A signal transmission cable has a cable including a dielectric layer and a metallic layer. The signal transmission cable further includes a connector having a chip with a terminal. The connector includes a substrate having an organic layer, and a portion of the organic layer extends from the substrate so as to form the dielectric layer of the cable. The metallic layer is located on the dielectric layer and is directly connected to the terminal.

Examples disclose an electrical connector comprising a first pin and a second pin. Each pin has a different length corresponding to a different data signaling rate.

A location tracking power cord and method therefore is taught in the various embodiments. The power cord includes location module housing having a location circuit board therein. Within the location module housing, a power supply is positioned and in electrical communication with conductors extending through the cord housing. The location module housing also provides location for a communication module including a location module such as a Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite receiver and at least one cellular transceiver. In some embodiments, the power cord may be hospital grade.

A power strip having two or more powers strips daisy chained together where each of the two or more power strips include a sequence control module operable to sequentially activate and/or deactivate the outlets, thereby powering up or powering down each outlet separately across the two or more power strips. A pre-determined time delay, that can be set by a user, occurs between the activation and/or deactivation of the outlets. The sequence control module of each power strip is operatively coupled to the sequence control module of the subsequent next power strip so that one power strip can be used to trigger activation of the next power strip.

A charging device indicating battery percentage, including a power source connector for connecting with a power supply terminal, a charging connector for connecting with a handheld device, a cable connected between the power source connector and the charging connector, a control unit and a display unit, where the control unit is programmed to read a battery percentage of the handheld device from a memory of the handheld device through a signal path of the cable, and drive the display unit to display the battery percentage.

A receptacle includes a pair of spare terminals that are located on both sides of a plurality of receptacle terminals in a longitudinal direction and are short-circuited. A plug includes a pair of relay electrodes that respectively come in contact with the pair of spare terminals when the plug is connected to the receptacle. A connector inspection instrument includes a conduction detecting circuit and a pair of terminal support portions supporting a pair of inspection terminals, and a displacement mechanism. The displacement mechanism supports one or both of the pair of terminal support portions in such a way as to displace the one or both of the pair of terminal support portions in a width direction to narrow or widen an interval between the pair of inspection terminals.

A connector module includes a signal interface, a wireless communication module and a connector housing. The signal interface is configured to exchange signals between a cable and a communication unit when the connector module is connected to the communication unit. The wireless communication module is configured to exchange information in a first mode between the communication unit and a wireless terminal when the connector module is connected to the communication unit, and, when the connector module is disconnected from the communication unit, to exchange information in a second between a memory internal to the connector module and the wireless terminal mode. The connector housing contains the signal interface and the wireless communication module.

A connector with self-powered mating detection is disclosed. An example disclosed connector pair includes a first connector. The example connector pair also includes a piezoelectric sensor attached to the first connector. The example piezoelectric sensor generates a voltage when the first connector and a second connector are mated. The example piezoelectric sensor generates a voltage when the first connector and a second connector are unmated. The example connector pair also includes a memory circuit electrically coupled to the piezoelectric sensor to record a connection event in response to detecting voltage generated by the piezoelectric sensor(s). Additionally, the example connector pair includes an RFID circuit electrically coupled to the memory circuit. The example RFID circuit transmits the connection events.

Embodiments of an electrical outlet of the present invention generally include one or more sockets which include, in addition to positive, negative, and optionally, grounding electrical connections, at least one coupling/communication component, wherein AC electrical current flows through the outlet only when a plug comprising a complementary coupling/communication component is engaged with the socket, whereby the proximity of the coupling/communication component and the complementary coupling/communication component actuates the outlet to provide electrical current therethrough. In one embodiment, in lieu of a complementary coupling/communication component, a wireless transmission device is used to send a signal to the coupling/communication component to actuate the outlet. In other embodiments, an electrical outlet of the present invention includes a mechanism for maintaining engagement between the outlet and a receptacle/plug that provides for safe disengagement when they are inadvertently separated. Embodiments of a method of using embodiments of apparatuses of the present invention are also provided.

An interconnect assembly is disclosed herein. An example includes a wireless connector to wirelessly transceive data to and from a first device and a connector to transceive data to and from a second device. The interconnect assembly additionally includes an interface selector to establish a communications protocol to exchange the data between the first device and the second device.