Portable telephone set

Details Portable telephone set Portable telephone set

2000-03-06

2003-06-17

Vo, Nguyen T. (Department: 2682)

Telecommunications

Transmitter and receiver at same station

Radiotelephone equipment detail

C455S575100, C455S090300, C379S433090, C361S814000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06580923

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to portable telephone sets, and more particularly to a portable telephone set suitable for a global system for mobile communication (GSM).
Recently, it has been considered in Japan to employ, as a communication system using portable telephone sets, the GSM which has been employed in Europe. The GSM does not require registration of a telephone number for each portable telephone set. Each individual (subscriber) is assigned to a subscriber identity module in which information concerning the subscriber is stored. If the subscriber exchanges the old portable telephone set by a new one, the subscriber identity module is detached from the old telephone set and is then inserted into the new one. If the rent portable telephone set is used, the subscriber inserts the own subscriber identity module into the set. Thus, the new or rent portable telephone set can be used as the subscriber own portable telephone set.
It has been considered that the subscriber identity module is realized by a compact subscriber identity card in which an integrated circuit including a memory is built. Such a card has a size of, for instance, 25 mm×15 mm.
The portable telephone set has been required to be thin and have a structure which enables the subscriber identity card to be easily detached therefrom.
There is another card which can be inserted into the portable telephone set. Such a card stores information important to the subscriber, such as subscriber identity information and accounting information. It is not desired to easily detach, from the portable telephone set, the information cards suitable for the portable telephone set as described above in terms of privacy protection. The portable telephone set is required to satisfy the above.
In the present specification, the cards to be attached to the portable telephone sets are referred to as portable telephone information cards. The portable telephone information cards include the above subscriber identity card, and another card which stores information other than the subscriber identity information.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIGS. 1A and 1B
are diagrams of a portable telephone set
10
for the GSM disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 8-265404. A battery pack
11
can be attached to the back surface of the portable telephone set
10
. A card loading mechanism
12
is provided in a bottom surface portion of a battery pack mount portion
13
provided to the back surface of the portable telephone set
10
, that is, the back surface of the mounted battery pack
11
. The battery pack mount portion
13
has a bottom plate
14
, in which a rectangular opening
15
is formed.
The subscriber identity card loading mechanism
12
is mainly composed of a housing
20
and a holder
21
. The housing
20
is fixed to the inside of the portable telephone set
10
, and faces the opening
15
. The holder
21
is joined to the housing by a hinge.
A subscriber identity card
22
can be mounted as follows. The holder
21
is rotated and set upright. Then, the subscriber identity card
22
is inserted into the holder
21
, which is then depressed and rotated. Thus, the card
22
passes through the opening
15
and is engaged with the housing
20
.
A subscriber identity card
22
can be taken out by the reverse operation. It should be noted that the subscriber identity card
22
which is mounted cannot be taken out unless the battery pack
11
is taken out.
The above portable telephone set
10
has the following problems.
The battery pack mount portion
13
located in the back surface of the portable telephone set
10
includes a slight recess. A circuit board, a tenkey and other components are tightly provided in a portion
16
opposite to the battery pack mount portion
13
. Thus, no space is available in which a new mechanism is provided. The card loading mechanism
12
is provided in the above portion
16
, and thus has an increased thickness t
1
. Hence, the thickness t
3
of the portable telephone set
10
is equal to the sum of the thickness t
2
necessary to provide the circuit board, the tenkey and other components and the thickness t
1
of the card loading mechanism
12
. The thickness t
3
prevents down-sizing of the portable telephone set
10
.
The holder
21
cannot be detached from the housing
20
. Hence, it is necessary to take the portable telephone
10
by hand in order to take out the subscriber identity card
22
from the holder
21
and insert the subscriber identity card
22
into the holder
21
. The above is troublesome. Further, the card loading mechanism
12
has a complex structure.
A detection switch detects the holder
21
even when the holder
21
having no card is mounted. Hence, if the subscriber dials with no card inserted into the holder
21
, the portable telephone set
10
starts a corresponding calling procedure although it is not completed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is a general object of the present invention to provide a portable telephone set in which the above disadvantages are eliminated.
A more specific object of the present invention is to provide a compact portable telephone set having a simplified card loading mechanism.
The above objects of the present invention are achieved by a portable telephone set comprising: a case having first and second sides opposite to each other; a group of keys located on the first side of the case; and a card loading mechanism. The case includes first and second portions located on the second side. The first portion can accommodate a battery pack, and the second portion is next to the first portion and accommodates the card loading mechanism. A card in which information is stored can be loaded to the card loading mechanism. The card loading mechanism and the battery pack can be arranged side by side, so that the thickness of the portable telephone set can be reduced.
The above portable telephone set may be configured so that: the case has a wall interposed between the first and second portions; and the wall has an opening through which the card can be inserted into the second portion and loaded to the card loading mechanism. Hence, the card cannot be detached unless the battery pack is detached. Thus, it is possible to prevent the card from happening to be detached from the portable telephone set.
The portable telephone set may be configured so that the second portion includes a protrusion with respect to a bottom portion of the first portion. Such a protrusion means that there is a comparatively large spatial area in the portable telephone set. Hence, the card loading mechanism can be provided in the second portion without a particular difficulty.
The portable telephone set may be configured so that the card loading mechanism comprises: a housing located in the second portion; and a card holder having a card accommodating portion in which the card can be accommodated, the card holder having a spring portion which portion has a handle portion with which a finger can be engaged, and an engagement craw which can engage with a part of the housing when the card holder is inserted into the housing. A simple structure of the card loading mechanism can be realized.
The portable telephone set may be configured so that the spring portion is formed of a resin. Thus, the spring portion having a resilient property can be realized with ease.
The portable telephone set may be configured so that: the spring portion is formed of a resin and can be resiliently bent in a thickness direction of the portable telephone set; and the handle portion is located in a free end of the spring portion. The card holder can easily be drawn by a single-finger operation.
The portable telephone set may be configured so that: the spring portion is formed of a resin and can be resiliently bent in a thickness direction of the portable telephone set; the handle portion is located in a free end of the spring portion; and the card holder has another handle portion located opposite to the handle portion. The card holder can

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