1. An electrical connector assembly comprising:
an insulative housing;
a plurality of conductive terminals retained in the housing; and
a shielding member assembled on the housing, said shielding member comprising a pair of sidewalls opposite to each other and an adjoining portion and forming a mating cavity between the sidewalls to receive a complementary connector;
wherein at least one guiding tab is split from a front edge of the adjoining portion and extends into the mating cavity along a vertical direction essentially perpendicular to a mating direction of the connector, wherein the complementary connector forms at least one channel structure on an exterior face, said channel structure emending rearward from a front edge thereof and adapted to be aligned with and receive the guiding tab therein.
2. The electrical connector assembly of claim 1, wherein the adjoining portion defines with a cutout portion formed by punching out a slot running through the front edge of the adjoining portion and the cutout portion bends toward the mating cavity forming one said guiding tab.
3. The electrical connector assembly of claim 1, wherein the housing comprises a longitudinal base portion and a pair of tongue portions extending forward from the base portion, and each of the pair of tongue portions defines a plurality of channels thereon for accommodating the conductive terminals therein.
4. An electrical connector assembly comprising:
an insulative housing having a mating portion comprising an upper surface and a lower surface;
a plurality of conductive terminals retained in the housing;
a shielding member assembled on the housing;
wherein at least one said surface of the mating portion defines at least one recess extending through a front surface of the mating portion, thereby forming a receiving space between the shielding member and a bottom surface of the recess, and the bottom surface further defines a plurality of channels used for accommodating the conductive terminals therein;
a complementary connector having another housing with another mating portion enclosed in another shielding member;
wherein said another mating portion is inserted into the receiving space, while said another shielding member cooperates with said another mating portion to sandwich said shielding member therebetween.
5. The electrical connector assembly of claim 1, wherein the another mating portion essentially has a equal thickness along a transverse direction while the mating portion essentially has two quite enlarged ends in the transverse direction.
6. The electrical connector assembly of claim 4, wherein the housing comprises two said recesses respectively depressed from the upper and lower surface of the mating portion and a mating tongue formed between the two recesses, and the bottom surfaces of the recesses respectively form upper and lower surfaces of the mating tongue.
7. The electrical connector assembly of claim 6, wherein the channels on the bottom surface of the recess are aligned staggeredly with channels defined on the lower surface of the mating tongue.
8. The electrical connector assembly of claim 4, wherein the shielding member has two main plates respectively for covering the upper and lower surfaces of the mating portion, and a connection portion integrally connecting with the two main plates and covering the front surface of the mating portion without the area which the recesses extend through.
9. The electrical connector assembly of claim 8, wherein the mating tongue integrally connects with lengthwise ends of the mating portion.
10. An electrical connector assembly comprising:
an electrical connector including:
an insulative housing having a mating portion comprising an upper surface and a lower surface;
a plurality of conductive terminals retained in the housing;
a shielding member assembled on the housing;
wherein at least one of said surfaces of the mating portion defines at least one recess extending through a front surface of the mating portion, thereby forming a receiving space between the shielding member and a bottom surface of the recess under a condition that the shielding member is intimately seated upon said one surface of the mating portion, and the bottom surface further defines a plurality of channels used for accommodating the conductive terminals therein; and a complementary connector having another insulative housing with another mating portion, wherein said another mating portion is snugly inserted in the receiving space intimately sandwiched between said mating portion and said shielding member.
11. The electrical connector assembly of claim 10, wherein said complementary connector further includes another shielding member enclosing said another mating portion.
12. The electrical connector assembly of claim 11, wherein said another shielding member also encloses said shielding member when said connector and said complementary connector are mated with each other.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method for establishing voice connections between users of a social network, the method comprising:
authenticating a first user and a second user to access the social network;
establishing, in response to authenticating the first and second users, a secure connection to a communications management system over a communications network, wherein the secure connection prevents caller identification information from being exchanged with other users on the social network;
granting the first and second users access to the social network, via the communications management system, wherein the first and second users access the social network through their respective VoIP phones, wherein the social network includes a plurality of users connected to the communications management system, and wherein the first and second users each establish a respective user profile on the social network, wherein the respective user profile includes at least one criterion for establishing random one-on-one voice communications;
receiving, via the communications management system, authorization to engage in random one-on-one voice communications from the first and second users;
receiving a request to engage in random one-on-one voice communications from at least one of the first and second users;
masking the voice of the first or the second user in response to user input received from the first or the second user;
directly connecting, in response to receiving the request at the communications management system, the first user to the second user randomly for one-on-one voice communications, wherein:
the first user is randomly matched, by the communications management system, to the second user based on their respective user profiles,
the first user does not select the second user, and
the communications management system is removed from the routing path between the respective VoIP phones of the first and second users and a direct connection is established over the communications network; and
withholding caller identification information of the first user from the second user while directly connected.
2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:
linking the first user to one of a plurality of connection rooms based on user input, the connection room including one or more users simultaneously carrying on voice communications; and
displaying a graphical representation of the connection room to the VoIP phone including an avatar for the one or more users carrying on a voice communication in the connection room.
3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the linking is performed in response to the user profile of the first user.
4. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:
highlighting the avatars of the one or more users when the one or more users is speaking.
5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first user is directly connected to the second user in response to the second user accepting an invitation from the first user.
6. The method according to claim 2, wherein the connection room is established utilizing a call bridge.
7. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:
preventing caller identification information from being viewed in the connection.
8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the respective user profiles further specify at least one of preferred connection rooms, interests, user information, topic of conversation, region, and language.
9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:
integrating the connection rooms with an existing social network.
10. A system for managing voice communications through a social network, the system comprising:
a communications network;
a first VoIP phone associated with a first user, the first VoIP phone connected to the communications network;
a second VoIP phone associated with a second user, the second VoIP phone connected to the communications network;
a communications management system accessible over the communications network, the communications management system comprising:
a processor for executing a set of instructions;
a memory for storing the set of instructions, wherein the set of instructions include instructions to:
authenticate the first and second users to access the social network;
establish, in response to the authentication, a secure connection to the first and second VoIP phones, wherein the secure connection prevents caller identification information from being exchanged with other users on the social network;
grant the first and second users access to the social network, wherein the first and second users access the social network through the first and second VoIP phones respectively, wherein the social network includes a plurality of users, and wherein the first and second users each establish a respective user profile on the social network, wherein the respective user profile includes at least one criterion for establishing random one-on-one voice communications;
receive, from the first and second users, authorization to engage in random one-on-one voice communications;
receive a request to engage in random one-on-one voice communications from at least one of the first and second users;
mask the voice of the first or the second user in response to user input received from the first or the second user;
directly connect, in response to receiving the request, the first user to the second user randomly for one-on-one voice communications, wherein:
the first user is randomly matched to the second user based on their respective user profiles,
the first user does not select the second user, and
the communications management system is removed from the routing path between the first and second VoIP phones and a direct connection is established over the communications network between the first and second VoIP phones; and
withhold caller identification information of the first user from the second user while the first and second users are directly connected.
11. The system according to claim 10, wherein the set of instructions further includes instructions to link the first user to one of a plurality of connection rooms based on the first user’s respective user profile.
12. The system according to claim 10, wherein the at least one criterion includes one or more of a topic of conversation, interests, region, language, or user information.
13. The system according to claim 10, wherein the set of instructions further includes instructions to prevent caller identification information from being viewed in the connection room.
14. An apparatus for managing voice communications comprising:
a processor for executing a set of instructions; and
a memory for storing the set of instructions, wherein the set of instructions includes instructions to:
authenticate, over a communications network, a first user and a second user to access a social network;
establish, in response to the authentication, a secure connection to a first VoIP phone associated with the first user and a second VoIP phone associated with the second user over the communications network, wherein the secure connection prevents caller identification information from being exchanged with other users on the social network;
grant the first and second users access to the social network, wherein the first and second users access the social network through the first and second VoIP phones respectively, wherein the social network includes a plurality of users, and wherein the first and second users each establish a respective user profile on the social network, wherein the respective user profile includes at least one criterion for establishing random one-on-one voice communications;
receive, from the first and second users, authorization to engage in random one-on-one voice communications;
receive a request to engage in random one-on-one voice communications from at least one of the first and second users;
mask the voice of the first or the second user in response to user input received from the first or the second user;
directly connect, in response to receiving the request, the first user to the second user randomly for one-on-one voice communications, wherein:
the first user is randomly matched to the second user based on their respective user profiles,
the first user does not select the second user, and
the secure connection to the first and second VoIP phones is removed and from the routing path and a direct connection is established over the communications network between the first and second VoIP phones; and
withhold caller identification information of the first user form the second user while the first and second users are directly connected.
15. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the at least one criterion includes one or more of a topic of conversation, interests, region, language, or user information.
16. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the set of instructions further includes instructions to link the first user to one of a plurality of connection rooms based on the first user’s respective user profile and prevent caller identification information from being viewed in the connection room.
17. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the first user is directly connected to the second user only when the second user accepts an invitation for random one-on-one voice communications with the first user.