The present invention relates to a connector plug for connecting electronic components. In particular, the present invention relates to an angular connector plug that can be used in connector sockets where a plurality of plug insertion openings are arranged side-by-side.
In general, when a connector plug connected to a connector sockets is unexpectedly pulled out from the connector socket, significant problems such as the loss of transmitted data can occur.
To handle this problem, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication Number 4-16885 discloses an invention wherein a lock member is disposed on a connector plug. This lock member engages a latch opening of the connector socket, thus preventing the connector plug from being unexpectedly pulled out from the connector socket. With this connector plug, removing the connector plug from the connector socket involves manually operating an unlock ring in order to force the lock member to the unlocked position.
In some connector sockets for audio-visual devices, a connector socket on which is formed a plurality of plug insertion openings is used (for example, to connect a plurality of media devices such as VCRs). This type of connector socket structure, however, has a very large number of connector pins, and the plug insertion openings are spaced very close to each other. Thus, there is insufficient space available for manually operating the unlock ring. Since these connectors cannot be designed as round connector plugs, unlock rings as described above cannot be used.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds