CONNECTOR

• US 20070049119A1
• Filed: 08/25/2006
• Published: 03/01/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Electric Works Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Works Ltd (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: FUJIMOTO, Masaki, ONO, Hisahiro
• Granted Patent: US 7,318,752 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 439/607.410
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 12/714 with contacts abutting directly the printed circuit; Button contacts therefore provided on the printed circuit
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 12/716 Coupling device provided on the PCB
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 13/6456 comprising keying elements at different positions along the periphery of the connector
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 13/6582 with resilient means for engaging mating connector
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 2107/00 Four or more poles
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 24/60 Contacts spaced along planar side wall transverse to longitudinal axis of engagement
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 27/00 Coupling parts adapted for co-operation with two or more dissimilar counterparts for dissimilar contact members H01R13/35; supported only by co-operation with a counterpart H01R31/00; with a holder adapted for supporting apparatus to which its counterpart is attached H01R33/90
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 9/03 Connectors arranged to contact a plurality of the conductors of a multiconductor cable , e.g. tapping connections

Abstract

There is provided a connector which can downsize the peripheral device. A receptacle 1 is capable of receiving both a mini-A plug based on a USB OTG standard and a mini-B plug based on a USB 2.0 standard. Further, the receptacle 1 includes first posts 41 compliant with the USB standard and second posts 42 disposed at an opposite side to the first posts 41 with a connecting part 32 inserted into a connecting recess 20 of a plug 2 therebetween. Furthermore, the plug 2 includes second contacts 72 corresponding to the second posts 42 in addition to first contacts 71 corresponding to the first posts 41. Accordingly, it is possible to transmit data other than the data which are transmitted through the known USB connector by using the second posts 42 and the second contacts 72. In addition, it is possible to down size the peripheral device compared to the case where the size increases when a connector for transmitting the other data is installed in addition to the USB connector.

Claims

1. A connector comprising:

a receptacle capable of receiving both a mini-A plug and a mini-B plug based on a USB standard, the receptacle including;

a base made of an insulating material, having a main body and a flattened connecting part protruding from the main body;

a plurality of first posts made of a conductive material, having contact parts retained on one surface of the connecting part in the width direction of the connecting part; and

a shell coupled to the main body of the base so as to form a fitting recess for accommodating the connecting part therewith, and

a plug including;

a body having a fitting part with a connecting recess which receives the connecting part of the receptacle therein and is fitted to a fitting recess; and

a plurality of first contacts made of a conductive material and retained in the connecting recess so as to make an electrical contact with a corresponding one of the contact parts of the first posts when the connecting part of the base is inserted into the connecting recess of the body,

wherein the receptacle has a plurality of second posts made of a conductive material, having contact parts retained on an opposite surface of the first posts of the connecting part in a direction intersecting the protruding direction of the connecting part, and

wherein the plug has a plurality of second contacts made of a conductive material, having contact parts retained in the connecting recess of the body so as to make an electrical contact with the contact parts of the second posts when the connecting part is inserted into the connecting recess of the body.

2. The connector according to claim 1,

wherein the contact parts of the second contacts elastically protrude toward the inner side of the connecting recess, and contact pressure between the contact parts of the second contacts and the contact parts of the second posts is obtained by an elastic force of the contact parts of the second contacts.

3. The contact according to claim 1,

wherein the contact parts of the first posts elastically protrude in the width direction of the connecting part, the front end portions of the contact parts of the first posts are bent toward the connecting part, and evacuated recesses for receiving the front end portions of the contact parts of the first posts when the contact parts of the first posts are elastically deformed are formed on the connecting part, and

wherein the front end portions of the second posts are disposed in the fitting recess at a position deeper than the evacuated recesses, a reinforcing convex part protruding in the depth direction of the connecting part from a portion opposing to the contact parts of the second posts of the connecting part is formed on a surface opposite to the surface where the evacuated recesses of the connecting part are formed, and the size of protrusion of the reinforcing convex part is smaller than the depth of the contact parts of the second posts.

4. The connector according to claim 1, wherein a blocking part for preventing the insertion of the plug into the fitting recess of the mini-AB receptacle based on the USB standard is formed on the plug, and a receiving part for receiving the blocking part is formed on the fitting recess of the receptacle.

5. The connector according to claim 1, wherein receiving grooves for receiving the contact parts of the second posts are formed on the connecting part of the receptacle, and the height of protrusion of the contact parts of the second posts from the bottom surface of the receiving grooves is lower than the depth of the receiving grooves.

6. The connector according to claim 1,

wherein the size of the fitting part of the plug is smaller than the thickness of the fitting part of the mini-A plug or the fitting part of the mini-B plug based on the USB standard, and the size of the fitting recess of the receptacle is larger than the thickness of the fitting recess of the mini-AB receptacle based on the USB standard, whereby the fitting part of the plug is fitted to the fitting recess of the receptacle, and

wherein a first clamping part for inserting portions having a small width in the depth direction of the fitting part of the mini-A plug based on the USB standard between both sides of the thickness direction with a small gap therebetween, and a second clamping part for inserting portions having a large width in the thickness direction of the fitting part of the mini-B plug based on the USB standard between both sides of the depth direction with a small gap therebetween are formed on the inner surface of the fitting recess of the receptacle.

7. The connector according to claim 1, wherein the first and second posts have terminal parts disposed at an opposite side to the connecting part with the main body of the base therebetween and used for mounting on a printed wiring board, and the terminal parts of the second posts are disposed at both sides of the width direction of the connecting part with the terminal parts of the first posts therebetween.