GB2295282A

GB2295282A - Connector polarising system

Info

Publication number: GB2295282A
Application number: GB9523750A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Goesta Baarman; Leo Sorokin
Original assignee: Nokia Telecommunications Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Oyj
Priority date: 1994-11-21
Filing date: 1995-11-21
Publication date: 1996-05-22
Anticipated expiration: 2015-11-21
Also published as: DE19544380A1; GB9523750D0; FI99237B; FI99237C; GB2295282B; FI945469A; FI945469A0

Description

1 Coding system 2295282 The invention relates to a coding system for use

with connectors of a mother board and a plug-in unit, for example printed circuit board connectors, to be connected thereto, whereupon a coding tongue unit is associated with the connector of the plug-in unit, and a coding slot unit is associated with the connector of the mother board to interact with the coding tongue unit, which is insertable into the coding slot unit when a space has been arranged in the coding slot unit f or coding tongues situated in the coding tongue unit.

In the aforementioned connection, coding thus means that the installation of printed circuit boards into an inappropriate place in the mother board, to which several similar printed circuit boards are attached, is prevented with mechanical means. If there is no kind of coding in the printed circuit board, it can be installed in a wrong place either already during the assembly or later during maintenance operations. In such a case, the printed circuit board can be destroyed or in the worst case it can cause interference in the device or system concerned, for example in a telecommunication system. In order to prevent this, different coding methods have been developed.

In the aforementioned coding system, coding is performed in such a way that one or several tongues are removed from the coding tongue unit and stop blocks are mounted on the corresponding coding slot unit, whereupon the printed circuit board can only be installed in the mother board wherein the stop block or blocks are located at that part of the coding tongue unit f rom where the corresponding tongue or tongues have been removed.

2 The coding tongue units and slot units are typically plastic malefemale units, which are usually restricted to certain types of connectors and which take up space, the sole function of the units, as of all the other coding systems, always being to provide coding.

Starting with a coding system of the type described above, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a simple and clear coding system, which will be, however, more versatile than the earlier ones, and which entails the use of the limited space around the printed circuit board in as reasonable a manner as possible.

This object is achieved with the coding system according to the invention, which is characterized in that is the coding slot unit comprises at least two adjacent coding pin rows, the pins of which are electrically connected to the mother board, and that the coding parts of the coding slot unit, preventing the insertion of the coding tongue(s) between the coding pins at the coding part(s), and thus preventing the insertion of the entire coding tongue unit into the coding slot unit, consist of elements joining at least two pins, at least some of the elements being electrically conductive jumpering blocks simultaneously performing at least part of the configuration of the mother board.

The invention is thus based on the idea of establishing a coding system of elements that in addition to coding may also perform electrical functions, i.e. for example the configuration of the mother board by means of jumpering adjacent coding pins, since this configuration must be performed in any case in one way or another for each printed circuit board.

The coding of the system according to the invention can also be modified without limits according to the needs, since the structure itself does 1 3 not prevent the use of any location. Furthermore, the system is easy to implement since standard products can be utilized as coding pins and as the coding-parts to be connected thereto, and the coding tongue unit is the only element to be specifically designed to fit in with the former. The system is not limited to any particular connector, either.

In the following, the invention will be described by means of a preferred embodiment given by way of example only and with reference to the acccnpanying drawing, in Which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a plug-in unit connector and a coding tongue unit connected thereto, and Figure 2 illustrates a mother board connector, intended to interact with the connector and the coding tongue unit shown in Figure 1, and a coding slot unit connected thereto.

In Figure 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a printed circuit board and reference numeral 2 a printed circuit board connector attached to the printed circuit board 1. A coding tongue unit 3 that is integrated with or separate from the printed circuit board connector 2 is attached next to the connector 2, the coding tongue unit comprising detachable coding tongues 4 protruding therefrom in the direction of the connector 2.

In Figure 2, reference numeral 5 denotes a mother board on a level with the drawing, and reference numeral 6 denotes a mother board connector protruding perpendicularly therefrom. A coding slot unit 7 is in turn placed next to the mother board connector 6, the unit comprising at least two adjacent rows of coding pins 9, which are parallel with each other and with the mother board connector 6, which are attached to a pin bar 8, and which contain pins 10 that are electrically connected to the mother board 5. Reference numeral 11 4 in turn denotes a coding part by means of which at least two preferably adjacent pins 10 are connected.

The coding tongue unit 3 is intended to interact with the coding slot unit 7 in such a way that the coding tongue unit 3 can be inserted between the coding pins 10 of the coding slot unit 7 only when a tongue 4, situated at a corresponding point as the corresponding coding part 11 in the coding slot unit 7, has been removed from the coding tongue unit 3.

The printed circuit board connector 2 shown in Figure 1 can thus only be inserted into the mother board connector 6 when the above-described coding enables it.

Some or all of the coding parts 11 are electrically conductive elements, i.e. elements that electrically connect adjacent pins 10 to each other, for example U-link connectors or the like, that perform the jumpering between the pins 10 and at least part of the configuration of the mother board.

Some of the jumpering parts can be switching modules 12 that are attached around a tongue 4 in the coding tongue unit 3, and that perform the jumpering between desired adjacent pins 10 but do not prevent the insertion of the coding tongue unit 3 into the coding slot unit 7.

The invention is described above by means of only one preferred embodiment. However, a person skilled in the art can implement the details in many different ways within the scope of the appended claims. It should also be noted that the EURO connectors shown in the drawings are only one example of connectors for which the present invention can be applied.

Claims

Claims is 1. A coding system for use with respective connectors of a

mother board and a plug-in unit to be connected thereto, wherein a coding tongue unit is associated with the connector of the plug-in unit, and a coding slot unit is associated with the connector of the mother board to interact with the coding tongue unit, the coding tongue unit being insertable into the coding slot unit when a space has been arranged in the coding slot unit for coding tongues situated in the coding tongue unit, characterized in that the coding slot unit comprises at least two adjacent coding pin rows, the pins of which are electrically connected to the mother board, and that the coding parts of the coding slot unit, preventing the insertion of the coding tongue(s) between the coding pins at the coding part(s), and thus preventing the insertion of the entire coding tongue unit into the coding slot unit, consist of elements joining at least two pins, at least some of the elements being electrically conductive jumpering blocks simultaneously performing at least part of the configuration of the mother board.
2. A coding system according to claim 1, characterized in that the coding parts are U-link connectors or the like.
3. A coding system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that some of the jumpering elements are switching modules that are attached around a coding tongue in the coding tongue unit, and that perform the jumpering between desired pins but do not prevent the insertion of the coding tongue unit into the coding slot unit.
4. A coding system according to any one of the 6 preceding claims, characterized in that the coding tongue unit is a separate object to be attached to the connector of the plug-in unit.
5. A coding system according to any one of claims I to 3, characterized in that the coding tongue unit is of one piece with the connector of the plug-in unit.
6. A coding system substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing.