This invention relates to integrated circuit packaging, and has particular relation to modems in a modular, replaceable package.
Modem technology often advances faster than the technology which it supports. It therefore is desirable to retrofit existing electronic devices with new modems, or to use newly developed modems when manufacturing devices which have been in production for some time. Both activities are made easier by having a socket on the device into which the modem--replacement or newly developed--may be plugged.
A socket, however, consumes a lot of space. Space, always in short supply in electronics, is in even shorter supply here, because a space-consuming interface connector (RS232, DAA, LED, or the like) must also be mounted on the device, to be connected to the socket and, through the modem, to interface with the device.