Apple Inc.

Alex C Yeung

Derek William Wright

Carl R Peterson

Eric Steven Jol

John Raff

Benjamin J Pope

Stephen Robert McClure

Sean S Corbin

Kevin David Gibbs

Florence W Ow

Shayan Malek

John B Ardisana, Ii

Gianpaolo Lisi

Liquan Tan

Blake R Marshall

Robert Scritzky

Reza Nasiri Mahalati

Nan Liu

Madhusudanan Keezhveedi Sampath

Steve McClure

Julio C Quintero

YiBo Liu

Wei-Hsuan Chen

Hybrid connectors that may transfer power and data with a variety of electronic devices having different types of connector interfaces, may consume a minimal amount of surface area, depth, and volume in an electronic device, and may be readily manufactured.

Hybrid connector

Printed circuit substrates may be formed from rigid printed circuit material or flexible sheets of polymer. Printed circuit substrates may have conductive traces. Integrated circuits, touch sensor electrode structure, sensors, and other components may be mounted to the conductive traces. Connectors such as board-to-board connectors may be used to couple printed circuit substrates together. To hold the connectors together and to provide electromagnetic shielding, printed circuits and connectors may be surrounded by printed circuit connector securing structures. The printed circuit connector securing structures may have one or more strips of conductive fabric tape wrapped around the connectors. Metal stiffening members may be attached to opposing ends of the strip of conductive tape to facilitate removal of the tape for rework or repair. An additional strip of tape may be used to help secure the wrapped conductive tape. The additional strip may have a tab to facilitate removal.

Structures for securing printed circuit connectors

An improved electrical connector retainer employs a shell having a cavity. A pair of mated electrical connectors are received within the cavity and at least a portion of an upper wall of the shell is deflected towards a lower wall of the shell. The shell is configured to retain the upper wall in the deflected position, maintaining the pair of connectors in the mated position.

Retention mechanisms for electrical connectors

An interconnect for an internal device, such as a speaker, coupling power from a flexible connector to the speaker at two or more terminals. The interconnect includes a flexible element, such as a 'minus' terminal, and a second element, such as a 'plus' terminal, which are coupled to corresponding terminals on the flexible connector. A screw can be threaded through a hole in the flexible element, the corresponding terminals, and can be terminated at the second element. The screw presses the &#x201c;minus&#x201d; terminal and the &#x201c;plus&#x201d; terminal into their corresponding terminals, making an electrical connection and a physical connection.

Speaker interconnect

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San Francisco, CA, United States of America

Alex C Yeung