Patents by Inventor Terrance F. Little

Terrance F. Little has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11557852
    Abstract: A cable includes an electrical connector at one end and a sensor at the other end. The connector includes a terminal module having a plurality of contacts embedded within an insulator wherein each contact has a resilient contacting section exposed upon to an exterior in a first vertical direction, and a soldering section exposed in a second vertical direction to be connected to the corresponding wires of the cable and selectively further to a resistor. The sensor includes a case enclosing an LED (Light Emitting Diode) and a PD (Photo Diode both of which are respectively connected to the corresponding contacts respectively soldered to the corresponding wires.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2023
    Assignees: FOXCONN (KUNSHAN) COMPUTER CONNECTOR CO., LTD., FOXCONN INTERCONNECT TECHNOLOGY LIMITED
    Inventor: Terrance F. Little
  • Publication number: 20220368076
    Abstract: An electrical connector includes: a unitary insulative housing having a tongue and a cavity; two rows of terminals molded in the insulative housing while exposing to two opposite surfaces of the tongue, respectively, each row of terminals including plural signal terminals and plural ground terminals, the ground terminals being exposed to the cavity; and a conductive plastic member molded in the cavity to be in contact with the ground terminals.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 7, 2022
    Publication date: November 17, 2022
    Inventors: TERRANCE F. LITTLE, PATRICK R. CASHER
  • Publication number: 20220368077
    Abstract: An electrical connector includes: a contact unit including plural pairs of signal contacts and plural ground contacts between adjacent pairs of signal contacts; a cable including plural wires terminated to the contact unit; a ground bar retaining the cable to the contact unit; and a ground bridge connected at a rear thereof to the ground bar and connected at a front thereof to at least one of the plural ground contacts.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 7, 2022
    Publication date: November 17, 2022
    Inventor: TERRANCE F. LITTLE
  • Publication number: 20220329014
    Abstract: A cable assembly includes: a cable module including plural cables, a ground bar electrically connected to the cables, signal contacts electrically connected to the cables, and a shielding sheet shielding the signal contacts; a housing holding the cable module; and a pair of side plates coupled to the ground bar and the shielding sheet.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 12, 2022
    Publication date: October 13, 2022
    Inventors: HAOZHE ZI, TERRANCE F. LITTLE, RICHARD LEE MALEHORN, II
  • Publication number: 20220329032
    Abstract: A cable assembly includes a cable module including a first metallic strip integrally formed with an insulative bar via a first insert-molding process; and a second metallic strip integrally formed with the insulative bar via a second-molding process following the first insert-molding process. The second metallic strip includes plural pairs of contacts originally connected thereto via corresponding linking portions. The insulative bar forms a plurality of openings and the first metallic strip forms a plurality of corresponding punching openings respectively aligned with each other and further aligned with the corresponding linking portions, respectively, in a transverse direction so as to remove the corresponding linking portions after the second insert-molding process.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 30, 2022
    Publication date: October 13, 2022
    Inventors: TERRANCE F. LITTLE, RICHARD LEE MALEHORN, II, HAOZHE ZI
  • Publication number: 20220320773
    Abstract: A receptacle assembly includes: a receptacle connector for mounting to a printed circuit board; a holder mounted atop the receptacle connector; and a cage enclosing the receptacle connector and the holder, the cage having a main cage body and a cage top detachably secured to a rear portion of the main cage body.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 29, 2022
    Publication date: October 6, 2022
    Inventor: TERRANCE F. LITTLE
  • Publication number: 20220320786
    Abstract: The electrical connector includes a contact module received within an insulative housing. The contact module includes an upper contact unit and a lower contacts unit stacked with each other. Each of the upper contact unit and the lower contact unit includes a front/outer contact part and a rear/inner contact part each including a plurality of side by side arranged contacts integrally formed with a plurality of plastic tie bars at different positions via insert-molding. An insulative front cover and an insulative rear cover are assembled upon the housing wherein the rear cover is forwardly assembled into the housing together with the contact module while the front cover is downwardly assembled upon the housing after the contact module has been assemble into the housing. The front cover is configured to comply with the curved resilient contacting sections of the contacts for lowering the impedance of the contacts thereabouts.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 6, 2022
    Publication date: October 6, 2022
    Inventors: Terrance F. LITTLE, Patrick R. CASHER
  • Patent number: 11462851
    Abstract: A machine case includes a bottom cover and a top cover with a connection port, encloses a printed circuit board therein. An internal flat cable is equipped with a first connector at one end thereof and mounted upon a center region of the printed circuit board, and a second connector at another end thereof and disposed in the connection ports without electrically connecting to the printed circuit board. The second connector includes a plurality of contacts integrally formed within an insulator via insert-molding. A cable connector assembly includes an insulative housing having a mating port adapted to be mated with the connection port. A printed circuit board is embedded within the housing and forms mating pads on two opposite surfaces in a reversely symmetrical manner so as to have the two corresponding mating pads on two opposite surfaces in the diagonal direction share the same circuits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2022
    Assignees: FOXCONN (KUNSHAN) COMPUTER CONNECTOR CO., LTD., FOXCONN INTERCONNECT TECHNOLOGY LIMITED
    Inventor: Terrance F. Little
  • Publication number: 20220271454
    Abstract: A cable connector includes a base and a mating portion extending downwardly from a lower side of the base, and an upper and a lower platform around an upper side of the base. First and second rows of contacts include connecting sections. The connecting sections of the first row are exposed upon the lower platform and the connecting sections of the second row are exposed upon the upper platform. Upper and lower rows of wires are located above the housing. Two grounding brackets are mounted upon the upper and lower platforms. Each bracket includes bulged sections and tails. Inner conductors of the wires are connected to the connecting sections of the differential-pair contacts, the braiding layers of the wires are sandwiched between the bulged sections and the housing in the vertical direction, and the tails are connected to the connecting sections of the grounding contacts.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 16, 2022
    Publication date: August 25, 2022
    Inventor: TERRANCE F. LITTLE
  • Patent number: 11411354
    Abstract: A cable connector includes an insulative main housing having a front mating portion defining a capsular tube, and a rear holding portion with a sleeve; an insulative contact housing with a pair of cable contacts received therein and a metallic EMI shell covering an exterior of the contact housing; a cable mechanically and electrically connected to the cable contact. The contact housing with the associated cable contacts and the EMI shell is inserted into the insulative main housing from a rear side of the insulative main housing wherein the contact housing is received within the front mating portion and the cable is received within the sleeve. The receptacle connector includes a metallic housing, an insulative housing, a pair of receptacle contacts insert-molded within the insulative housing and an insulative cover enclosing the metallic housing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Assignees: FOXCONN (KUNSHAN) COMPUTER CONNECTOR CO., LTD., FOXCONN INTERCONNECT TECHNOLOGY LIMITED
    Inventor: Terrance F. Little
  • Publication number: 20220216635
    Abstract: The electrical connector includes a contact module received within an insulative housing. The contact module includes an upper contact unit and a lower contacts unit stacked with each other. Each of the upper contact unit and the lower contact unit includes a front/outer contact part and a rear/inner contact part each including a plurality of side by side arranged contacts integrally formed with a plurality of plastic tie bars at different positions via insert-molding. The contacts include a plurality of differential pair signal contacts and a plurality of grounding contacts alternately arranged with each other along a transverse direction. Each plastic tie bar includes an insulative primary part integrally formed with all contacts via a first insert-molding process, and a conductive secondary part integrally formed with the primary part and the grounding contacts via a second insert-molding process after the first insert-molding process.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 6, 2022
    Publication date: July 7, 2022
    Inventors: TERRANCE F. LITTLE, PATRICK R. CASHER
  • Publication number: 20220216653
    Abstract: A cable connector includes a contact module enclosed within a case. The contact module includes an upper part and a lower part stacked with each other. The upper part includes an upper insulator and plural upper contacts and a metallic upper shield attached upon the upper insulator. The wires include inner conductors connected to differential-pair signal contacts of the plural upper contacts. The upper shield defines a plurality of front spring fingers respectively connected to the corresponding grounding contacts and a plurality of rear spring fingers respectively connected to the braiding layers of the corresponding wires.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 25, 2022
    Publication date: July 7, 2022
    Inventor: TERRANCE F. LITTLE
  • Publication number: 20220173555
    Abstract: An electrical connector assembly includes a contact module having an upper part and a lower part stacked with each other. The upper part includes a front/outer upper unit and a rear/inner upper unit and the lower part includes a front/outer lower unit and a rear/inner lower unit. Each unit includes an insulative body and a plurality of contacts integrally formed with the insulative body via an insert-molding process. The insulative body includes a middle sector and a pair of side sectors. The contacts include side-band contacts retained in the middle sector and differential-pair contacts retained in the side sectors.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 29, 2021
    Publication date: June 2, 2022
    Inventor: TERRANCE F. LITTLE
  • Patent number: 11349262
    Abstract: An electrical connector assembly comprising: an insulative housing with a front mating slot and a rear receiving cavity; a combo contact module assembly received within the receiving cavity and including a sideband contact module sandwiched between a pair of high speed contact modules; each high speed contact module including an upper unit and a lower unit assembled with each other in a vertical direction; the upper unit and the lower unit being essentially symmetrically arranged with each other in the vertical direction with a half of pitch offset in a transverse direction; and a metallic shell; wherein each of the upper unit and the lower unit including a front subunit and a rear subunit stacked with each other in the vertical direction and retained together.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2022
    Assignees: FOXCONN (KUNSHAN) COMPUTER CONNECTOR CO., LTD., FOXCONN INTERCONNECT TECHNOLOGY LIMITED
    Inventors: Chih-Ping Chung, Chun-Hsiung Hsu, Kuei-Chung Tsai, Terrance F. Little
  • Patent number: 11322894
    Abstract: An electrical connector assembly comprising: an insulative housing with a front mating slot and a rear receiving cavity; a combo contact module assembly received within the receiving cavity and including a sideband contact module sandwiched between a pair of high speed contact modules; each high speed contact module including an upper unit and a lower unit assembled with each other in a vertical direction; each of the upper unit and the lower unit including a front subunit and a rear subunit; each of the front subunit and the rear subunit includes differential pair contacts alternately arranged with grounding contacts in a transverse direction; and a metallic grounding bar discrete from the grounding contacts mechanically and electrically connecting to the grounding contacts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignees: FOXCONN (KUNSHAN) COMPUTER CONNECTOR CO., LTD., FOXCONN INTERCONNECT TECHNOLOGY LIMITED
    Inventors: Terrance F. Little, Patrick R. Casher
  • Publication number: 20220115818
    Abstract: An electrical connector assembly includes an upper connector unit and a lower connector unit in a vertical direction. Each connector unit includes a contact module received within an insulative housing. The contact module includes an upper contact unit and a lower contacts unit stacked with each other. Each of the upper contact unit and the lower contact unit includes a front/outer contact part and a rear/inner contact part each including a plurality contacts essentially composed of a plurality of differential-pair signal contacts and a plurality of grounding contacts alternately arranged with each other in a the transverse direction wherein the differential-pair signal contacts are stamped and formed from sheet metal and successively integrally formed with a plurality of insulative transverse bars via insert-molding while the grounding contacts are directly blanked from sheet metal and associated with corresponding shielding plates assembled to the insulative transverse bar.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 11, 2021
    Publication date: April 14, 2022
    Inventors: TERRANCE F. LITTLE, PATRICK R. CASHER, CHIH-HSIEN CHOU, AN-JEN YANG
  • Patent number: 11296450
    Abstract: An electrical connector assembly includes a receptacle connector and a plug connector adapted to be mated with each other. The receptacle connector includes a contact unit forwardly assembled into the receptacle housing and having a plurality of receptacle contacts and a common mode choke electrically connected together. The plug connector includes a resilient latch associated with the plug shell and received within an enlarged area of a circumferential space formed between the receptacle shell and the receptacle housing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2022
    Assignees: FOXCONN (KUNSHAN) COMPUTER CONNECTOR CO., LTD., FOXCONN INTERCONNECT TECHNOLOGY LIMITED
    Inventor: Terrance F. Little
  • Patent number: 11239586
    Abstract: A cable assembly module includes: a front mating member; a rear cable linked behind the mating member and including a pair of signal wires; a pair of signal contacts retained upon the front mating member, each of said signal contacts including a middle retaining section associated with the front mating member, a front mating section spaced from the front mating member in a deflectable manner, and a rear connecting section mechanically and electrically connected to the corresponding signal wires, respectively; and a pair of grounding contacts located by two sides of the pair of signal contacts; wherein the front mating sections are adapted for being directly mated with circuit pads of a printed circuit board disposed in a plane, and the rear cable extends along a direction inclined with the plane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 1, 2022
    Assignees: FOXCONN (KUNSHAN) COMPUTER CONNECTOR CO., LTD., FOXCONN INTERCONNECT TECHNOLOGY LIMITED
    Inventors: Jie Zheng, Terrance F. Little
  • Publication number: 20220029360
    Abstract: A cable connector includes a contact module, wires and grounding bars. The contact module includes a pair of subunits commonly sandwiching a metallic shielding plate. Each subunit includes contacts integrally formed within an insulator, the contacts includes a plurality of differential-pair contacts and grounding contacts alternately arranged with each other. Each contact includes a front contacting section and a rear tail section, the tail sections of the grounding contacts being unified with a transverse bar. Each wire has a pair of inner conductors respectively soldered to the tail sections of the corresponding differential-pair contacts, and an outer braiding layer surrounding the pair of inner conductors and mechanically and electrically connected to the transverse bar. Each grounding bar includes a plurality of rear tabs respectively connected to the braiding layers, and a plurality of front tabs respectively connected to the tail sections of the corresponding grounding contacts.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 30, 2021
    Publication date: January 27, 2022
    Inventors: TERRANCE F. LITTLE, NENG XIAO, HAOZHE ZI
  • Publication number: 20220021158
    Abstract: A connector unit includes a contact module received within an insulative housing. The contact module includes an upper contact unit and a lower contacts unit stacked with each other. Each of the upper contact unit and the lower contact unit includes a front/outer contact part and a rear/inner contact part each including plural contacts integrally formed with plural insulative transverse bars via insert-molding. The contacts include plural differential pair signal contacts and plural grounding contacts alternately arranged with each other along a transverse direction. Plural grounding bars are attached to corresponding transverse bars, respectively, wherein each grounding bar include plural tabs mechanically and electrically connecting to the corresponding grounding contacts. Each grounding bar is equipped with a plastic attachment tie bar to cooperate with a corresponding transverse bar to sandwich the grounding bar therebetween for securement.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 7, 2021
    Publication date: January 20, 2022
    Inventors: TERRANCE F. LITTLE, PATRICK R. CASHER, AN-JEN YANG, CHIH-HSIEN CHOU