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EP-4376561-B1 - CHIP TO MODULE CABLE ASSEMBLY AND PCB CIRCUIT

EP4376561B1EP 4376561 B1EP4376561 B1EP 4376561B1EP-4376561-B1

Inventors

  • LIAO, ZAIYI
  • FAN, HUI
  • YANG, PEIHANG

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20221012

Claims (10)

  1. A chip-to-module cable assembly, comprising: a first joint (10), comprising a first interface terminal (101) and a second interface terminal, wherein a first end part of the first interface terminal (101) is connected to a first signal port of an I/O connector, and a second end part of the first interface terminal (101) is connected to a first conducting wire in a first flexible PCB cable (20), a first end part of the second interface terminal is connected to a second signal port of the I/O connector, and a second end part of the second interface terminal is connected to a second conducting wire in the first flexible PCB cable (20); a second joint (30), comprising a third interface terminal (301) and a fourth interface terminal, wherein a first end part of the third interface terminal (301) is connected to the first conducting wire, and a second end part of the third interface terminal (301) is connected to a first signal port on a main control board, a first end part of the fourth interface terminal is connected to the second conducting wire, and a second end part of the fourth interface terminal is connected to a second signal port on the main control board; and the first flexible PCB cable (20), comprising a first flexible material part (201), a connection part (203) and a second flexible material part (202), wherein the first flexible material part(201) is located on an upper layer of the first flexible PCB cable, the connection part (203) is located on a middle layer of the first flexible PCB cable, the second flexible material part (202) is located on a lower layer of the first flexible PCB cable, wherein the connection part comprises a first rigid material part, a second rigid material part and a hollow part between the first rigid material part and the second rigid material part, the first flexible material part (201) comprises the first conducting wire, a first end part of the first conducting wire is connected to the first interface terminal, a second end part of the first conducting wire is connected to the third interface terminal, the second flexible material part (202) comprises the second conducting wire, a first end part of the second conducting wire is connected to the second interface terminal, and a second end part of the second conducting wire is connected to the fourth interface terminal; wherein the first rigid material part (43) is located between a first end part of the first flexible material part (201, 41) and a first end part of the second flexible material part (202, 42), and the second rigid material part is located between a second end part of the first flexible material part (201, 41) and a second end part of the second flexible material part (202, 42); and characterized in that the first conducting wire passes through an upward first via (49), facing away from the first rigid material part (43) and perpendicular to an extension direction of the first flexible material part (201, 41), to connect to the first interface terminal at the first end part of the first flexible material part (201, 41), and the second conducting wire passes through a downward second via (50), facing away from the first rigid material part (43) and perpendicular to an extension direction of the second flexible material part (202, 42), to connect to the second interface terminal at the first end part of the second flexible material part (202, 42).
  2. The cable assembly according to claim 1, wherein the first joint (10) is a golden finger connector, and the golden finger connector comprises a first golden finger (46), a second golden finger, a first pad (47), a second pad, a first external connection cable and a second external connection cable (48); wherein the first golden finger (46) is located at the first end part of the first flexible material part (201, 41) and is perpendicular to the first via (49), the first golden finger (46) comprises the first interface terminal (101), the second end part of the first interface terminal (101) passes through the first via (49) to connected to the first conducting wire, and the first end part of the first interface terminal (101) is fastened by the first pad (47) and is connected to the first signal port of the I/O connector through the first external connection cable; and the second golden finger is located at the first end part of the second flexible material part (202, 42) and is perpendicular to the second via (50), the second golden finger comprises the second interface terminal, the second end part of the second interface terminal passes through the second via (50) to connect to the second conducting wire, and the first end part of the second interface terminal is fastened by the second pad and is connected to the second signal port of the I/O connector through the second external connection cable (48).
  3. The cable assembly according to claim 1, wherein the first conducting wire passes through an upward third via (51) to connect to the third interface terminal at the second end part of the first flexible material part (201, 41), and the second conducting wire passes through a downward fourth via (52) to connect to the fourth interface terminal at the second end part of the second flexible material part (202, 42).
  4. The cable assembly according to claim 3, wherein the second joint comprises a third golden finger and a fourth golden finger, the third golden finger is located at the second end part of the first flexible material part (201, 41) and is perpendicular to the third via (51) , the third golden finger comprises the third interface terminal (301), the first end part of the third interface terminal passes through the third via (51) to connect to the first conducting wire, and the second end part of the third interface terminal(301) is inserted into a first golden finger slot on the main control board so as to connect to the first signal port on the main control board; and the fourth golden finger is located at the second end part (202, 42) of the second flexible material part and is perpendicular to the fourth via (52), the fourth golden finger comprises the fourth interface terminal, the first end part of the fourth interface terminal passes through the fourth via (52) to connect to the second conducting wire, and the second end part of the fourth interface terminal is inserted into a second golden finger slot on the main control board so as to connect to the second signal port on the main control board.
  5. The cable assembly according to claim 1, wherein the first conducting wire passes through a downward fifth via to connect to the third interface terminal (301), and the second conducting wire passes through a downward sixth via to connect to the fourth interface terminal at the second end part of the second flexible material part.
  6. The cable assembly according to claim 5, wherein the second joint (30) is a socket elastic piece, the socket elastic piece comprises the third interface terminal (301) and the fourth interface terminal, the first end part of the third interface terminal passes through the fifth via to connect to the first conducting wire, and the second end part of the third interface terminal is inserted into a signal port on the main control board; and the first end part of the fourth interface terminal passes through the sixth via to connect to the second conducting wire, and the second end part of the fourth interface terminal is inserted into the second signal port on the main control board.
  7. The cable assembly according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the cable assembly comprises a second flexible PCB cable, the first flexible PCB cable is connected to the second joint at a first end part of the first flexible PCB cable, the second flexible PCB cable is connected to the second joint at a first end part of the second flexible PCB cable, and the cable assembly further comprises: a first intermediate rigid support part, located between the first end part of the first flexible PCB cable and the first end part of the second flexible PCB cable; and a first end rigid support part, located at the first end part of the first flexible PCB cable, wherein the first intermediate rigid support part is located on an opposite side of the first flexible PCB cable from the first end rigid support part, and the first flexible PCB cable is a flexible PCB cable connected only to one first intermediate rigid support part.
  8. The cable assembly according to claim 1, wherein the first flexible material part (201) comprises a first conducting wire layer, the first conducting wire layer comprises the first conducting wire, and the first conducting wire is let out through a micro void formed by laser drilling; and the second flexible material part (202) comprises a second conducting wire layer, the second conducting wire layer comprises the second conducting wire, and the second conducting wire is let out through a micro void formed by laser drilling.
  9. A PCB circuit, comprising: the chip-to-module cable assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 8; an I/O connector, connected to a main control board through the cable assembly, and configured to: send first data to an external device after receiving the first data from the main control board, and send second data to the main control board through the cable assembly after receiving the second data from the external device; and the main control board, connected to the I/O connector through the cable assembly, configured to send the first data to the I/O connector, and receive the second data from the I/O connector.
  10. A communication device, comprising: the chip-to-module cable assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 8; an I/O connector, connected to a main control board through the cable assembly, and configured to send first data to an external device after receiving the first data from the main control board, and send second data to the main control board through the cable assembly after receiving the second data from the external device; and the main control board, connected to the I/O connector through the cable assembly, and configured to send the first data to the I/O connector, and receive the second data from the I/O connector.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD This application relates to the communication field, and in particular, to a chip-to-module cable assembly , a PCB circuit and a communication device. BACKGROUND A chip-to-module (Chip-to-module, C2M) physical channel is the most important physical layer interconnection of a communication device. The topology of the C2M physical channel mainly includes a connection between a main chip and an I/O (Input/Output, input/output) connector (I/O Connector). To satisfy a data communication requirement, the C2M physical channel needs to satisfy a channel loss requirement. One way to implement the C2M physical channel is to connect a switching chip such as a MAC (Medium Access Control, medium access control) chip to the I/O connector through copper foil inside a multilayer printed circuit board (Printed Circuit Board, PCB). Lengths of wires between the switching chip and the I/O connector, material properties, and process technologies determine a loss of an interconnection channel (C2M physical channel). At a low speed lower than a specified speed threshold, a conventional PCB solution can satisfy most applications of C2M physical channel. With the development of application requirements of big data, cloud computing, AI (Artificial Intelligence, artificial intelligence), and the like, when a C2M speed is increased to a high speed higher than the specified speed threshold, the conventional PCB solution cannot satisfy the requirement of signal transmission. A cable may be directly connected between the switching chip and the I/O connector, and is gradually applied to the C2M physical interconnection within a device due to a low loss of the cable. However, due to the large size of the cable, it occupies more space than the inner interconnection of PCB multilayer boards. Therefore, the cable is not applicable to a scenario in which high density and a large quantity of interconnections exist. CN 209 526 309 U discloses a cable assembly comprising a stack of two flexible PCBs with stiffeners located exclusively at both end portions of the cable assembly and a hollow part in the middle portion of the cable assembly in the lateral direction. The cable assembly further comprises in total 4 terminals formed by exposed inner conductive layers of each flexible PCB. US 2018/168042 A1 discloses a cable assembly comprising a single flexible PCB with in total 2 terminals, one located on each end part of the flexible PCB, connected to inner traces of the flexible PCB by vias. SUMMARY To resolve the problem that a conventional PCB solution cannot satisfy a high-speed data transmission requirement and the problem that a high-speed cable occupies large space and is difficult to assemble, embodiments of this application provide a chip-to-module cable assembly and a PCB circuit that can satisfy a high-speed data transmission requirement, save space, and be flexible to assemble. The scope of the invention is given by the appended claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of implementing a C2M channel through inner layer wiring of a multilayer PCB in a related technology;FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of implementing a C2M channel through a direct attach cable in a related technology;FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a chip-to-module cable assembly according to an embodiment of this application;FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a side section of a cable assembly according to Implementation 1 of this application;FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of end portion connections of a cable assembly according to Implementation 1 of this application;FIG. 6 is an enlarged schematic diagram of a joint according to Implementation 1 of this application;FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a cable assembly according to Implementation 2 of this application; andFIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a PCB circuit according to an embodiment of this application. DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of this application clearer, the following describes this application in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Apparently, the described embodiments are merely some but not all of the embodiments of this application. All other embodiments obtained by a person of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of this application without creative efforts shall fall within the protection scope of this application. A chip-to-module (Chip to module, C2M) physical channel is the most important physical layer interconnection of a communication device. The C2M channel needs to satisfy a channel loss requirement. As shown in FIG. 1, one way to implement the C2M physical channel is to connect a switching chip such as a MAC chip to the I/O connector through copper foil inside a multilayer PCB. In FIG. 1, the MAC chip 10 is in the middle, and the I/O connector 20 is in the lower area. The I/O connector 20 is arranged horizontally, and is divided into th