Patent Application
20240106137
The number of types of electronic devices that are commercially available has increased tremendously the past few years and the rate of introduction of new devices shows no signs of abating. Devices such as tablet computers, laptop computers, all-in-one computers, desktop computers, cell phones, storage devices, wearable-computing devices, portable media players, portable computing devices, navigation systems, monitors, remotes, adapters, and others, have become ubiquitous.
Some of these electronic devices can receive data and power through cables that are connected to power adapters, host devices, or other power sources. These cables can have a connector insert that can be inserted into a connector receptacle in the electronic device. The connector receptacle can include contacts that can form electrical connections with corresponding contacts in the connector insert. The contacts of the connector receptacle can be soldered to pads or contacts on a board in the electronic device. The pads or contacts can be connected to electronic circuits in the electronic device through traces and vias of the board.
Occasionally, these electronic devices can be dropped. This can be particularly true for device such as remote control devices. That is, remotes can be used as controllers for games and for selecting programming on streaming devices, and the dynamic nature of their use can make them likely to be dropped or inadvertently thrown.
The force of an impact resulting from a remote being dropped or inadvertently thrown can cause disconnections between contacts of a connector receptacle and a board. These disconnections can render a remote inoperable. Accordingly, it can be desirable to provide a robust and reliable connection between the connector receptacle and the board.
The size of an electronic device, such as a remote, can be limited. The internal volume of the remote can be used for a battery and relevant electronic circuits. Accordingly, it can be desirable to leave room for the battery and relevant electronic circuits by providing a connector receptacle having a small form factor.
Thus, what is needed are connector receptacles that can provide a robust and reliable connection to a board and have a small form factor.
Accordingly, embodiments of the present invention can provide connector receptacles that provide a robust and reliable connection to a board and have a small form factor. An illustrative embodiment of the present invention can provide connector receptacles that provide a robust and reliable connection to a board by providing contacts having highly planarized solder tails. The solder tails can have chamfered surfaces to increase an area of a solder region between a solder tail and a pad on a board. Housing portion extensions can improve coplanarity of the solder tails as well as an amount of shock absorption. A first housing portion can support a first plurality of contacts and a second housing portion can support a second plurality of contacts. Extensions of the first housing portion can be interleaved with extensions of the second housing portion to form interlocking features to increase the robustness of the resulting connections between solder tails of the first plurality of contacts and corresponding pads of the board as well as between solder tails of the second plurality of contacts and corresponding pads of the board.
These and other embodiments of the present invention can provide connector receptacles having a small form factor by providing contacts having a narrow pitch. This narrow pitch can be facilitated by providing chamfered edges for a bottom surface of solder tails of the plurality of contacts. These chamfered edges can help to provide a robust connection to pads on a board when a narrow pitch is used. The chamfered edges can be formed by stamping, machining, forging, or other process. This narrow pitch is further aided by the extensions from the housing portions. Specifically, these extensions can provide mechanical reinforcement of the solder tails thereby helping them maintain coplanarity and a correct relative position, thereby further facilitating the use of a space-saving narrow pitch.
More specifically, these and other embodiments of the present invention can include features for connector receptacles to provide a robust and reliable connection to a board. For example, contacts of a connector receptacle can include a mating or bottom surface to be soldered to pads of a board, where the bottom surface has one or more chamfered or partially chamfered edges. By way of comparison, traditional flat surfaced solder tails can have regions of stress accumulation when misaligned with the pads. These stress regions can break when an electronic device housing the connector receptacle is dropped or inadvertently thrown. The additional surface area provided by the chamfered edges can help to reduce or eliminate these stress regions.
Additionally, contacts of a connector receptacle can be supported by one or more housing portions. These housing portions can include extensions that extend around and along a portion of solder tails. These extensions can be at least partially around each solder tail and can extend along a front side of the solder tail to an angled or lateral portion of the solder tail for mechanical support. This mechanical support can help to laterally align, or improve the lateral positions, and help to vertically align, or improve the coplanarity, of the solder tails. Extensions from different housing portions can be interleaved to form interlocking features. In these ways, the extensions can help to ensure a robust and reliable connection between the connector receptacle and pads of a board.
A rigid shield can further improve the robustness and reliability of a connector receptacle. This shield can be relatively thick to improve the mechanical reliability of the connector receptacle. The shield can further include flanges and tabs to provide secure mechanical connections to an enclosure and board of an electronic device to further enhance reliability and robustness. The shield can include flanges having openings to accept fasteners that can attach the connector receptacle to an enclosure of the electronic device. The shield can further have through-hole tabs that fit in openings in the board and are soldered to traces or planes, such as a ground plane, in the board. The shield can additionally have surface-mount tabs that can be soldered to the board or other structure in the electronic device.
Also, these and other embodiments of the present invention can provide connector receptacles having a small form factor by providing features that enable a narrow pitch between contact solder tails. For example, contacts of a connector receptacle can include a mating or bottom surface to be soldered to pads of a board, where the bottom surface has one or more chamfered or partially chamfered edges. The additional surface area provided by the chamfered edges can help to ensure a good solder connection between the narrow pitch solder tails and pads on the board even in the event of a specific amount of misalignment between the two. By way of comparison, traditional flat surfaced contacts would form a poor solder connection in the event of the same specific amount of misalignment. This improved tolerance to misalignment can help to enable the use of the narrow pitch solder tails, thus providing a connector receptacle having a small form factor.
Contacts of a connector receptacle can be supported by one or more housing portions that can include extensions that extend around and along a portion of solder tails. These extensions can be at least partially around each solder tail and can extend along a front of the solder tail to an angled or lateral portion of the solder tail for mechanical support. This mechanical support can help to laterally align, or improve the lateral positions help to vertically align, or improve the coplanarity, of the solder tails. This improved positioning can help to reduce the variance in lateral and vertical positions of the solder tails, thereby enable the use of the narrow pitch solder tails and providing a connector receptacle having a small form factor.
Embodiments of the present invention can provide connector receptacles and connector inserts that are compliant with various standards such as Universal Serial Bus (USB), USB Type-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 these and other embodiments of the present invention, contacts, shields, and other conductive portions of a connector receptacle or connector insert can be formed by stamping, progressive stamping, forging, metal-injection molding, deep drawing, machining, micro-machining, computer-numerically controlled (CNC) machining, screw-machining, 3-D printing, clinching, or other manufacturing process. The conductive portions can be formed of stainless steel, steel, copper, copper-titanium, phosphor-bronze, brass, nickel gold, copper-nickel silicon alloys, or other material or combination of materials. They can be plated or coated with nickel, gold, or other material.
The nonconductive portions, such as housings, housing portions, extensions, and other structures, can be formed using insert molding, injection molding, or other molding, 3-D printing, machining, or other manufacturing process. The nonconductive portions can be formed of silicon or silicone, polyimide, glass nylon, polycarbonate, rubber, hard rubber, plastic, nylon, liquid-crystal polymers (LCPs), ceramics, thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) or other nonconductive material or combination of materials.
Embodiments of the present invention can provide connector receptacles and connector inserts that can be located in or connect to various types of devices, such as tablet computers, laptop computers, desktop computers, all-in-one computers, cell phones, storage devices, wearable-computing devices, portable computing devices, portable media players, navigation systems, monitors, remotes, adapters, and other devices.
While embodiments of the present invention are well-suited to use in connector receptacles, these and other embodiments of the present invention can be utilized in connector inserts and other types of connectors as well.
Various embodiments of the present invention can incorporate one or more of these and the other features described herein. A better understanding of the nature and advantages of the present invention can be gained by reference to the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings.
Electronic device 100 can include a battery (not shown) that can be charged through connector receptacle 200. Electronic device 100 can include other electronics, such as memories, processors, battery controllers, and other circuits (not shown.) These circuits can be located on one or more boards 300 (shown in
Electronic devices, such as electronic device 100, can on occasion be inadvertently dropped or thrown. Remotes, such as electronic device 100 shown here, can be used as a controller for gaming and for selecting programming on a streaming device. As a result of the dynamic nature of their use, electronic device 100 can be subject to shock that can damage internal components and connections. Accordingly, it can be desirable to provide a connector receptacle 200 that can form a robust and reliable connection to board 300 in electronic device 100. Electronic device 100 can also have a limited size, and it can be desirable to maximize internal volume inside electronic device 100 for the battery. Accordingly, it can be desirable to provide a connector receptacle 200 having a small form factor. An example of such a connector receptacle is shown in the following figure.
Connector receptacle 200 can form a robust and reliable connection to board 300. To facilitate this, connector receptacle 200 can be securely attached to enclosure 130 of electronic device 100. Accordingly, top shield 220 can include flanges 222. Flanges 222 can include openings 223 for accepting fasteners (not shown) to attach flanges 222 to enclosure 130 of electronic device 100. This arrangement can prevent movement of connector receptacle 200 away from enclosure 130 during a drop or other impact event. Housing 210 of connector receptacle 200 can include lip or raised portion 214. Raised portion 214 can align with an opening or other feature (not shown) in enclosure 130, thereby reducing any lateral shift during a drop. Housing 210 can also include raised portion 218. Raised portion 218 can fit between top shield 220 and enclosure 130, and between bottom shield 230 and enclosure 130. This can help to reduce movement of tongue 280, top housing portion 250, and bottom housing portion 270 (both shown in
Contacting portions 242 of contacts 240 can be located on a top surface of tongue 280, as shown. Contacting portions 262 of contacts 260 (both shown in
Top housing portion 250 can support contacts 240 (shown in
Housing 210 can support tongue 280, top housing portion 250, and bottom housing portion 270. A top side of tongue 280 and top housing portion 250 can support contacts 240, while a bottom side of tongue 280 and bottom housing portion 270 can support contacts 260 (shown in
Top housing portion 250 can be formed by insert molding and can include extensions 252. Extensions 252 can be formed around and along portions of solder tails 244 of contacts 240. Bottom housing portion 270 can be formed by insert molding and can include extensions 272. Top housing portion 250 can further include slots 253. Slots 253 can provide an amount of compliance to top housing portion 250. This can help to relieve stress that can result when extensions 252 and extensions 272 are fit together during assembly. Extensions 272 can be formed around and along portions of solder tails 264 of contacts 260. Extensions 252 and extensions 272 can be interleaved to form interlocking features. Extensions 252 and extensions 272 are shown in further detail in the following figure.
In the same or similar manner, extensions 272 of bottom housing portion 270 (shown in
Solder tails 244 and solder tails 264 can include front edges 2491. Front edges 2491 are typically where contacts 240 and contacts 260 (both shown in
Again, electronic device 100 can be inadvertently dropped or thrown. To prevent damage during such an event, embodiments of the present invention can provide connector receptacles 200 that form a robust and reliable connection to board 300. For example, contacts 240 and contacts 260 of connector receptacle 200 can include bottom surface 241 to be soldered to pads 320 of board 300, where each bottom surface 241 has one or more chamfered or partially chamfered edges, specifically front edge 249 and side edges 247. By way of comparison, traditional flat surfaced solder tails can have regions of stress accumulation when misaligned with pads. These stress regions can break when an electronic device housing the connector receptacle is dropped or inadvertently thrown. The additional area of the chamfered bottom surface 241 can help to reduce or eliminate these stress regions.
Additionally, contacts 240 and contacts 260 can be supported by top housing portion 250 and bottom housing portion 270. Top housing portion 250 can include extensions 252 and bottom housing portion 270 can include extensions 272 that extend at least partially around and along a portion of solder tails 244 and 264, respectively. Extensions 252 and extensions 272 can be at least partially around and along each solder tail 244 and solder tail 264 (respectively) and can extend to top surface 248 of lateral portion 245 for mechanical support. This mechanical support can help to laterally align, or improve the lateral positions, and help to vertically align, or improve the coplanarity, of solder tails 244 and solder tails 264. Extensions 252 and extensions 272 can be interleaved to form interlocking features. In these ways, extensions 252 and extensions 272 can help to ensure a robust and reliable connection between connector receptacle 200 and pads 320 on board 300.
Top shield 220 (shown in
Also, these and other embodiments of the present invention can include features for connector receptacle 200 to have a small form factor. This can be enabled by providing features for connector receptacle 200 that enable a narrow pitch between contact solder tails 244 and solder tails 264. For example, contacts of a connector receptacle can include bottom surface 241 to be soldered to pads 320 of board 300, where bottom surface 241 has a chamfered front edge 249 and side edges 247, which can be all or partially chamfered. The additional area provided by this chamfering to bottom surface 241 can help to ensure a good solder connection between the narrow pitch solder tails 244 and solder tails 264 and pads 320 on board 300 even in the event of a specific amount of misalignment between the two. By way of comparison, traditional flat surfaced contacts would form a poor solder connection in the event of the same specific amount of misalignment. This improved tolerance to misalignment can help to enable the use of the narrow pitch solder tails 244 and solder tails 264, thus enabling connector receptacle 200 to have a small form factor.
Contacts 240 and contacts 260 of connector receptacle 200 can be supported by top housing portion 250 and bottom housing portion 270, respectively. Top housing portion 250 can include extensions 252 that extend at least partially around and along a portion of solder tails 244. Bottom housing portion 270 can include extensions 272 that extend around and along a portion of solder tails 264. Extensions 252 and extensions 272 can be at least partially around each solder tail 244 and solder tail 264 (respectively) and can extend to top surface 248 of lateral portion 245 of solder tails 244 and solder tails 264 (respectively) for mechanical support. This mechanical support can help to laterally align, or improve the lateral positions, and help to vertically align, or improve the coplanarity, of solder tails 244 and solder tails 264. This improved positioning can help to reduce the variance in lateral and vertical positions of solder tails 244 and solder tails 264, thereby enabling the use of the narrow pitch solder tails 244 and solder tails 264 and enabling connector receptacle 200 to have a small form factor.
In these and other embodiments of the present invention, each extension 252 and each extension 272 can help to support one or more than one solder tail 244 or solder tail 264, respectively.
Top shield 220 can include flanges 222 having openings 223 for accepting a fastener (not shown) to secure connector receptacle 200 to enclosure 130 of electronic device 100. Bottom shield 230 can include side tabs 232 which can be spot or laser welded to side tabs 227 of top shield 220. Top shield 220 can further include recess 226, tabs 224, and tabs 228.
Tongue 280 can support ground contact 294, ground contact 297 (shown in
Contacts 240 can include contacting portions 242 and solder tails 244. Contacts 240 can be supported by top housing portion 250. Contacts 260 can include contacting portions 262, which can be located in slots (not shown) on a bottom side of tongue 280, and solder tails 264. Contacts 260 can be supported by bottom housing portion 270. Contacting portions 242 and contacting portions 262 can physically and electrically connect to corresponding contacts on a corresponding connector insert when the corresponding connector insert is inserted into front opening 212 of connector receptacle 200.
In
Embodiments of the present invention can provide connector receptacles and connector inserts that are compliant with various standards such as Universal Serial Bus (USB), USB Type-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 these and other embodiments of the present invention, contacts, shields, and other conductive portions of a connector receptacle or connector insert can be formed by stamping, progressive stamping, forging, metal-injection molding, deep drawing, machining, micro-machining, computer-numerically controlled (CNC) machining, screw-machining, 3-D printing, clinching, or other manufacturing process. The conductive portions can be formed of stainless steel, steel, copper, copper-titanium, phosphor-bronze, brass, nickel gold, copper-nickel silicon alloys, or other material or combination of materials. They can be plated or coated with nickel, gold, or other material.
The nonconductive portions, such as housings, housing portions, extensions, and other structures, can be formed using insert molding, injection molding, or other molding, 3-D printing, machining, or other manufacturing process. The nonconductive portions can be formed of silicon or silicone, polyimide, glass nylon, polycarbonate, rubber, hard rubber, plastic, nylon, liquid-crystal polymers (LCPs), ceramics, thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) or other nonconductive material or combination of materials.
Embodiments of the present invention can provide connector receptacles and connector inserts that can be located in or connect to various types of devices, such as tablet computers, laptop computers, desktop computers, all-in-one computers, cell phones, storage devices, wearable-computing devices, portable computing devices, portable media players, navigation systems, monitors, remotes, adapters, and other devices.
While embodiments of the present invention are well-suited to use in connector receptacles, these and other embodiments of the present invention can be utilized in connector inserts and other types of connectors as well.
It is well understood that the use of personally identifiable information should follow privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or governmental requirements for maintaining the privacy of users. In particular, personally identifiable information data should be managed and handled so as to minimize risks of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of authorized use should be clearly indicated to users.
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.
