Claims
- 1. An electrical connector comprising:
a housing; a plurality of contact pins disposed in the housing; and at least one shield member provided on an outer surface of the housing; wherein a first group of the plurality of contact pins are electrically connected to the at least one shield member to define shield contact pins and a second group of the plurality of contact pins are not electrically connected to the at least one shield member to define signal contact pins.
- 2. An electrical connector according to claim 1, wherein the first group of the plurality of contact pins are electrically connected to the at least one shield member at the outer surface of the housing.
- 3. An electrical connector according to claim 1, wherein the contact pins are arranged in at least one row inside of the housing.
- 4. An electrical connector according to claim 3, wherein the shield contact pins and the signal contact pins are disposed in the at least one row inside of the housing such that at least one of the shield contact pins is located adjacent to at least one of the signal contact pins.
- 5. An electrical connector according to claim 1, further comprising at least one ground member disposed in the housing between two groups of the plurality of contact pins.
- 6. An electrical connector according to claim 5, wherein the at least one ground member is a ground plane disposed along a longitudinal axis of the housing.
- 7. An electrical connector according to claim 1, wherein the at least one shield member includes at least one shield plane.
- 8. An electrical connector according to claim 1, wherein the at least one shield member includes a plurality of shield planes disposed along two longer outer surfaces of the housing.
- 9. An electrical connector according to claim 8, wherein the first group of the plurality of contact pins are electrically connected to respective ones of the plurality of shield planes along the two outer surfaces of the housing.
- 10. An electrical connector according to claim 9, wherein the plurality of shield planes extend along substantially an entire length of the housing.
- 11. An electrical connector according to claim 1, wherein the first group of the plurality of contact pins include finger portions extending to the outside of the housing and in electrical contact with the at least one shield member.
- 12. An electrical connector according to claim 1, wherein the first group of the plurality of contact pins electrically connected to the at least one shield member are arranged in a customized pattern along a length of the housing.
- 13. An electrical connector according to claim 1, wherein each of the second group of contact pins includes a burr portion spaced from the at least one shield member on the outside of the housing.
- 14. An electrical connector according to claim 1, wherein a structure of the first group of contact pins is different from that of the second group of contact pins only at a portion-of the contact pins that is located at an outer surface of the housing.
- 15. An electrical connector according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of contact pins includes a main portion disposed within the housing and a bottom portion extending from the main portion along a bottom surface of the housing so as to be connectable to a conductive element disposed on a printed circuit board upon which the connector is to be mounted.
- 16. An electrical connector according to claim 15, wherein the bottom portion of the first group of the plurality of contact pins electrically connects the at least one shield member to the conductive element disposed on the printed circuit board upon which the connector is to be mounted.
- 17. An electrical connector according to claim 15, wherein the first group of the plurality of electrical contacts include a finger portion extending from the bottom portion along an outer surface of the housing so as to contact the at least one shield member.
- 18. An electrical connector according to claim 15, wherein the second group of the plurality of electrical contacts include a burr portion extending from the bottom portion and being spaced from the at least one shield member at an outer surface of the housing.
- 19. An electrical connector according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of contact pins are arranged in at least four rows substantially parallel to each other and provided in the housing, at least two ground planes are provided in the housing between each pair of the at least four rows of contact pins; and
at least four shield planes are provided on at least two outside surfaces of the housing and electrically connected to selected ones of the plurality of contact pins.
- 20. A method for producing an electrical connector, comprising the steps of:
a) providing a housing; b) providing at least one shield member along an outer surface of the housing; c) forming a plurality of electrical contacts for defining signal contacts and shield contacts; and d) inserting the plurality of electrical contacts into the housing such that a first group of the electrical contacts are electrically connected to the at least one shield member so as to define the shield contacts and a second group of the electrical contacts are not electrically connected to the at least one shield member so as to define the signal contacts.
- 21. The method according to claim 20, wherein the step of forming the plurality of electrical contacts includes forming the plurality of electrical contacts while being attached to a carrier strip, and eliminating a portion of the electrical contacts that define the signal contacts.
- 22. The method according to claim 21, wherein the step of eliminating a portion of the electrical contacts that define the signal contacts is performed before the step d.
- 23. The method according to claim 21, wherein the step of eliminating a portion of the electrical contacts that define the signal contacts is performed after the step d.
- 24. The method according to claim 21, wherein the step of eliminating a portion of the electrical contacts includes cutting an arm portion of the electrical contacts that define the signal contacts.
- 25. The method according to claim 20, wherein in step d, the signal contacts are inserted into the housing such that arm portions of the signal contacts are in contact with the at least one shield member.
- 26. The method according to claim 16, wherein the step of forming the plurality of electrical contacts includes a first step of forming the plurality of electrical contacts on a carrier strip to have the same structure, and a second step of modifying the structure of the plurality of electrical contacts that define the signal contacts to produce a customized pattern of signal contacts and shield contacts along the carrier strip.
- 27. The method according to claim 26, wherein the step of modifying the structure of the signal contacts includes removing a portion of the signal contacts.
- 28. The method according to claim 21, wherein the step of inserting the plurality of electrical contacts includes a first step of inserting the plurality of electrical contacts into the housing such that all of the electrical contacts are electrically connected to the at least one shield member, and a second step of removing a portion of selected ones of the plurality of electrical contacts to eliminate the electrical connection with the at least one shield member.
- 29. The method according to claim 20, further comprising the step of inserting at least one ground member inside of the housing.
- 30. The method according to claim 29, wherein the at least one ground member is inserted in between at least two rows of the plurality of electrical contacts.
Parent Case Info
[0001] This is a Continuation-in-Part Application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/822,341, filed Apr. 12, 2004, currently pending, which is a Divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/863,960, filed May 23, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,739,884.
Divisions (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09863960 |
May 2001 |
US |
Child |
10822341 |
Apr 2004 |
US |
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
10822341 |
Apr 2004 |
US |
Child |
10879901 |
Jun 2004 |
US |