CN220474940U

CN220474940U - Connector, active cable and communication system

Info

Publication number: CN220474940U
Application number: CN202321375717.5U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 胡胜磊
Original assignee: Tencent Technology Shenzhen Co Ltd
Current assignee: Tencent Technology Shenzhen Co Ltd
Priority date: 2023-05-31
Filing date: 2023-05-31
Publication date: 2024-02-09
Anticipated expiration: 2033-05-31

Abstract

The disclosure provides a connector, an active cable and a communication system, which belong to the technical field of interconnection of communication equipment, wherein the communication equipment can be a cloud server. The connector comprises a main board and a signal reconstruction chip; the main board is provided with a golden finger used for being connected with communication equipment, and the signal reconstruction chip is positioned on the surface of the main board and is electrically connected with the transmitting conductive contact or the receiving conductive contact in the golden finger. By adopting the method and the device, the compensation capability of the connector to the signal can be improved, and the connector is used for processing the signal not at the transmitting side and the receiving side but at the transmitting side or the receiving side, so that the loss of the connector can be reduced, and the time delay of signal transmission is shortened.

Description

Connector, active cable and communication system

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of communication device interconnection technology, and more particularly, to a connector, an active cable, and a communication system.

Background

The passive copper cable, also called as direct-connected copper cable (Direct Attach Cable, DAC), has a low power consumption and low cost, and plays a role in the communication link of the data center, but as the rate and bandwidth are continuously increased, the transmission distance of the passive copper cable is obviously shortened, and the active copper cable can prolong the transmission distance, so that the active copper cable is applied.

However, the power consumption of the active copper cable is larger, and often exceeds the heat dissipation capability of the inserted device, for example, the power consumption of the active copper cable inserted on the network card exceeds the heat dissipation capability of the network card.

Disclosure of Invention

The present disclosure provides a connector, an active cable, and a communication system, which can overcome the problem of greater power consumption of the connector of the active copper cable in the related art. The technical scheme is as follows:

according to a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a connector including a motherboard and a signal reconstruction chip;

the main board is provided with a golden finger used for being connected with communication equipment, and the signal reconstruction chip is positioned on the surface of the main board and is electrically connected with the transmitting conductive contact or the receiving conductive contact in the golden finger.

In one possible implementation, the signal reconstruction chip has an amplifier integrated therein.

In one possible implementation manner, the connector further includes a signal amplifying chip, and the signal amplifying chip is located on a surface of the motherboard;

and one of the signal reconstruction chip and the signal amplification chip is electrically connected with the transmitting conductive contact piece in the golden finger, and the other is electrically connected with the receiving conductive contact piece in the golden finger.

In one possible implementation, the signal reconstruction chip includes an equalizer, a limiter, a clock recovery module, and an output interface.

In one possible implementation, the signal reconstruction chip includes an equalizer, an analog-to-digital converter, a digital signal processor, and a digital-to-analog converter.

In one possible implementation, the signal reconstruction chip and the golden finger are located on the same surface of the motherboard, and the signal reconstruction chip and the connected transmitting conductive contact or the connected receiving conductive contact are distributed relatively along the length direction of the conductive contact.

In a second aspect, according to the present disclosure, there is provided an active cable, the active cable including a cable and the connectors of the first aspect, the number of connectors being two, a first end of the cable being connected to one of the connectors, a second end of the cable being connected to the other connector.

In one possible implementation, the cable includes a first core and a second core, and if the signal reconstruction chip is electrically connected to the receiving conductive contact of the golden finger:

at a first end of the active cable, the first wire core, a signal reconstruction chip at the first end and a receiving conductive contact at the first end are electrically connected in sequence, and at a second end of the active cable, the first wire core is electrically connected with a transmitting conductive contact at the second end;

At the first end of the active cable, the second wire core is electrically connected with the transmitting conductive contact piece at the first end, and at the second end of the active cable, the second wire core, the signal reconstruction chip at the second end and the receiving conductive contact piece at the second end are electrically connected in sequence.

In one possible implementation manner, at a first end of the active cable, an end portion of the first wire core is welded on a surface of a main board of the first end, and is electrically connected with a signal reconstruction chip of the first end through a wire on the main board of the first end, and the signal reconstruction chip of the first end is electrically connected with a receiving conductive contact of the first end through a wire on the main board of the first end;

and at the second end of the active cable, the end part of the second wire core is welded on the surface of the main board at the second end, and is electrically connected with the transmitting conductive contact piece at the second end through a wiring on the main board at the second end.

In one possible implementation manner, at a first end of the active cable, an end portion of the second wire core is welded on a surface of a main board of the first end, and is electrically connected with the transmitting conductive contact of the first end through a wire on the main board of the first end;

At the second end of the active cable, the end part of the second wire core is welded on the surface of the main board of the second end, the second wire core is electrically connected with the signal reconstruction chip of the second end through the wiring on the main board of the second end, and the signal reconstruction chip of the second end is electrically connected with the receiving conductive contact piece of the second end through the wiring on the main board of the second end.

In one possible implementation, the cable includes a first core and a second core, and if the signal reconstruction chip is electrically connected to the transmitting conductive contact of the golden finger:

at a first end of the active cable, the first wire core is electrically connected with a receiving conductive contact at the first end, and at a second end of the active cable, the first wire core, the signal reconstruction chip and a transmitting conductive contact at the second end are sequentially electrically connected;

and at the first end of the active cable, the second wire core, the signal reconstruction chip and the transmitting conductive contact piece at the first end are electrically connected in sequence, and at the second end of the active cable, the second wire core is electrically connected with the receiving conductive contact piece at the second end.

In one possible implementation manner, at a first end of the active cable, an end portion of the first wire core is welded on a surface of a main board of the first end, and is electrically connected with a receiving conductive contact of the first end through a wire on the main board of the first end;

At the second end of the active cable, the end part of the second wire core is welded on the surface of the main board of the second end, the second wire core is electrically connected with the signal reconstruction chip of the second end through the wiring on the main board of the second end, and the signal reconstruction chip of the second end is electrically connected with the transmitting conductive contact of the second end through the wiring on the main board of the second end.

In one possible implementation manner, at a first end of the active cable, an end portion of the second wire core is welded on a surface of a main board of the first end, and is electrically connected with a signal reconstruction chip of the first end through a wire on the main board of the first end, and the signal reconstruction chip of the first end is electrically connected with an emission conductive contact of the first end through a wire on the main board of the first end;

and at the second end of the active cable, the end part of the second wire core is welded on the surface of the main board at the second end, and is electrically connected with the receiving conductive contact piece at the second end through a wiring on the main board at the second end.

In one possible implementation, the cable is a copper cable.

In a third aspect, according to the present disclosure, there is provided a communication system comprising a first communication device, a second communication device and an active cable of the second aspect;

The connector at the first end of the active cable is connected with the first communication equipment in a pluggable manner, and the connector at the second end of the active cable is connected with the second communication equipment in a pluggable manner.

In one possible implementation, at a first end of the active cable, a gold finger of a connector of the first end is inserted into a port of the first communication device, and at a second end of the active cable, a gold finger of a connector of the second end is inserted into a port of the second communication device;

the signal reconstruction chip is electrically connected with the receiving conductive contact piece of the golden finger, and the process of transmitting the signal transmitted by the first communication device to the second communication device is as follows:

the signal transmitted by the first communication device is transmitted to the golden finger of the connector at the first end from the single board of the first communication device, is transmitted to the cable through the wiring on the main board where the golden finger at the first end is located, is transmitted to the main board of the connector at the second end through the cable, is transmitted to the signal reconstruction chip at the second end through the wiring on the main board at the second end, the signal reconstruction chip processes the received signal, and the processed signal is transmitted to the golden finger of the connector at the second end through the wiring on the main board at the second end and is transmitted to the second communication device through the golden finger at the second end.

the signal reconstruction chip is electrically connected with the transmitting conductive contact piece of the golden finger, and the process of transmitting the signal transmitted by the first communication equipment to the second communication equipment is as follows:

the signal transmitted by the first communication device is transmitted from the single board of the first communication device to the golden finger of the connector at the first end, passes through the wiring on the main board where the golden finger at the first end is located, is transmitted to the signal reconstruction chip at the first end, the signal reconstruction chip at the first end processes the signal, the processed signal is transmitted to the cable through the wiring on the main board at the first end, is transmitted to the main board of the connector at the second end through the cable, is transmitted to the golden finger at the second end through the wiring on the main board at the second end, and is transmitted to the second communication device through the golden finger at the second end.

In the scheme shown in the disclosure, the connector comprises a signal reconstruction chip, a clock inside the signal reconstruction chip reconstructs signals, so that the energy of signal transmission is increased, and then the signals are continuously transmitted, so that the signals are subjected to compensation, recovery, reconstruction and other processing, the compensation capability of the connector on the signals can be improved, and the connector is used for processing the signals at the transmitting side and the receiving side instead of the transmitting side or the receiving side, so that the loss of the connector can be reduced, and the time delay of signal transmission is shortened.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the disclosure.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the disclosure and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure. In the drawings:

fig. 1 is a schematic structural view of an active cable according to an embodiment;

fig. 2 is a schematic structural view of a connector of an active cable according to an embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a link schematic diagram showing a signal reconstruction chip performing unidirectional processing on a signal received from a cable, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a link schematic diagram showing a signal reconstruction chip performing unidirectional processing on signals directed to a cable according to an embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a scenario in which a signal reconstruction chip performs unidirectional processing on a signal received from a cable, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a scenario in which a signal reconstruction chip performs unidirectional processing on a signal directed to a cable, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a scenario in which a signal reconstruction chip performs unidirectional processing on a signal received from a cable, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a scenario in which a signal reconstruction chip performs unidirectional processing on a signal directed to a cable, according to an embodiment;

fig. 9 is a schematic structural view of a connector of an active cable according to an embodiment;

fig. 10 is a schematic structural view of an active cable according to an embodiment.

Description of the reference numerals

1. A connector.

11. A main board; 111. and (5) a golden finger.

12. A signal reconstruction chip; 121. an equalizer; 122. a limiter; 123. a clock recovery module; 124. an output interface; 125. an analog-to-digital converter; 126. a digital signal processor; 127. a digital-to-analog converter; 128. an amplifier.

13. And a signal amplifying chip.

2. A cable; 21. a first wire core; 22. and a second wire core.

Specific embodiments of the present disclosure have been shown by way of the above drawings and will be described in more detail below. These drawings and the written description are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosed concepts in any way, but rather to illustrate the disclosed concepts to those skilled in the art by reference to specific embodiments.

Detailed Description

For the purposes of clarity, technical solutions and advantages of the present disclosure, the following further details the embodiments of the present disclosure with reference to the accompanying drawings.

While the description of the present disclosure will be presented in conjunction with some embodiments, it is not intended that the features of this application be limited to only this embodiment. Rather, the purpose of the application described in connection with the embodiments is to cover other alternatives or modifications, which may be extended by the claims based on the disclosure. The following description will contain numerous specific details in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present disclosure. The present disclosure may be practiced without these specific details. Furthermore, some specific details are omitted from the description in order to avoid obscuring the focus of the disclosure. It should be noted that, without conflict, the embodiments of the present disclosure and features of the embodiments may be combined with each other.

In the presently disclosed embodiments, references to "one embodiment" or "some embodiments" and the like mean that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in one or more embodiments of the present disclosure. Thus, appearances of the phrases "in one embodiment," "in some embodiments," "in other embodiments," and the like in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, but mean "one or more but not all embodiments" unless expressly specified otherwise.

In the presently disclosed embodiments, the terms "first," "second," "third," "fourth," and the like are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying a relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defining "a first", "a second", "a third" and a fourth "may explicitly or implicitly include one or more such feature.

In the presently disclosed embodiments, the terms "including," "comprising," "having," and variations thereof mean "including but not limited to," unless expressly specified otherwise.

In the presently disclosed embodiments, the terms "mounted," "connected," and "connected," are intended to be broad, as examples, to either detachably connected or non-detachably connected, unless otherwise explicitly stated and defined; may be directly connected or indirectly connected through an intermediate medium.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, "and/or" is merely an association relationship describing an association object, and indicates that three relationships may exist, for example, a and/or B may indicate: a exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone. In addition, the character "/" herein generally indicates that the front and rear associated objects are an "or" relationship.

In the presently disclosed embodiments, reference to directional terms, such as "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "inner", "outer", etc., are merely with reference to the orientation of the drawings, and thus, the use of directional terms is intended to better and more clearly illustrate and understand the presently disclosed embodiments, rather than to indicate or imply that the devices or elements being referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operate in a particular orientation, and therefore, should not be construed as limiting the presently disclosed embodiments.

The present embodiment relates to connection between communication devices, which may be devices in the cloud computing field or devices in the AI (Artificial Intelligence ) field.

Among them, cloud computing (cloud computing) is a computing mode that distributes computing tasks over a resource pool formed by a large number of computers, so that various application systems can acquire computing power, storage space, and information services as needed. The network that provides the resources is referred to as the "cloud". The resources in the "cloud" are infinitely expandable to the user's view, and are available at any time, used on demand, expanded at any time, and paid for use on demand.

As a basic capability provider of cloud computing, a cloud computing resource pool (abbreviated as a cloud platform, generally called IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service, infrastructure as a service) platform) is established, and multiple types of virtual resources are deployed in the resource pool for external clients to select for use. The cloud computing resource pool mainly comprises: computing devices (which are virtualized machines that contain an operating system), storage devices, and network devices.

According to the logic function division, a PaaS (Platform as a Service ) layer can be deployed on an IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service ) layer, and a SaaS (Software as a Service, software as a service) layer can be deployed above the PaaS layer, or the SaaS can be directly deployed on the IaaS. PaaS is a platform on which software runs, such as a database, web container, etc. SaaS is a wide variety of business software such as web portals, sms mass senders, etc. Generally, saaS and PaaS are upper layers relative to IaaS.

The communication device may specifically be a server, or may be a terminal, where the server may be an independent physical server, or may be a server cluster or a distributed system formed by a plurality of physical servers, or may be a cloud server that provides cloud services, cloud databases, cloud computing, cloud functions, cloud storage, network services, cloud communication, middleware services, domain name services, security services, CDN (Content Delivery Network ), and basic cloud computing services such as big data and an artificial intelligence platform. The terminal may be, but is not limited to, a smart phone, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a desktop computer, a smart speaker, a smart watch, etc. The terminal and the server may be directly or indirectly connected through wired or wireless communication, which is not limited herein.

The cables connecting two communication devices are generally divided into a passive cable and an active cable, and the 40G era is developed to the 400G network era, so that the DAC passive copper cable plays a role in the communication link of the data center all the time due to the advantages of low power consumption and low cost, and the DAC also extends to the current 800G, but the transmission distance of the DAC is obviously shortened along with the continuous rising of the speed and the bandwidth. Under this need, active optical cables, such as active copper cables, are being used.

The current active copper cables are mainly divided into ACC (active copper cable) active copper cables and AEC (Active Electrical Cable) active copper cables, wherein the ACC active copper cable is an active copper cable which uses a driver chip architecture to balance and adjust gain at a receiving end through CTLE (Continuous Time Linear Equalizer ), and is colloquially more like an active cable which amplifies analog signals. The AEC active copper cable is an active copper cable using a retimer chip, and the active copper cable not only amplifies and equalizes a transmitting end and a receiving end, but also reshapes a signal at the receiving end.

However, the ACC active copper cable has limited equalization compensation capability, and the AEC active copper cable has serious power consumption and delay due to signal processing at both the transmitting end and the receiving end.

The embodiment provides a connector of an active cable, which can improve the equalization compensation capability, reduce the power consumption and shorten the delay. The active cable may specifically be an active copper cable.

As shown in fig. 1, the active cable includes two connectors 1 and a cable 2, and the connectors 1 are respectively connected to two ends of the cable 2.

The cable 2 is a copper cable, and transmission loss of high-frequency signals in the copper cable is small, so that the active cable can be applied to the communication field of high-speed transmission.

As shown in fig. 2, the connector 1 includes a main board 11 and a signal reconstruction chip 12, wherein the signal reconstruction chip 12 may be a retimer chip. With continued reference to fig. 2, the surface of the main board 11 has a gold finger 111 for connection with a communication device, and the signal reconstruction chip 12 is located on the surface of the main board 11. In the prior art, the signal reconstruction chip 12 is connected to the transmitting conductive contact and the receiving conductive contact of the golden finger 111, which results in large power consumption, and in order to solve this problem, the signal reconstruction chip 12 in the embodiment of the present application is electrically connected to the transmitting conductive contact or the receiving conductive contact in the golden finger 111.

For example, as shown in fig. 3, the signal reconstruction chip 12 is electrically connected to the receiving conductive contact in the gold finger 111, and as shown in fig. 4, the signal reconstruction chip 12 is electrically connected to the transmitting conductive contact in the gold finger 111. Wherein arrows in fig. 3 and 4 each represent a transmission direction of a signal, wherein RX in fig. 3 and 4 represents a receiving conductive contact and TX represents a transmitting conductive contact.

It should be noted that the receiving and transmitting conductive contacts in the golden finger 111 are opposite, for example, the receiving conductive contact and the transmitting conductive contact in the golden finger 111 are conductive contacts for receiving signals transmitted by the cable 2, which are designated as receiving conductive contacts, and the conductive contacts for transmitting signals to the cable 2, which are designated as transmitting conductive contacts, of the plurality of conductive contacts of the golden finger 111.

As shown in fig. 3, the signal reconstruction chip 12 can not only receive signals from the cable 2, but also transmit signals to the inserted communication device, and the active cable shown in fig. 3 and the signal transmitted on the cable 2 can be properly adjusted according to the loss of a single port, so that the loss of a single board resisting the inserted communication device is improved, and the link quality is improved.

As shown in fig. 4, the signal reconstruction chip 12 can not only receive signals from the inserted communication device, but also send signals to the cable 2, and the level amplitude of the signals transmitted on the cable 2 can be adjusted to 3 v to 3.5 v, so that the distance between the cables can be extended by the active cable shown in fig. 4.

Thus, if the signal reconstruction chip 12 is electrically connected to the receiving conductive contact, the signal on the receiving side is processed, and further, as shown in fig. 3 and 5, the signal reconstruction chip 12 can compensate for the loss caused by the transmission of the signal on the main board 11 of the opposite connector 1, the loss caused by the transmission on the cable 2, and the loss caused by the transmission on the main board 11 of the local connector 1, and transmit the compensated signal to the receiving conductive contact of the gold finger 111, thereby transmitting to the communication device in which the local connector 1 is inserted.

If the signal reconstruction chip 12 is electrically connected to the transmitting conductive contact, the signal on the transmitting side is processed, for example, as shown in fig. 4 and 6, the signal reconstruction chip 12 may compensate for the loss caused by the transmission of the signal on the main board 11 of the connector 1 on the home side, mainly the loss generated on the link between the transmitting conductive contact and the signal reconstruction chip 12, and the compensated signal is transmitted to the cable 2, transmitted to the connector 1 on the opposite side through the cable 2, and transmitted to the communication device plugged into the connector on the opposite side through the connector 1 on the opposite side.

It can be seen that the connector 1 includes the signal reconstruction chip 12, and the clock inside the signal reconstruction chip 12 reconstructs the signal, so that the energy of signal transmission is increased, and then the signal is continuously transmitted, so that the signal is subjected to the processes of compensation, recovery, reconstruction and the like, and the compensation capability of the connector on the signal can be improved.

In one example, to facilitate connection of the signal reconstruction chip 12 and the transmitting conductive contact or the receiving conductive contact, the signal reconstruction chip 12 and the gold finger 111 are located on the same surface of the motherboard 11, respectively, and the signal reconstruction chip 12 and the connected transmitting conductive contact or the connected receiving conductive contact are distributed relatively along the length direction of the conductive contact, as can be seen in fig. 1.

For example, the signal reconstruction chip 12 is connected to the receiving conductive contact, and then the signal reconstruction chip 12 and the receiving conductive contact are distributed relatively along the length of the receiving conductive contact so as to be electrically connected.

In one example, the signal reconstruction chip 12 and the receiving or transmitting conductive contacts are electrically connected by traces printed on the motherboard 11.

Regarding the devices integrated in the signal reconstruction chip 12, for example, the signal reconstruction chip 12 may be based on an analog CDR (Clock and Data Recovery, clock recovery) of a Slicer (Slicer), then the signal reconstruction chip 12 may include an equalizer 121, a Slicer 122, a clock recovery module 123, and an output interface 124 as shown in fig. 5 and 6. Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a scenario in which the signal reconstruction chip 12 processes a signal on the receiving side. Fig. 6 is a schematic view of a scenario in which the signal reconstruction chip 12 processes a signal on the transmitting side, and arrows in fig. 5 and 6 indicate directions of signal transmission.

As another example, the signal reconstruction chip 12 may be based on an ADC (Analog to Digital Converter, analog-to-digital converter) -BASE DSP (Digital Signal Processing ), and then, as shown in fig. 7 and 8, the signal reconstruction chip 12 may include an equalizer 121, an analog-to-digital converter 125, a digital signal processor 126, and a digital-to-analog converter 127. Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a scenario in which the signal reconstruction chip 12 processes a signal on the receiving side. Fig. 8 is a schematic view of a scene in which the signal reconstruction chip 12 processes a signal on the transmitting side, and arrows in fig. 7 and 8 indicate directions of signal transmission.

In one example, to enhance the compensation of the signal by the connector, correspondingly, as shown in fig. 5 to 8, the signal reconstruction chip 12 may further include an amplifier 128, so that the level amplitude can be flexibly raised according to different extended distance connection scene requirements.

The active cable of this embodiment has a stronger channel compensation capability and a capability of adapting ports than an active cable including only ACC, and can reduce power consumption, delay and cost, for example, by at least half, compared to an AEC active cable that processes signals on both the receiving side and the transmitting side.

In one example, to further enhance the compensation capability of the connector for the transmitted signal, correspondingly, as shown in fig. 9, the connector 1 may further include a signal amplifying chip 13, where the signal amplifying chip 13 is located on the surface of the motherboard 11, and the signal amplifying chip 13 may be a driver chip.

Thus, one of the signal reconstruction chip 12 and the signal amplification chip 13 is electrically connected to the transmitting conductive contact of the gold finger 111, and the other is electrically connected to the receiving conductive contact of the gold finger 111.

For example, the signal reconstruction chip 12 is electrically connected to the receiving conductive contact of the gold finger 111, and the signal amplification chip 13 is electrically connected to the transmitting conductive contact of the gold finger 111. In this way, the signal reconstruction chip 12 performs compensation processing on the received signal, and the signal amplification chip 13 performs compensation processing on the transmitted signal.

For another example, the signal reconstruction chip 12 is electrically connected to the transmitting conductive contact of the gold finger 111, and the signal amplification chip 13 is electrically connected to the receiving conductive contact of the gold finger 111. In this way, the signal reconstruction chip 12 performs compensation processing on the transmitted signal, and the signal amplification chip 13 performs compensation processing on the received signal.

In this embodiment, the connector 1 includes the signal reconstruction chip 12, and the clock inside the signal reconstruction chip 12 reconstructs the signal, so that the energy of signal transmission increases, and then the signal is continuously transmitted, so that the signal is subjected to the processes of compensation, recovery, reconstruction, and the like, so that the compensation capability of the connector on the signal can be improved.

The present embodiment also provides an active cable, as shown in fig. 1, which includes a cable 2 and the connectors 1 described above, wherein the number of the connectors 1 is two, one connector 1 is connected to one end of the cable 2, and the other connector 1 is connected to the other end of the cable 2.

The active cable can be an active copper cable, the cable 2 can be a copper cable, and the transmission loss of high-frequency signals in the copper cable is small, so that the active cable can be applied to the communication field of high-speed transmission.

The specific connection of the cable 2 to the connector 1 will be described below.

As shown in fig. 3, the golden finger 111 of the connector 1 at the first end of the active cable includes a transmitting conductive contact and a receiving conductive contact, and similarly, the golden finger 111 of the connector 1 at the second end of the active cable includes a transmitting conductive contact and a receiving conductive contact, so that the transmitting conductive contact at the first end and the receiving conductive contact at the second end need to be connected by a wire core, and the receiving conductive contact at the first end and the transmitting conductive contact at the second end also need to be connected by a wire core.

Then, as shown in fig. 3, the cable 2 may include a first wire core 21 and a second wire core 22, the first wire core 21 being connected between the receiving conductive contact at the first end and the transmitting conductive contact at the second end, and the second wire core 22 being connected between the transmitting conductive contact at the first end and the receiving conductive contact at the second end.

If the signal reconstruction chip 12 is electrically connected to the receiving conductive contact, then the wire core for electrically connecting to the receiving conductive contact is connected to the signal reconstruction chip 12, so that the electrical connection to the receiving conductive contact can be achieved.

Accordingly, as shown in fig. 3, for the specific manner of electrical connection between the receiving conductive contact at the first end and the transmitting conductive contact at the second end through the first wire core 21, the specific manner is as follows:

At a first end of the active cable, the first wire core 21, the signal reconstruction chip 12 at the first end and the receiving conductive contact at the first end are electrically connected in sequence, and at a second end of the active cable, the first wire core 21 is electrically connected with the transmitting conductive contact at the second end.

As shown in fig. 3, for the specific manner of electrical connection between the transmitting conductive contact at the first end and the receiving conductive contact at the second end through the second wire core 22, it is:

at the first end of the active cable, the second core 22 is electrically connected to the transmitting conductive contact at the first end, and at the second end of the active cable, the second core 22, the signal reconstruction chip 12 at the second end and the receiving conductive contact at the second end are electrically connected in sequence.

As can be seen from fig. 3, the signal from the cable 2 entering the connector 1 passes through the signal reconstruction chip 12, whereas the signal from the connector 1 to the cable 2 does not pass through the signal reconstruction chip 12, so that the signal reconstruction chip 12 processes only the signal received from the cable 2 and does not process the signal to the cable 2. This can reduce the processing power consumption of the connector 1.

If the signal reconstruction chip 12 is electrically connected to the transmitting conductive contact, the wire core for electrically connecting to the transmitting conductive contact is connected to the signal reconstruction chip 12, so that the electrical connection to the transmitting conductive contact can be achieved.

Accordingly, as shown in fig. 4, for the specific manner of electrical connection between the receiving conductive contact at the first end and the transmitting conductive contact at the second end through the first wire core 21, the specific manner is as follows:

at a first end of the active cable, the first wire core 21 is electrically connected with a receiving conductive contact at the first end, and at a second end of the active cable, the first wire core 21 and the signal reconstruction chip 12 at the second end are sequentially electrically connected with a transmitting conductive contact at the second end.

As shown in fig. 4, for the specific manner of electrical connection between the transmitting conductive contact at the first end and the receiving conductive contact at the second end through the second wire core 22, the following is adopted:

at the first end of the active cable, the second core 22 and the signal reconstruction chip 12 at the first end are electrically connected in sequence with the transmitting conductive contact at the first end, and at the second end of the active cable, the second core 22 is electrically connected with the receiving conductive contact at the second end.

As can be seen from fig. 4, the signal from the cable 2 entering the connector 1 does not pass through the signal reconstruction chip 12, but the signal from the connector 1 to the cable 2 passes through the signal reconstruction chip 12, so that the signal reconstruction chip 12 processes only the signal to the cable 2 and does not process the signal received from the cable 2. This can reduce the processing power consumption of the connector 1.

Such active cables have a stronger channel compensation capability and port adaptation capability than ACC active copper cables, and can be reduced in power consumption, latency and cost, e.g., by at least half, as compared to AEC active copper cables.

For example, for an active copper cable with a rate of 4×112Gbps, the active copper cable of the present embodiment, that is, the active copper cable that the signal reconstruction chip 12 processes unidirectional signals, is connected to the AEC active copper cable (that is, the active copper cable that the signal reconstruction chip 12 processes bidirectional signals) at the same copper cable connection distance, for example, 7 meters, so that the power consumption of the connector of each port can be reduced from typically 4 watts to 5 watts to 2 watts to 2.5 watts, and therefore, the power consumption of the connector can be reduced by adopting the active copper cable of the present embodiment.

In this embodiment, the active cable, as described above, the connector 1 includes the signal reconstruction chip 12, and the clock inside the signal reconstruction chip 12 reconstructs the signal, so that the energy of signal transmission increases, and then the signal is continuously transmitted, so that the signal is subjected to compensation, recovery, reconstruction and other processes, so that the compensation capability of the connector on the signal can be improved, and the connector 1 processes the signal not on the transmitting side and the receiving side, but on the transmitting side or the receiving side, so that the loss of the connector can be reduced, and the delay of signal transmission can be shortened.

The present embodiment also provides a communication system, as shown in fig. 5 to 8, which includes the first communication device 100, the second communication device 200, and the active cable described above, and is connected between the first communication device 100 and the second communication device 200 through the active cable, and then the gold finger of the first end connector of the active cable is inserted into the port of the first communication device 100, and the gold finger of the second end connector of the active cable is inserted into the port of the second communication device 200.

As shown in fig. 5-8, the active cable shows only the cable and the signal reconstruction chip 12 in one of the connectors.

Fig. 5 and 7 are schematic diagrams of a scenario in which the signal reconstruction chip 12 processes a received signal, and fig. 6 and 8 are schematic diagrams of a scenario in which the signal reconstruction chip 12 processes a transmitted signal.

Wherein, the transmission refers to the transmission direction of the signal from the signal reconstruction chip 12 to the cable 2, and the reception refers to the transmission direction of the signal from the cable 2 to the signal reconstruction chip 12.

Referring to fig. 5, the connector 1 at one end of the cable 2 is inserted into the first communication device 100, the connector 1 at the other end is inserted into the second communication device 200, and since fig. 5 is that the signal reconstruction chip 12 processes the signal at the receiving side and does not process the signal at the transmitting side, whereas fig. 5 is that the first communication device 100 is a transmitting device and the second communication device 200 is a receiving device, the signal reconstruction chip 12 of the connector 1 inserted into the first communication device 100 is not shown in fig. 5, but the signal reconstruction chip 12 of the connector 1 inserted into the second communication device 200 is shown.

The signal transmitted by the first communication device 100, as shown by the arrow in fig. 5, is transmitted to the second communication device 200 through the active cable, and the process of transmitting the signal to the gold finger 111 of the inserted connector 1 from the board of the first communication device 100, then through the trace on the motherboard 11 of the inserted connector 1, into the cable 2, through the cable 2, to the motherboard 11 of the connector 1 inserted on the second communication device 200, through the trace on the motherboard 11, to the signal reconstruction chip 12, where the signal reconstruction chip 12 processes the received signal, and the processed signal is transmitted to the gold finger 111 of the connector 1 inserted on the second communication device 200 through the trace on the motherboard 11, and then transmitted to the second communication device 200 through the gold finger 111, as shown in fig. 3.

It can be seen that the signal reconstruction chip 12 compensates for losses generated on the link between the gold finger 111 (specifically, the transmitting conductive contact described herein) of the connector 1 at the opposite end (i.e., the connector 1 inserted on the first communication device 100) to the cable 2, on the link of the cable 2, and on the link between the cable 2 to the signal reconstruction chip 12, and transmits the compensated signal to the gold finger 111 (specifically, the receiving conductive contact described herein) of the connector 1 at the home end (i.e., the connector 1 inserted on the second communication device 200) to the inserted second communication device 200 via the gold finger.

Similarly, with respect to fig. 6, the connector 1 at one end of the cable 2 is inserted into the first communication device 100, the connector 1 at the other end is inserted into the second communication device 200, and since fig. 6 is that the signal reconstruction chip 12 processes the signal at the transmitting side and does not process the signal at the receiving side, whereas fig. 6 is that the first communication device 100 is the transmitting device and the second communication device 200 is the receiving device, the signal reconstruction chip 12 of the connector 1 inserted into the second communication device 200 is not shown in fig. 6, but the signal reconstruction chip 12 of the connector 1 inserted into the first communication device 100 is shown.

The arrow shown in fig. 6 also indicates the transmission direction of the signal, and the signal transmitted by the first communication device 100 is transmitted to the second communication device 200 through the active cable, and the process of transmitting the signal to the second communication device 200 may be that, as shown in fig. 4, the signal is transmitted from the first communication device 100 to the gold finger 111 of the inserted connector 1, then transmitted to the signal reconstruction chip 12 through the trace on the motherboard 11 of the inserted connector 1, the signal reconstruction chip 12 processes the signal received from the first communication device 100, and the processed signal is transmitted to the cable 2 through the trace on the motherboard 11, transmitted to the motherboard 11 of the inserted connector 1 of the second communication device 200 through the cable 2, transmitted to the gold finger 111 through the trace on the motherboard 11, and transmitted to the second communication device 200 through the gold finger 111.

It can be seen that the signal reconstruction chip 12 can compensate for the loss generated on the link between the golden finger 111 (specifically, the transmitting conductive contact described herein) of the connector 1 at the local end (i.e., the connector 1 inserted on the first communication device 100) to the signal reconstruction chip 12, and the compensated signal is transmitted to the cable 2 via the main board 11 of the connector 1 at the local end, then transmitted to the main board 11 of the connector 1 at the opposite end via the cable 2 (i.e., the connector 1 inserted on the second communication device 200), and transmitted to the golden finger 111 (specifically, the receiving conductive contact described herein) of the main board 11 via the routing on the main board 11, and transmitted to the second communication device 200 via the golden finger 111.

The signal may be a PAM4 (Pulse Amplitude Modulation-level, fourth-order pulse amplitude modulation) signal.

In this embodiment, the active cable used in the communication system includes the signal reconstruction chip 12 as described above, and the clock inside the signal reconstruction chip 12 reconstructs the signal, so that the energy of signal transmission is increased, and then the signal is continuously transmitted, so that the signal is compensated, recovered, and reconstructed, and the capability of the connector for compensating the signal can be improved, and the connector 1 processes the signal not on the transmitting side and the receiving side, but on the transmitting side or the receiving side, so that the loss of the connector can be reduced, and the delay of signal transmission can be shortened.

Moreover, the active cable can expand the connection distance of copper wires, and can be applied to a long-distance (more than 7 meters) interconnection scene between communication equipment and communication equipment in a data center with 400G or 800G and higher speed. The method can also be widely used for short-distance (0 to 7 meters) interconnection between communication equipment and communication equipment in a data center with 400G or 800G and higher speed because the power consumption and cost investment of products can be reduced.

The foregoing description of the preferred embodiments of the present disclosure is provided for the purpose of illustration only, and is not intended to limit the disclosure to the particular embodiments disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, alternatives, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the disclosure.

Claims

1. The connector (1) is characterized in that the connector (1) comprises a main board (11) and a signal reconstruction chip (12), the signal reconstruction chip (12) is a retimer chip, and an amplifier (128) is integrated in the signal reconstruction chip (12);

the main board (11) is provided with a golden finger (111) used for being connected with communication equipment, and the signal reconstruction chip (12) is positioned on the surface of the main board (11) and is electrically connected with a transmitting conductive contact or a receiving conductive contact in the golden finger (111).

2. Connector (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that the connector (1) further comprises a signal amplifying chip (13), the signal amplifying chip (13) being located on the surface of the motherboard (11);

one of the signal reconstruction chip (12) and the signal amplification chip (13) is electrically connected with the transmitting conductive contact sheet in the golden finger (111), and the other is electrically connected with the receiving conductive contact sheet in the golden finger (111).

3. Connector (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that the signal reconstruction chip (12) comprises an equalizer (121), a limiter (122), a clock recovery module (123) and an output interface (124).

4. Connector (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that the signal reconstruction chip (12) comprises an equalizer (121), an analog-to-digital converter (125), a digital signal processor (126) and a digital-to-analog converter (127).

5. Connector (1) according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the signal reconstruction chip (12) and the golden finger (111) are located on the same surface of the main board (11), and the signal reconstruction chip (12) and the connected transmitting conductive contacts or the connected receiving conductive contacts are distributed relatively in a length direction along the conductive contacts.

6. An active cable, characterized in that it comprises a cable (2) and a connector (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 5, the number of connectors (1) being two, a first end of the cable (2) being connected to one of the connectors (1), a second end of the cable (2) being connected to the other of the connectors (1).

7. Active cable according to claim 6, characterized in that the cable (2) comprises a first core (21) and a second core (22), if the signal reconstruction chip (12) is electrically connected with the receiving conductive contacts of the golden finger (111):

at a first end of the active cable, the first wire core (21), a signal reconstruction chip (12) at the first end and a receiving conductive contact at the first end are electrically connected in sequence, and at a second end of the active cable, the first wire core (21) is electrically connected with a transmitting conductive contact at the second end;

at a first end of the active cable, the second wire core (22) is electrically connected with the transmitting conductive contact at the first end, and at a second end of the active cable, the second wire core (22), the signal reconstruction chip (12) at the second end and the receiving conductive contact at the second end are electrically connected in sequence.

8. Active cable according to claim 7, characterized in that at a first end of the active cable, the end of the first wire core (21) is soldered to the surface of the main board (11) of the first end, electrically connected to the signal reconstruction chip (12) of the first end by means of wires on the main board (11) of the first end, the signal reconstruction chip (12) of the first end being electrically connected to the receiving conductive contacts of the first end by means of wires on the main board (11) of the first end;

at the second end of the active cable, the end part of the second wire core (22) is welded on the surface of the main board (11) at the second end, and is electrically connected with the transmitting conductive contact sheet at the second end through the wiring on the main board (11) at the second end.

9. Active cable according to claim 7, characterized in that at a first end of the active cable, the end of the second wire core (22) is soldered to the surface of the main board (11) of the first end, electrically connected to the transmitting conductive contacts of the first end by traces on the main board (11) of the first end;

at the second end of the active cable, the end part of the second wire core (22) is welded on the surface of the main board (11) at the second end, and is electrically connected with the signal reconstruction chip (12) at the second end through the wiring on the main board (11) at the second end, and the signal reconstruction chip (12) at the second end is electrically connected with the receiving conductive contact sheet at the second end through the wiring on the main board (11) at the second end.

10. Active cable according to claim 6, characterized in that the cable (2) comprises a first core (21) and a second core (22), if the signal reconstruction chip (12) is electrically connected with the transmitting conductive contacts of the golden finger (111):

at a first end of the active cable, the first wire core (21) is electrically connected with a receiving conductive contact of the first end, and at a second end of the active cable, the first wire core (21), a signal reconstruction chip (12) of the second end and a transmitting conductive contact of the second end are electrically connected in sequence;

at a first end of the active cable, the second wire core (22), the signal reconstruction chip (12) at the first end and the transmitting conductive contact at the first end are electrically connected in sequence, and at a second end of the active cable, the second wire core (22) is electrically connected with the receiving conductive contact at the second end.

11. Active cable according to claim 10, characterized in that at a first end of the active cable, the end of the first wire core (21) is soldered to the surface of the main board (11) of the first end, electrically connected to the receiving conductive contact of the first end by a trace on the main board (11) of the first end;

At the second end of the active cable, the end part of the second wire core (22) is welded on the surface of the main board (11) at the second end, and is electrically connected with the signal reconstruction chip (12) at the second end through the wiring on the main board (11) at the second end, and the signal reconstruction chip (12) at the second end is electrically connected with the transmitting conductive contact sheet at the second end through the wiring on the main board (11) at the second end.

12. Active cable according to claim 10, characterized in that at a first end of the active cable, the end of the second wire core (22) is soldered to the surface of the main board (11) of the first end, electrically connected to the signal reconstruction chip (12) of the first end by means of wires on the main board (11) of the first end, the signal reconstruction chip (12) of the first end being electrically connected to the transmitting conductive contacts of the first end by means of wires on the main board (11) of the first end;

at the second end of the active cable, the end part of the second wire core (22) is welded on the surface of the main board (11) at the second end, and is electrically connected with the receiving conductive contact piece at the second end through the wiring on the main board (11) at the second end.

13. Active cable according to claim 6, characterized in that the cable (2) is a copper cable.

14. A communication system, characterized in that the communication system comprises a first communication device (100), a second communication device (200) and an active cable according to any of claims 6 to 9;

the connector (1) at the first end of the active cable is connected with the first communication device (100) in a pluggable manner, and the connector (1) at the second end of the active cable is connected with the second communication device (200) in a pluggable manner.

15. The communication system according to claim 14, characterized in that at a first end of the active cable, a gold finger (111) of a connector (1) of the first end is inserted in a port of the first communication device (100), and at a second end of the active cable, a gold finger (111) of a connector (1) of the second end is inserted in a port of the second communication device (200);

the signal reconstruction chip (12) is electrically connected with the receiving conductive contact of the golden finger (111), and the signal transmitted by the first communication device (100) is transmitted to the second communication device (200) as follows:

the signal transmitted by the first communication device (100) is transmitted to the golden finger (111) of the connector (1) at the first end from the single board of the first communication device (100), is transmitted to the cable (2) through the wiring on the main board (11) where the golden finger (111) at the first end is located, is transmitted to the main board (11) of the connector (1) at the second end through the cable (2), is transmitted to the signal reconstruction chip (12) at the second end through the wiring on the main board (11) at the second end, the signal reconstruction chip (12) processes the received signal, and the processed signal is transmitted to the golden finger (111) of the connector (1) at the second end through the wiring on the main board (11) at the second end and is transmitted to the second communication device (200) through the golden finger (111) at the second end.

16. The communication system according to claim 14, characterized in that at a first end of the active cable, a gold finger (111) of a connector (1) of the first end is inserted in a port of the first communication device (100), and at a second end of the active cable, a gold finger (111) of a connector (1) of the second end is inserted in a port of the second communication device (200);

the signal reconstruction chip (12) is electrically connected with the transmitting conductive contact of the golden finger (111), and the signal transmitted by the first communication device (100) is transmitted to the second communication device (200) as follows:

the signal transmitted by the first communication device (100) is transmitted to the golden finger (111) of the connector (1) at the first end from the single board of the first communication device (100), passes through the wiring on the main board (11) where the golden finger (111) at the first end is located, is transmitted to the signal reconstruction chip (12) at the first end, the signal reconstruction chip (12) at the first end processes the signal, the processed signal passes through the wiring on the main board (11) at the first end, is transmitted to the cable (2), passes through the cable (2) and is transmitted to the main board (11) of the connector (1) at the second end, passes through the wiring on the main board (11) at the second end, is transmitted to the golden finger (111) at the second end, and passes through the golden finger (111) at the second end to the second communication device (200).