Electrical connectors – With coupling separator – Nonconducting pusher
Reexamination Certificate
2001-08-27
2003-01-07
Ta, Tho D. (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With coupling separator
Nonconducting pusher
C439S630000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06503092
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a card connector mounted on electronic devices, such as cellular phones, telephones, PDA (personal digital assistant), portable audio devices and digital cameras, and more specifically to a structure of the card connector for ejecting a card.
BACKGROUND ART
In electronic devices such as cellular phones, telephones, PDA and digital cameras, a variety of functions are added by loading an IC card with a built-in IC (integrated circuit) like control circuit, memory, such as a SIM (subscriber identity module), an MMC (multimedia card)(trademark), a Smart Media (trademark) and an SD (secure digital or super density) card.
In a connector structure for removably accommodating such an IC card, a plurality of contact terminals made from a resilient metal leaf are provided in a connector housing to make contact with a plurality of contact pads formed on the front or back surface of the loaded IC card to electrically connect the IC card to the electronic device mounting that connector. The contact pads of the IC card include a power supplying pad connected to a power supply line and a plurality of signal pads for transmitting and receiving various signals. These contact pads are connected via the contact terminals of the card connector to a power circuit and various signal processing circuits in the electronic device.
Many of such card connectors have an ejection mechanism for ejecting a loaded IC card from the connector.
An ejection mechanism of this kind currently available is known to have an ejection member urged in an ejection direction to eject a IC card, a locking member for blocking the movement of the ejection member in the eject direction, and an ejection button member to release the locking member to allow the ejection member to move and eject the card. An example of such a prior art is shown in FIG.
5
.
In
FIG. 5
, the ejection member
100
is configured to slide relative to the connector body in a card insertion direction A and a card ejection direction B and is urged in the ejection direction B by a coil spring
102
. An engagement portion
101
adapted to engage the locking member
110
is arranged in the vicinity of the locking member
110
made from a leaf spring so that the locking member
110
can lock the ejection member
100
. A connecting portion
104
is arranged to connect between the engagement portion
101
and the ejection member
100
and formed integral with the engagement portion
101
and the ejection member
100
. The locking member
110
has a lock hole for latching together the engagement portion
101
to block the movement of the ejection member
100
in the ejection direction B. A tapered surface
121
is formed at its front end side of the ejection button
120
tapered surface, and comes in contact with the front end of the locking member
110
.
130
denotes a brake shoeshoe made from a leaf spring to prevent the card from slipping off.
140
designates ends of two contact pieces that constitute a card recognition switch. These two contact pieces are configured to contact each other by one of them being vertically displaced by a downward pressing force of the underside of a side edge portion
100
a
of ejection member
100
.
In the conventional structure described above, pressing operation of the ejection button
120
displaces the locking member
110
in a direction D by the pressing force of the tapered surface
121
, disengaging the engagement portion
101
from the locking member
110
. The ejection member
100
therefore is moved in the ejection direction B by the spring force of the coil spring
102
, while ejecting the loaded card out of the connector.
In many cases, the card connector of this kind is often required to reduce its size and height, which necessitates various parts of the connector to be laid out efficiently in a small space.
To satisfy this requirement, rather than arranging the ejection member
100
and the ejection button
120
on the one side of the card accommodating space, it is advantageous to place them on the both sides of the card accommodating space respectively as shown in
FIG. 5
because this arrangement allows various parts to be laid out efficiently.
With this prior art, however, the engagement portion
101
is extended by the connecting portion
104
to a position of the ejection button
120
located on a side of the card accommodating space opposite the ejection member
100
so that the movement of the ejection member
100
is restricted at a position on the ejection button
120
side. Thus, the locations of the coil spring
102
urging the ejection member
100
and the engagement portion
101
are largely spaced apart along the width direction. In this prior art, accordingly, the ejection member
100
in itself is acted upon by an angular moment, so ejection member
100
is tilted, giving rise to various problems, such as the locking member
110
being easily unlocked, the electric connection between the IC card and the connector becoming unstable, and the card recognition switch
140
turning off when the card is loaded.
The present invention has been accomplished under these circumstances and it is an object of the present invention to provide a card connector that can prevent the tilting of the ejection member and support the card straight relative to the connector in which it is accommodated.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
According to one aspect, the present invention provides a card connector which comprises: a connector housing having a card accommodating portion and removably supporting a card; an ejection member having an touch portion for coming in contact with a front end face of the card, the ejection member being slidable relative to the connector housing in a card insertion direction and in a card ejection direction; an elastic body urging the ejection member in the card ejection direction; an ejection button disposed in an opposite side to the elastic body on both sides of the card accommodating portion; and a stopper locking means having a stopper portion, the stopper portion being disposed in an opposite side to ejection button on both sides of the card accommodating portion to regulate the movement of the ejection member in the card ejection direction, wherein when the ejection button is depressed, the stopper portion is made to move to an unlocking position to free the ejection member and when the ejection button is released from the depressing operation, the stopper portion is made to move toward a blocking position where it blocks the movement of the ejection member in the card ejection direction.
The stopper locking means has, for example, a leaf spring portion for generating an elastic force acting in a direction perpendicular to the card insertion direction and a slide portion connecting the leaf spring portion and the stopper portion and moving the stopper portion in a direction perpendicular to the card insertion direction. These stopper portion, the leaf spring portion and the slide portion are integrally formed as one piece.
In this invention, the stopper portion that blocks the movement of the ejection member in the card ejection direction is arranged in an opposite side to the ejection button on both sides of the card accommodating portion opposite, i.e., ejection member is disposed at the position which met in the width direction of card connector, and is in the position of the same side as the position with the elastic body which urges the ejection member in the card ejection direction.
This arrangement produces no angular moment acting on the ejection member, which in turn allows the ejection member to align its attitude straight with the connector. It is therefore possible to prevent troubles, such as the contact between the contact pads and the contact terminals becoming unstable, the eject lock inadvertently getting unlocked, and the card recognition switch undesirably being operated.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5033972 (1991-07-01), Komatsu et al.
patent: 5145389 (1992-09-01), Okubo
patent: 5197894 (1993-03-01), Koike
patent: 5286207
Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner L.L.P.
León Edwin A.
Ta Tho D.
Yamaichi Electronics Co. Ltd.
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