Vehicular camera with stacked circuit boards and metallic connecting element

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11689795-B2
Application number	US-202218051090-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 31, 2022
Priority date	Mar 9, 2015
Publication date	Jun 27, 2023
Grant date	Jun 27, 2023

Abstract

A vehicular camera includes a front housing portion, a first circuit board having an imager, a second circuit board in board-to-board electrical connection with the first circuit board, and a rear housing portion having a connector for electrically connecting to an electrical connection of a wire harness of a vehicle. The rear housing portion when joined with the front housing portion forms a camera housing. The connector of the rear housing portion includes a multi-pin connector having at least three terminals that, with the rear housing portion joined with the front housing portion, electrically connect to respective terminals of the electrical connector at the second circuit board. The connector includes an electrically conductive metallic clamping element that engages a metallic shield element at the electrical connector at the second circuit board to establish a ground path from the connector of the rear housing portion to the second circuit board.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. 1 A vehicular camera, the vehicular camera comprising:
a front housing portion comprising a lens;
a first circuit board having circuitry established thereat, wherein the first circuit board has a first side and a second side separated from the first side of the first circuit board by a thickness dimension of the first circuit board, and wherein the circuitry of the first circuit board comprises an imager at the first side of the first circuit board;
wherein the imager comprises a CMOS imaging array having at least one million photosensing elements arranged in rows and columns;
a second circuit board having circuitry established thereat, wherein the second circuit board has a first side and a second side separated from the first side of the second circuit board by a thickness dimension of the second circuit board;
wherein the second side of the first circuit board opposes the first side of the second circuit board;
wherein the circuitry of the second circuit board is in board-to-board electrical connection with the circuitry of the first circuit board;
wherein the circuitry of the second circuit board is electrically connected to an electrical connector at the second side of the second circuit board;
a rear housing portion having a connector for electrically connecting to an electrical connection end of a wire harness of a vehicle when the vehicular camera is disposed at the vehicle;
wherein the rear housing portion when joined with the front housing portion forms a camera housing with the first circuit board and the second circuit board disposed therein;
wherein the connector of the rear housing portion comprises a multi-pin connector having at least three pins that, with the rear housing portion joined with the front housing portion, insert into and electrically connect to respective receiving sockets of the electrical connector at the second side of the second circuit board;
wherein the pins of the multi-pin connector comprise a video signal pin and a ground-connect pin;
wherein the connector of the rear housing portion comprises an electrically conductive metallic clamping element that is in electrically conductive connection with the ground-connect pin of the multi-pin connector and electrically isolated from the video signal pin of the multi-pin connector;
wherein, when the pins of the multi-pin connector insert into and electrically connect to respective receiving sockets of the electrical connector at the second side of the second circuit board, the electrically conductive metallic clamping element engages a metallic shield element at the electrical connector to establish a ground path from the connector of the rear housing portion to the second circuit board; and
wherein, with the vehicular camera disposed at the vehicle and with the connector electrically connected to the electrical connection end of the wire harness of the vehicle, image data captured by the camera is provided to an electronic control unit (ECU) of the vehicle via signal communication from the vehicular camera to the ECU.

2. The vehicular camera of claim 1 , wherein image data captured by the camera is provided to the ECU via coaxial connection of the vehicular camera to the electrical connection end of the wire harness of the vehicle.

3. The vehicular camera of claim 2 , wherein digital data is provided from the vehicular camera to the ECU.

4. The vehicular camera of claim 1 , wherein the vehicular camera is configured to be mounted at a rear portion of the vehicle.

5. The vehicular camera of claim 1 , wherein, with the vehicular camera disposed at the vehicle and with the connector electrically connected to respective receiving sockets of the electrical connector at the second side of the second circuit board, the vehicular camera captures image data for a multi-camera surround vision system of the vehicle.

6. The vehicular camera of claim 1 , further comprising an electrically conductive metallic shield element disposed at the rear housing portion, wherein the electrically conductive metallic clamping element is electrically conductively connected to the electrically conductive metallic shield element.

7. The vehicular camera of claim 6 , wherein the electrically conductive metallic shield element is shaped to correspond with internal wall structure of the rear housing portion.

8. The vehicular camera of claim 7 , wherein the electrically conductive metallic shield element is formed from a flat metallic element.

9. The vehicular camera of claim 8 , wherein the flat metallic element is folded to form the electrically conductive metallic shield element so that the electrically conductive metallic shield element corresponds with the internal wall structure of the rear housing portion.

10. The vehicular camera of claim 1 , wherein the rear housing portion comprises a plastic rear housing portion.

11. The vehicular camera of claim 10 , wherein the plastic rear housing portion is formed by plastic injection molding, and wherein the electrically conductive metallic clamping element is insert molded at the rear housing portion during the molding of the rear housing portion.

12. The vehicular camera of claim 10 , wherein the plastic rear housing portion is formed by plastic injection molding, and wherein the multi-pin connector is insert molded in the rear housing portion during the molding of the rear housing portion.

13. The vehicular camera of claim 1 , wherein the circuitry of the second circuit board is in board-to-board electrical connection with the circuitry of the first circuit board via a flexible ribbon cable.

14. The vehicular camera of claim 1 , wherein the electrically conductive metallic clamping element is press fit attached to the ground-connect pin.

15. The vehicular camera of claim 1 , wherein the electrically conductive metallic clamping element comprises a plurality of flexible walls that clamp onto the electrical connector at the second side of the second circuit board.

16. The vehicular camera of claim 1 , wherein, with the rear housing portion joined with the front housing portion, the second circuit board holds the pins of the multi-pin connector engaged with the receiving sockets of the electrical connector at the second side of the second circuit board.

17. The vehicular camera of claim 16 , wherein the second circuit board is attached at the rear housing portion via at least one fastener, and wherein the electrically conductive metallic clamping element engages (i) the at least one fastener and (ii) a ground element of the electrical connector at the second side of the second circuit board.

18. The vehicular camera of claim 1 , wherein the connector of the rear housing portion comprises a coaxial connector for electrically connecting to a coaxial connector of a coaxial cable of the vehicle.

19. The vehicular camera of claim 1 , comprising an image processor for processing image data captured by the imager.

20. The vehicular camera of claim 19 , wherein the image processor is at the second circuit board.

21. A vehicular camera, the vehicular camera comprising:
a front housing portion comprising a lens;
a first circuit board having circuitry established thereat, wherein the first circuit board has a first side and a second side separated from the first side of the first circuit board by a thickness dimension of the first circuit board, and wherein the circuitry of the first circuit board comprises an imager at the first side of the first circuit board;
wherein the

Assignees

• Magna Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Conger Jonathan D

Classifications

• H04N23/51

  Housings · CPC title

• H01R27/02

  for simultaneous co-operation with two or more {dissimilar} counterparts · CPC title

• H04N23/57 Primary

  Mechanical or electrical details of cameras or camera modules specially adapted for being embedded in other devices · CPC title

• H04N7/18

  Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast · CPC title

• H01R13/6597

  the conductive member being a contact of the connector · CPC title