafer and the other wafer.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
56 words
An electrical connector as in claim 7 wherein a first paired contacts of the one wafer and a second paired contacts of the other wafer do not have a contact area of the ground plane member therebetween such that the signal contacts of the first and second contacts form high speed differential pair signal transmission contacts.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
26 words
An electrical connector as in claim 7 wherein the additional ground contacts and the ground plane member form a general cross shape at the connection area.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
26 words
An electrical connector as in claim 11 wherein the general cross shape divides the paired contacts into four quadrants of equal numbers of the paired contacts.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
96 words
An electrical connector comprising: paired signal and ground contacts; additional ground contacts located between at least some of the paired contacts; and a housing having first contact receiving areas with the paired contacts located therein and second contact receiving areas with the additional ground contacts located therein, wherein at least one of the second contact receiving areas does not contain an additional ground contact such that two of the paired contacts on opposite sides of the at least one second contact receiving area form a differential pair of contacts for high speed differential pair signal transmission.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
96 words
An electrical connector comprising: paired signal and ground contacts; additional ground contacts located between at least some of the paired contacts; and a housing having first contact receiving areas with the paired contacts located therein and second contact receiving areas with the additional ground contacts located therein, wherein at least one of the second contact receiving areas does not contain an additional ground contact such that two of the paired contacts on opposite sides of the at least one second contact receiving area form a differential pair of contacts for high speed differential pair signal transmission.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
30 words
An electrical connector as in claim 13 a wherein the at least one second contact receiving areas is located in a center vertical column of the second contact receiving areas.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
32 words
An electrical connector as in claim 14 wherein the at least one second contact receiving area comprises all of the receiving areas in the center vertical column of second contact receiving areas.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
36 words
An electrical connector as in claim 14 wherein the at least one second contact receiving areas comprises one of the second contact receiving areas located in a center horizontal row of the second contact receiving areas.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
31 words
An electrical connector as in claim 16 wherein the at least one second contact receiving area comprises all of the receiving areas in the horizontal row of second contact receiving areas.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
45 words
An electrical connector as in claim 13 wherein at least two of the paired signal and ground contacts, which are located on opposite sides of one of the second contact receiving areas having an additional ground contact therein, form individual single ended signal transmission contacts.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
60 words
An electrical connector as in claim 18 wherein the contacts have mating ends located at a mating area for connection to a mating connector, wherein the electrical connector comprises a plurality of the differential pair of contacts, and wherein the mating ends of the plurality of differential pair of contacts are arranged in a symmetrical pattern at the mating area.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
60 words
An electrical connector as in claim 18 wherein the contacts have mating ends located at a mating area for connection to a mating connector, wherein the electrical connector comprises a plurality of the differential pair of contacts, and wherein the mating ends of the plurality of differential pair of contacts are arranged in a non-symmetrical pattern at the mating area.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
70 words
An electrical connector comprising: a first subcomponent wafer assembly comprising a first housing and single ended signal and respectively paired ground contacts connected to the first housing; and a second subcomponent wafer assembly connected to the first subcomponent wafer assembly, the second subcomponent wafer assembly comprising a second housing and, connected to the second housing, pairs of differential pair signal contacts and respectively associated ground contacts for each signal contact.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
70 words
An electrical connector comprising: a first subcomponent wafer assembly comprising a first housing and single ended signal and respectively paired ground contacts connected to the first housing; and a second subcomponent wafer assembly connected to the first subcomponent wafer assembly, the second subcomponent wafer assembly comprising a second housing and, connected to the second housing, pairs of differential pair signal contacts and respectively associated ground contacts for each signal contact.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2005-04-01 | 2005-10-01 | 2006-04-02 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2009-04-01 | 2009-10-01 | 2010-04-02 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2013-04-01 | 2013-10-01 | 2014-04-02 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |