The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 22, 1998
Filed:
Aug. 12, 1997
Ronald L Ballast, Novi, MI (US);
John A DeFranco, Farmington Hills, MI (US);
Lawrence T Rupert, Carthage, IL (US);
Methode Electronics, Inc., Chicago, IL (US);
Abstract
An articulating connector assembly having a housing, a hub being carried in rotatable relation to the housing; and means for signal coupling between the housing and the hub. The signal coupling can consist of means such as optical coupling, inductive coupling, radio frequency coupling, capacitive coupling, and pressure wave coupling. In addition, the articulating connector assembly can further include power coupling which can be accomplished by siding contacts, inductively coupled coils, capacitively coupled electrodes, or optical transmitters and receivers on the hub and the housing. Furthermore, a method of efficiently transmitting and receiving signals between the housing and hub is provided. The method consists of (1) obtaining an input signal, by a signal driver, to produce a driven signal output; (2) coupling the driven signal output to produce a coupled signal; and (3) receiving the coupled signal, by a receiver, to produce an output signal. In addition, the method can further include decoding and encoding, respectively, of the output and input signals.