WO2012160480A1

WO2012160480A1 - Signal splitter and signal splitter assembly

Info

Publication number: WO2012160480A1
Application number: PCT/IB2012/052442
Authority: WO
Inventors: Weili Zhang; Hongjun Yin
Original assignee: Tyco Electronics Shanghai Co Ltd; Tyco Electronics UK Ltd
Current assignee: Tyco Electronics Shanghai Co Ltd; Tyco Electronics UK Ltd
Priority date: 2011-05-20
Filing date: 2012-05-16
Publication date: 2012-11-29
Anticipated expiration: 2013-11-20
Also published as: PE20141801A1; CO6842000A2; CL2013003286A1; CN202135122U

Abstract

A signal splitter comprising a plurality of kinds of signal transmission lines distributed on an electrical circuit board. At least one kind of signal transmission lines each has a corresponding contact on each of mounting surfaces of the electrical circuit board.

Description

SIGNAL SPLITTER AND SIGNAL SPLITTER ASSEMBLY

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of Chinese Patent Application No. 201120166230.7 filed on May 20, 2011 in the State Intellectual Property Office of China, the whole disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a telecommunication apparatus, more particularly, relates to a signal splitter for splitting signals from a telecommunication line.

Description of the Related Art

ADSL (Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line) technology is widely applied in the telecommunication field. With the ADSL technology, different signals are transmitted through a single line at different frequencies and are split from each other by a signal splitter connected to the single line. Accordingly, it is possible to transmit at least two different signals through a single line at a same time by means of the ADSL technology. In addition, an audio signal and a data signal split by the signal splitter are combined at the user end and are transported to an exchanger center. After being split, the audio signal may be transmitted by a POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) line, and the data signal and the other information may be transmitted by the other lines. The signal splitter for splitting and combining the signals may be provided at any distribution point.

The signal splitter comprises a filter for splitting the audio signal and the data signal having different frequencies. The conventional signal splitter has only three contacts consisting of a LINE contact, a POTS contact, and a DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) contact for connecting with a LINE signal line, a POTS signal line, and a DSL signal line, respectively. Accordingly, the conventional signal splitter does not have a spare contact prepared for the user, and it is inconvenient. Due to the structure of the conventional signal splitter, the user cannot select a contact to connect with a line to perform an operation, for example, testing a signal on the line, because the conventional signal splitter lacks various selectable spare contacts.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made to overcome or alleviate at least one aspect of the above mentioned disadvantages.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a signal splitter comprising a plurality of kinds of signal transmission lines distributed on an electrical circuit board. At least one kind of signal transmission lines each has a corresponding contact on each of mounting surface of the electrical circuit board.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a signal splitter assembly, comprising: a line distribution module having connection ports at both sides thereof; and a signal splitter mentioned as the above and configured to be inserted into the line distribution module. The connection ports of the line distribution module correspond to and are electrically connected to the contacts of the plurality of kinds of signal transmission lines on both mounting surfaces of the electrical circuit board, respectively.

In various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, since the POTS lines each has a corresponding contact on each of mounting surfaces of the electrical circuit board, the contacts of each of POTS lines can be access from either mounting surface of the signal splitter. It is very convenient for the customer in use, and the customer can select a spare POTS contact to connect with the POTS line when the customer needs to test a POTS signal. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other features of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig.1 A shows lines distributed on a front mounting surface of a first electrical circuit board of a signal splitter according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. IB shows lines distributed on a back mounting surface of the first electrical circuit board of the signal splitter according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

Fig.2 shows a second electrical circuit board and the first electrical circuit board of the signal splitter according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

Fig.3 shows an equivalent circuit of a filter on the second electrical circuit board;

Fig.4 shows a line distribution module for the signal splitter of Fig.1;

Fig.5 A shows lines distributed on a front mounting surface of a first electrical circuit board of a signal splitter according to a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

Fig.5B shows lines distributed on a back mounting surface of the first electrical circuit board of the signal splitter according to the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

Fig.6A shows lines distributed on a front mounting surface of a first electrical circuit board of a signal splitter according to a third exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and

Fig.6B shows lines distributed on a back mounting surface of the first electrical circuit board of the signal splitter according to the third exemplary embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE

IVENTION

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described hereinafter in detail with reference to the attached drawings, wherein the like reference numerals refer to the like elements. The present disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiment set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that the present disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the concept of the disclosure to those skilled in the art.

First Embodiment

Fig. lA shows lines distributed on a front mounting surface of a first electrical circuit board of a signal splitter according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and Fig. IB shows lines distributed on a back mounting surface of the first electrical circuit board of the signal splitter according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in Fig.lA and Fig. IB, the signal splitter mainly comprises a pair of POTS signal transmission lines POTS0, POTS1, a pair of DSL signal transmission lines DSLO, DSL1, and a pair of LINE signal transmission lines LINEO, LFNE1.

Referring to Fig.lA and Fig. IB, the pair of DSL signal transmission lines DSLO, DSL1 each has a corresponding contact DO, Dl on only a front mounting surface 100a of the first electrical circuit board 100. The pair of LINE signal transmission lines LINEO, LINE1 each has a corresponding contact L0, LI on only a back mounting surface 100b of the first electrical circuit board 100. The pair of POTS signal transmission lines POTS0, POTS1 each has a corresponding contact P0, PI on each of the front and back mounting surfaces 100a, 100b of the first electrical circuit board 100. As shown in Fig.lA and Fig. IB, the first electrical circuit board 100 is divided into a first portion 101 and a second portion 102 by a middle groove. In this way, the signal interference between the first portion 101 and the second portion 102 may be reduced. But, the present invention is not limited to this, the first electrical circuit board 100 may be an unitary board without any dividing groove.

Please refer to Fig.lA, the pair of DSL signal transmission lines DSL0, DSL1 and the corresponding contacts DO, Dl thereof are arranged on the front mounting surface 101a of the first portion 101 of the first electrical circuit board 100. One (hereafter referred as a first POTS signal transmission line POTSO) of the pair of POTS signal transmission lines is arranged on the front mounting surface 102a of the second portion 102 of the first electrical circuit board 100.

Please refer to Fig. IB, the pair of LINE signal transmission lines LINE0, LINE1 and the corresponding contacts L0, LI thereof are arranged on the back mounting surface 101b of the first portion 101 of the first electrical circuit board 100. The other (hereafter referred as a second POTS signal transmission line POTS1) of the pair of POTS signal transmission lines is arranged on the back mounting surface 102b of the second portion 102 of the first electrical circuit board 100.

As shown in Fig. lA and Fig. IB, the contacts P0, P0 of the first POTS signal transmission line POTSO on both mounting surfaces 100a, 100b of the first electrical circuit board 100 are electrically connected by a first conductive via 103. The contacts PI, PI of the second POTS signal transmission line POTS1 on both mounting surfaces 100a, 100b of the first electrical circuit board 100 are electrically connected by a second conductive via 104.

Referring to Fig.lA and Fig. IB, the first POTS signal transmission line POTSO and the second POTS signal transmission line POTS1 are bent in opposite directions that are far away from each other. In this way, the signal interference between the POTS signal transmission lines and the DSL signal transmission lines or the LINE signal transmission lines can be reduced.

As shown in Fig. lA and Fig. IB, because the first and second POTS signal transmission lines POTSO, POTSl are arranged on the front and back mounting surfaces 100a, 100b of the first electrical circuit board 100, respectively, the signal interference between the POTS signal transmission lines and the DSL signal transmission lines or the LINE signal transmission lines can be further reduced.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the DSL signal transmission line may be an Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line or a Superspeed Digital Subscriber Line.

Fig.2 shows a second electrical circuit board 200 and the first electrical circuit board 100 of the signal splitter according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and Fig.3 shows a circuit of a filter 10 on the second electrical circuit board.

As shown in Figs.2-3, the electrical circuit board of the signal splitter mainly comprises the first electrical circuit board 100 and the second electrical circuit board 200. The plurality of kinds of signal transmission lines are distributed on the first electrical circuit board 100. A filter circuit 10 is arranged on the second electrical circuit board 200.

Please refer to Figs.2-3 again, signal output ports DSL O, DSL l, LINE O, LINE l, POTS O, POTS l of the filter circuit 10 on the second electrical circuit board 200 correspond to and are electrically connected to, for example, by means of soldering or inserting, the plurality of signal transmission lines DSLO, DSLl, LINEO, LINEl, POTSO, POTSl on the first electrical circuit board 100, respectively.

Fig.4 shows a line distribution module 300 cooperated with the signal splitter of Fig.1. As shown in Fig.4, the line distribution module 300 has connection ports D O, D_l, P_0, P I, L_0, L I at both sides thereof. The connection ports D O, D_l, P_0, P I, L_0, L I of the line distribution module 300 correspond to the contacts DO, Dl, P0, PI, L0, LI of the plurality of kinds of signal transmission lines DSLO, DSLl, LINEO, LINEl, POTSO, POTSl on both mounting surfaces 100a, 100b of the electrical circuit board 100, respectively. The signal splitter mentioned as the above is configured to be inserted into the line distribution module 300.

Although it is not shown, when the signal splitter is inserted into the line distribution module 300, the connection ports D O, D_l, P_0, P I, L_0, L I of the line distribution module 300are electrically connected to the contacts DO, Dl, P0, PI, L0, LI of the signal transmission lines DSLO, DSLl, LINEO, LINEl, POTSO, POTSl on both mounting surfaces 100a, 100b of the electrical circuit board 100, respectively.

Second Embodiment

Fig.5A shows lines distributed on a front mounting surface of a first electrical circuit board of a signal splitter according to a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and Fig.5B shows lines distributed on a back mounting surface of the first electrical circuit board of the signal splitter according to the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in Fig.5A and Fig.5B, there are two first POTS signal transmission lines

POTSO, POTSO and two second POTS signal transmission lines POTSl, POTSl on a first electrical circuit board 100' of the signal splitter. More specifically, the two first POTS signal transmission lines POTSO', POTSO' are distributed on the front and back mounting surfaces 100a', 100b' of the first electrical circuit board 100', respectively. The two second POTS signal transmission lines POTSl ', POTSl ' are distributed on the front and back mounting surfaces 100a', 100b' of the first electrical circuit board 100', respectively.

Furthermore, as shown in Fig.5A and Fig.5B, the first electrical circuit board 100' is divided into a first portion 101 ' and a second portion 102' by a middle groove.

Referring to Fig.5A and Fig.5B, one first POTS signal transmission line POTSO' and one second POTS signal transmission line POTS 1 ' are arranged on the front mounting surface 102a' of the second portion 102' of the first electrical circuit board 100', and the other first POTS signal transmission line POTS0' and the other second POTS signal transmission line POTS1 ' are arranged on the back mounting surface 102b' of the second portion 102' of the first electrical circuit board 100'.

Except for the above description, the other structures or features of the signal splitter of the second embodiment shown in Figs.5A-5B may be same or similar to the signal splitter of the first embodiment shown in Figs. lA-lB.

Third Embodiment

Fig.6A shows lines distributed on a front mounting surface of a first electrical circuit board of a signal splitter according to a third exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and Fig.6B shows lines distributed on a back mounting surface of the first electrical circuit board of the signal splitter according to the third exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in Fig.6A and Fig.6B, there are only one first POTS signal transmission line POTS0 and only one second POTS signal transmission line POTS1 on a first electrical circuit board 100" of the signal splitter. Furthermore, the one first POTS signal transmission line POTS0" and the one second POTS signal transmission line POTS1" both are distributed on the back mounting surfaces 100b" of the first electrical circuit board 100".

Referring to Fig.6A and Fig.6B, the first electrical circuit board 100" is divided into a first portion 101" and a second portion 102" by a middle groove. The first POTS signal transmission line POTS0" and the second POTS signal transmission line POTS1" are both arranged on a back mounting surface 102b" of the second portion 102" of the first electrical circuit board 100". Furthermore, two contacts P0", P0" for the first POTS signal transmission line POTS0" are arranged on font and back mounting surfaces 100a", 100b", respectively, and electrically connected with each other by a first conductive via 103"; and two contacts PI", PI" for the second POTS signal transmission line POTS1" are arranged on front and back mounting surfaces 100a", 100b", respectively, and electrically connected with each other by a second conductive via 104".

Except for the above description, the other structures or features of the signal splitter of the second embodiment shown in Figs.6A-6B may be same or similar to the signal splitter of the first embodiment shown in Figs. lA-lB.

Although several exemplary embodiments have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various changes or modifications may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the disclosure, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.

As used herein, an element recited in the singular and proceeded with the word "a" or "an" should be understood as not excluding plural of said elements or steps, unless such exclusion is explicitly stated. Furthermore, references to "one embodiment" of the present invention are not intended to be interpreted as excluding the existence of additional embodiments that also incorporate the recited features. Moreover, unless explicitly stated to the contrary, embodiments "comprising" or "having" an element or a plurality of elements having a particular property may include additional such elements not having that property.

Claims

What is claimed is,

1. A signal splitter comprising a plurality of kinds of signal transmission lines (DSLO, DSLl ; LINEO, LINEl ; POTS0, POTS1) distributed on an electrical circuit board,

wherein at least one kind of signal transmission lines (POTS0, POTS1) each has a corresponding contact (P0, PI) on both mounting surfaces (100a, 100b) of the electrical circuit board.

2. The signal splitter according to claim 1, wherein the electrical circuit board comprising: a first electrical circuit board (100) on which the plurality of kinds of signal transmission lines are distributed; and

a second electrical circuit board (200) on which a filter circuit (10) is arranged, wherein signal output ports of the filter circuit (10) on the second electrical circuit board (200) correspond to and are electrically connected to the signal transmission lines on the first electrical circuit board (100), respectively.

3. The signal splitter according to claim 2,

wherein the plurality of kinds of signal transmission lines comprising DSL signal transmission lines (DSLO, DSLl), LINE signal transmission lines (LINEO, LINEl), and POTS signal transmission lines (POTS0, POTS1).

4. The signal splitter according to claim 3,

wherein the POTS signal transmission lines (POTS0, POTS1) each has a corresponding contact (P0, PI) on both mounting surfaces (100a, 100b) of the first electrical circuit board (100);

wherein the DSL signal transmission lines (DSLO, DSLl) each has a corresponding contact (DO, Dl) on one (100a) of the mounting surfaces of the first electrical circuit board (100); and

wherein the LINE signal transmission lines (LINE0, LINE1) each has a corresponding contact (L0, LI) on the other (100b) one of the mounting surfaces of the first electrical circuit board (100).

5. The signal splitter according to claim 4, wherein the POTS signal transmission lines comprising:

a first POTS signal transmission line (POTSO) distributed on only the one (100a) of the surfaces of the first electrical circuit board (100); and

a second POTS signal transmission line (POTSO) distributed on only the other (100b) of the mounting surfaces of the first electrical circuit board (100),

wherein the contacts (P0, P0) for the first POTS signal transmission line (POTSO) on both mounting surfaces (100a, 100b) of the first electrical circuit board (100) are electrically connected by a first conductive via (103),

wherein the contacts (PI, PI) for the second POTS signal transmission line (POTS1) on both mounting surfaces (100a, 100b) of the first electrical circuit board (100) are electrically connected by a second conductive via (104).

6. The signal splitter according to claim 5,

wherein the first electrical circuit board (100) is divided into a first portion (101) and second portion (102) by a middle groove,

wherein the DSL signal transmission lines (DSL0, DSL1) and the corresponding contacts (DO, Dl) thereof are arranged on the one mounting surface (101a) of the first portion (101) of the first electrical circuit board (100),

wherein the LINE signal transmission lines (LINE0, LINE1) and the corresponding contacts (L0, LI) thereof are arranged on the other mounting surface (101b) of the first portion (101) of the first electrical circuit board (100), and

wherein the first POTS signal transmission line (POTSO) is arranged on one mounting surface (102a) of the second portion (102) of the first electrical circuit board (100), and the second POTS signal transmission line (POTS1) is arranged on the other mounting surface (102b) of the second portion (102) of the first electrical circuit board (100).

7. The signal splitter according to claim 4, wherein the POTS signal transmission lines comprising:

two first POTS signal transmission lines (POTSO') distributed on both mounting surfaces (100a', 100b') of the first electrical circuit board (100'), respectively; and

two second POTS signal transmission lines (POTS1 ') distributed on both mounting surfaces (100a', 100b') of the first electrical circuit board (100'), respectively.

8. The signal splitter according to claim 7,

wherein the first electrical circuit board (100') is divided into a first portion (101 ') and a second portion (102') by a middle groove,

wherein the DSL signal transmission lines (DSL0', DSL1 ') and the corresponding contacts (DO', Dl ') thereof are arranged on one mounting surface (101a') of the first portion ( 10 Γ ) of the first electrical circuit board (100'),

wherein the LINE signal transmission lines (LINE0', LINE1 ') and the corresponding contacts (L0', LI ') thereof are arranged on the other mounting surface (101b') of the first portion (101 ') of the first electrical circuit board (100'), and

wherein one first POTS signal transmission line (POTSO') and one second POTS signal transmission line (POTS1 ') are arranged on one mounting surface (102a) of the second portion (102) of the first electrical circuit board (100'), and the other first POTS signal transmission line (POTSO') and the other second POTS signal transmission line (POTSl ') are arranged on the other mounting surface (102b') of the second portion (102') of the first electrical circuit board (100').

9. The signal splitter according to claim 4,

wherein the POTS signal transmission lines comprises a first POTS signal transmission line (POTSO") and a second POTS signal transmission line (POTSl") both arranged on one mounting surface (100b") of the first electrical circuit board (100");

wherein the contacts (P0", P0") of the first POTS signal transmission line (POTSO") on both mounting surfaces (100a", 100b") of the first electrical circuit board (100") are electrically connected by a conductive via (103"); and

wherein the contacts (PI", PI") of the second POTS signal transmission line (POTSl") on both mounting surfaces (100a", 100b") of the first electrical circuit board (100") are electrically connected by a conductive via (104").

10. The signal splitter according to claim 9,

wherein the first electrical circuit board (100") is divided into a first portion (101") and a second portion (102") by a middle groove,

wherein the DSL signal transmission lines (DSL0", DSL1") and the corresponding contacts (DO", Dl") thereof are arranged on one mounting surface (101a") of the first portion (101") of the first electrical circuit board (100"),

wherein the LINE signal transmission lines (LINE0", LINE1") and the corresponding contacts (L0", LI") thereof are arranged on the other mounting surface (101b") of the first portion (101") of the first electrical circuit board (100"), and

wherein the first POTS signal transmission line (POTSO") and the second POTS signal transmission line (POTSl") are both arranged on one mounting surface (102b) of the second portion (102") of the first electrical circuit board (100").

11. The signal splitter according to claim 5, 7 or 9, wherein the first POTS signal transmission line (POTSO) and the second POTS signal transmission line (POTSl) are bent away from each other.

12. The signal splitter according to claim 3, wherein the DSL signal transmission line is an Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line or a HyperSpeed Digital Subscriber Line.

13. A signal splitter assembly, comprising:

a line distribution module (300) having connection ports (D O, D l, P O, P I, L O, L I) at both sides thereof; and

a signal splitter according to claim 1 and configured to be inserted into the line distribution module (300),

wherein the connection ports (D O, D l, P O, P I, L O, L I) of the line distribution module (300) correspond to and are electrically connected to the contacts (DO, Dl, P0, PI, L0, LI) of the plurality of kinds of signal transmission lines (DSLO, DSLl ; LINEO, LINEl ; POTSO, POTSl) on both mounting surfaces (100a, 100b) of the electrical circuit board (100), respectively.