Field of Invention

This invention generally relates to inject/eject handles of cards on telecommunication network systems and more specifically to an Offset ejector for enabling a card to be injected or ejected from the chassis of a telecommunication network system enabling increased component real estate on the face plate area.

Background of the Invention

Telecommunication network systems essentially consist of electronic devices arranged in a system. This system provides for a front panel consisting of a face plate, Printed circuit board (PCB), card cage and a latch mechanism on either side of the face plate to fasten the front panel with the chassis. These are often referred to as card or node. The face plate area through the openings is the access point to the services offered by the PCB. The front panel with the PCB is guided by a card cage to attach the PCB with the back plane of the system. The card cage is a combination of two card guides fixed on either sides of a chassis which allows guiding of the front panel through its grooves. To firmly secure the PCB with the backplane of the system ATCA handles provided on either side of the face plate are used to jack-in and jack-out of the front panel from the backplane of the system. The ATCA handles activate the sensors in the PCB when the front panel is jacked in with the backplane of the system by a switch activation lever in the handle which activates the functions of the PCB thereby integrating it with the system. Whenever the front panel is jacked-out or removed from the system, the switch activation lever is removed from the switch activating the sensors thus de-activating the functions of the PCB. This enables to switch over the functions of the PCB to another such node.

The main advantage of these handles is to restore the functions of a particular card, whenever such card is removed incidentally or by accident. This prevents the system from getting non-functional due to the removal of any such nodes. Therefore ATCA handles with switch activation levers are necessary while handling cards whose functions are required to be continuously operational. For example, functions of the cross-connect cards are required by the system to be continuously operational as this is the mother card which controls all the other cards. Within a system a master and slave cross-connect cards are provided such that whenever the switch activation lever in the master card is removed the slave card is automatically assigned the functions of the master card thereby preventing the system from being non-functional. Apart from these, similar such protective features are required for other cards like aggregate cards where more number of ports are featured.

A major disadvantage in using ATCA handles with switch activation lever in such cards is that the catch within the lever prevents the accessibility of the ports at the extremes of the face plate. To overcome this, a possible alternative would be to use custom make ejectors, but these would not have the spring loaded switch activator and providing one will increase the cost and bill of material (BOM). Another solution would be to use a flat ejector and provide an external clamp fixed on the faceplate to secure the ejector after activating the switch. But, this solution is too cumbersome and required additional space on the face plate to assemble the ejector locking mechanism. Therefore a method to provide an increased face plate area to accommodate more number of such ports without any additional parts is required to eliminate the above said disadvantages.

Summary of the Invention

An aspect of the present invention it to address at least the above mentioned problems or disadvantages and to provide the advantages as below:

Accordingly an aspect of the present invention is to provide an Offset ejector installed in a card formed of a PCB and a face plate at one side of said PCB and adapted to inject and eject the card to a telephone network system, the Offset ejector comprising of a joggle on the horizontal profile of the inject/eject lever, such that the switch activation lever in the catch is unaffected in its movement and functions and wherein the joggle on the horizontal profile of the inject/eject lever increases the component real estate on the face plate area. This feature provides easy injection and ejection of the front panel and increases the face plate area thereby making the front panel adapt to the different usages of the card.

Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses exemplary embodiments of the invention.

Brief description of the drawings

The features, advantages and other aspects of the embodiments of the present invention will be obvious to any person skilled in the art to appreciate the invention when read with the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG 1 depicts a type of ATCA inject/eject lever known in the prior art;

FIG 2 depicts an isometric front view of the ATCA inject/eject lever with the faceplate and PCB in the existing prior art;

FIG 3 depicts the Offset ejector, embodying the principles of the present invention.

FIG 4 depicts the Offset ejector, along with the faceplate and PCB embodying the principles of the present invention.

FIG 5 depicts the bottom view of the Offset ejector, along with the faceplate and PCB embodying the principles of the present invention.

The figures are not drawn to scale and are illustrated for simplicity and clarity to help understand the various embodiments of the present invention. Throughout the drawings it should be noted that like reference numbers are used to depict the same or similar elements, features and structures.

Detail description of the Invention

The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of exemplary embodiments of the invention as defined by the claims and their equivalents. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

The terms and words used in the following description and claims are not limited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the invention. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of exemplary embodiments of the present invention are provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Figs. 3 to 5, discussed below, and the various embodiments used to describe the principles of the present disclosure in this patent document are by way of illustration only and should not be construed in any way that would limit the scope of the disclosure. Those skilled in the art will understand that the principles of the present disclosure may be implemented in any suitably arranged telecommunication network systems. The terms used to describe various embodiments are exemplary. It should be understood that these are provided to merely aid the understanding of the description, and that their use and definitions in no way limit the scope of the invention.

By the term "substantially" it is meant that the recited characteristic, parameter, or value need not be achieved exactly, but that deviations or variations, including for example, tolerances, measurement error, measurement accuracy limitations and other factors known to those of skill in the art, may occur in amounts that do not preclude the effect the characteristic was intended to provide.

Referring to figures 1 and 2, an Offset ejector mechanism as known in the prior art is shown comprising of inject/eject lever 20, faceplate 12 and the PCB 3. The Offset ejector 20 as shown in figure 1 comprises of a C-shaped retaining notch 26 within the retaining portion 25. The horizontal profile 21 of the lever 20 extends to a grip portion 24 which facilitates the user to turn the lever about the pivoted junction. Within the horizontal profile 21 a spring operated catch mechanism 28 with a notch 29 on one side and a switch activation lever 23 on the other side can be moved by exerting appropriate pressure upon the notch 29. When the lever 20 is moved to engage the card into the chassis of a telecommunication network system the switch activation lever 23 engages the sensor provided on the PCB through a through hole on the faceplate. The card can be removed from the chassis of the telecommunication network system by moving the catch upon exerting appropriate pressure upon the notch 29 thus dis-engaging the switch activation lever 23 from the sensor. The lever 20 is coupled to the PCB through the pivot hole 27 disposed near the retaining portion 25.

Figure 2 represents the disadvantages in using the existing ATCA inject/eject lever mechanism in a card having dense ports on the faceplate area. Ports are sockets through which the services of the PCB are accessed. The ATCA inject/eject lever is pivotally coupled to the PCB 3 through the pivot hole 27. The faceplate area 12 as shown includes high dense ports to serve the system requirements. As illustrated, the sequence of ports 13a, 13b, 13c, 13d and 13e may be provided on the faceplate such that increasing system requirements may demand more such ports on the faceplate. This causes the extremes of the faceplate to be used for more port density. As shown, connector to the port 13a is seen obstructed by the catch 28 of the existing ATCA inject/eject lever mechanism when the card is engaged to the chassis of a telecommunication network system. In actual practice two locking levers 20 are used and so the accessibility of the port at the other extreme end is also obstructed.

FIG 3 to 5 depicts an Offset ejector embodying the principles of the present invention that removes the disadvantages of the above prior art and provides for other advantages.

The Offset ejector 20 as shown in figure 3 comprises of a C-shaped retaining notch 26 within the retaining portion 25. The horizontal profile 21 of the lever 20 extends to a grip portion 24 which facilitates the user to turn the lever about the pivoted junction. A joggle 22 is provided on the horizontal profile 21 of the lever 20 such that the catch mechanism 28 is lowered to the extent of the joggle depth. Within the joggled horizontal profile 21 a spring operated catch mechanism 28 with a notch 29 on one side and a switch activation lever 23 on the other side can be moved by exerting appropriate pressure upon the notch 29. When the lever 20 is moved to engage the card into the chassis of a telecommunication network system, the switch activation lever 23 engages the sensor provided on the PCB through a through hole 15 (Fig 5) on the faceplate. The lever 20 is coupled to the PCB through the pivot hole 27 disposed near the retaining portion 25. In actual practice two such Offset Ejectors 20 are provided at two sides of the PCB so that the levers can positively lock the PCB to the chassis of the telecommunication network system. It should be noted that the featured embodiment of providing joggle on the horizontal profile 21 of the lever 20 can also be accomplished by providing a bending operation depending on specific applications of the Offset ejector with respect to the card it is coupled with.

Figure 4 shows isometric front views of the Offset ejector attached with the face plate 12 embodying the principles of the invention. The face plate 12 as shown in the above figure pertains to a dense port card where multiple ports 13 are accommodated through the openings provided on the face plate 12. It could be seen that the joggled portion 22 on the horizontal profile 21 of the lever 20 provides an increase in the faceplate area to the extent of the joggled depth. The accessibility of the ports 13a at the extremes of the Offset Ejector is not hindered. It should be noted that the featured embodiment of providing joggle on the horizontal profile 21 of the lever 20 can also be accomplished by providing a bending operation depending on specific applications of the Offset ejector with respect to the card it is coupled with.

Figure 5 shows an isometric bottom view of the Offset Ejector attached with the face plate 12 embodying the principles of the invention. The Offset ejector 20 is coupled to the PCB 3 through the pivot hole 27 disposed near the retaining portion 25. When the Offset ejector 20 is moved to engage the card into the chassis of a telecommunication network system, the switch activation lever 23 (not shown in fig 5) engages the sensor 30 provided on the PCB 3 through a throughhole 15 on the faceplate.

The Offset ejector 20 as embodied occupies a minimal area on the faceplate thus increasing the face plate area considerably making it more versatile for its different applications. Increase in the real estate of the face plate increases the connected density or port density on the face plate. Port density could be either increase of various ports including a power source, broad band access, network management port; in combination of all, or in combination of either of these ports.

The Offset ejector, embodying the principles of this invention can be used to provide inject/eject means for a plurality of equipments including telecom circuit boards, PCB, tray, metallic tray etc

The embodiments of the Offset ejector pursuant to the principles of the invention can be made from any desired solid material preferably metal. Indeed, it can be made of steel, mild steel, plastic, fibre, moulded material making it weigh less and more portable. It could also be made of steel, mild steel, non-conducting alloys depending upon its applications.

It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to device numerous alternative arrangements that, while now shown or described herein, embody the principles of the invention and thus are within its spirit and scope.

We Claim:

1. The method for an Offset ejector by steps comprising of:
Providing a joggle on the horizontal profile of the inject/eject lever such that the switch activation lever in the catch is unaffected in its movement and functions enabling increased component real estate on the face plate.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, the joggle on the horizontal profile can be a sharp angle or an arc angle.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the joggle includes any type of bending operations including joggling and bending.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein, inject/eject lever includes plurality of levers, handles, latch handles, ejectors, ATCA inject/eject levers that are used in injecting and ejecting printed circuits boards from the chassis of a telecommunication network system.

5. An Offset ejector coupled to a card formed of a PCB and a face plate at one side of said PCB and adapted to inject and eject the card to a telephone network system, the Offset ejector comprising:

A joggle on the horizontal profile of the inject/eject lever such that the switch activation lever in the catch is unaffected in its movement and functions enabling increased component real estate on the faceplate.

6. The Offset ejector as claimed in claim 5, wherein the joggle can be a sharp
angle or an arc angle.

7. The Offset ejector as claimed in claim 5, wherein the joggle on the horizontal profile can be a bend, wherein the bend can be a sharp angle or an arc angle.

8. The Offset ejector as claimed in claim 5, wherein, inject/eject lever includes plurality of levers, handles, latch handles, ejectors, ATCA inject/eject levers that are used in injecting and ejecting printed circuits boards from the chassis of a telecommunication network system.

9. The Offset ejector as claimed in claim 5, wherein the said Offset ejector is formed of a metal.

10. An Offset ejector substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.