Electrical connectors – With insulation other than conductor sheath – Plural-contact coupling part
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-06
2003-01-28
Ta, Tho D. (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With insulation other than conductor sheath
Plural-contact coupling part
C439S677000, C439S630000, C439S064000, C439S377000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06511350
ABSTRACT:
This application is based on Patent Application No. 11-317534 filed Nov. 8, 1999 in Japan, the content of which is incorporated hereinto by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a card connector for removably holding an IC card such as memory card and more specifically to a card connector having an erroneous insertion prevention function to prevent the IC card from being inserted to a connected position when the IC card is inserted in an inappropriate state, e.g., upside down.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
Today the memory capacity is rapidly growing thanks to the remarkable advance of electronic circuit integration technology and there is a growing trend for using thin, small IC cards in the recording of various information such as characters, video and audio. Under this circumstance a variety of connectors for connecting the IC cards and electronic devices are being proposed and implemented.
FIG.
10
A and
FIG. 10B
show one example of currently proposed IC card
1
. As shown in the figure, the IC card
1
has a card body
2
incorporating an IC circuit in an almost rectangular case and a plurality of contacts
3
connected to the IC in the card body
2
and lead out from the card body
2
to an external front end of the body
2
. The card body
2
is formed with a raised portion
4
a
protruding outwardly on its back surface
4
and also with a inclined surface
5
at one corner.
The raised portion
4
a
is rectangular in shape with its width t
1
between side surfaces
4
a
2
,
4
a
2
which is smaller than a width between outer side surfaces
1
a
,
1
a
of the card body
2
. The raised portion
4
a
shown here includes a plurality of separation walls
6
formed in the front portion of the back surface
4
of the card body
2
to separate contacts
3
from one another. The contacts
3
are attached on the back surface
4
between the separation walls
6
securely.
The inclined surface
5
is formed by cutting one corner of the front part of the card body
2
at angle, which makes the front part of the card body
2
asymmetric with respect to the direction of card insertion (X direction).
FIG. 11
shows a card connector
10
for holding the IC card. The card connector
10
has a connector body
11
for holding the IC card
1
so that it can be inserted and retracted, and also electric contacts
12
for making electric contact with the IC card
1
inserted into the connector body.
The connector body
11
has side portions
13
, a bottom portion
14
, and a top plate portion
15
. The side portions
13
have first side walls
13
a
for guiding sides surfaces of the IC card
1
. The bottom portion
14
has support surfaces
14
a
for supporting the back surface
4
or front surface
7
of the IC card
1
and stepped portions
14
b
that engage the raised portion of the IC card so that the raised portion
4
a
can be moved in the direction of IC card insertion and retraction. The top plate portion
15
keeps the IC card
1
from floating up. The electric contacts
12
are disposed to correspond to the contacts
3
of the IC card
1
and held on the bottom portion
14
like cantilevered springs.
The connector body
11
is placed at a predetermined position on a printed circuit board of an electronic device, with the lower end portions of the electric contacts
12
soldered to predetermined conductive portions of the printed circuit board.
When the IC card
1
is to be connected to the card connector
10
of the above construction, it is inserted into the insertion direction (X direction) with the front surface
7
facing up, the back surface
4
supported on the support surfaces
14
a
and both of the outer side surfaces
12
,
12
of the IC card
1
guided by both of the side walls
13
a
of the connector body
11
. At this time, the side surfaces
4
a
2
,
4
a
2
of the raised portion
4
a
formed on the back surface
4
of the IC card
1
engages the stepped portions
14
b
of the bottom portion
14
of the connector body
11
as the IC card
1
is inserted.
Then, when the front end portion of the IC card
1
abuts an abutment portion
16
of the connector body
11
(see FIG.
14
), the contacts
3
contact the electric contacts
12
, thus completing the connection (see FIG.
12
). In this insertion operation, the IC card
1
is prevented from floating upward and getting dislocated by the inner surface of the top plate portion, so anyone can perform an insertion and connection operation easily and correctly.
In the connector shown in
FIG. 11
, as long as the IC card
1
is oriented correctly while being inserted, the connection to the card connector
10
can easily and reliably performed. When the IC card
1
is wrongly oriented and inserted, the card connector may be damaged. This is the problem with the conventional card connector that degrades the operability.
For example, when the IC card
1
is inserted upside down, as shown in
FIG. 13
, the raised portion
4
a
formed at the bottom of the IC card
1
and protruding upward abuts against the rear end of the top plate portion
15
, as shown in FIG.
14
. This state, however, is not a completely inserted state and there is a chance of the user further pushing the card with force.
In this case, because the raised portion
4
a
projects slightly above the inner surface of the top plate portion
15
as shown in
FIG. 14
, the IC card
1
, when applied with a strong push, is forcibly inserted between the bottom portion
14
and the top plate portion
15
of the connector body
11
, as shown in
FIG. 15
, deforming the top plate portion
15
.
In the event of such a trouble, the side portions
13
of the connector body
11
are also deformed along with the top plate portion
15
, exerting a load on soldered fittings on the side portion
13
of the connector body
11
used to secure the connector to the printed circuit board and also on soldered portions of the contacts, which in turn causes the soldered portions to come off, degrading the connection reliability of the connector.
The present invention has been accomplished to solve the above-described problems of the card connector and provide a highly reliable card connector capable of preventing the IC card from being inserted in an inappropriate orientation and thereby protecting the card from being damaged due to the inappropriate insertion.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To solve these problems, the present invention has the following construction.
According to an aspect, this invention provides a card connector having a connector body for removably holding an IC card and electric contacts for making electric connection with the IC card inserted into the connector body, wherein the IC card has on its back surface a raised portion and is slightly narrower than a connector body width between its both side surfaces, the connector body comprising: a pair of left and right side portions each having a first side wall, the first side walls guiding left and right side surfaces of the IC card in an insertion/retraction direction of the IC card; a bottom portion having a support surface to support a front surface or back surface of the IC card and a pair of left and right second side walls, the second side walls projecting inwardly from the first side walls and, in an IC card back surface supporting state, guiding side surfaces of the raised portion formed on the back surface of the IC card in the insertion/retraction direction of the IC card; a top plate portion provided opposite the bottom portion to keep the inserted IC card from floating up; and an erroneous insertion prevention mechanism to allow the insertion of the IC card when it is inserted into the connector body in an appropriate state with the front surface of the IC card facing up and, when the IC card is inserted in an inappropriate state with the front surface facing down, to block the forward movement of the IC card in the card insertion direction at a blocking position, the blocking position being set a predetermined distance forward from a rear end of the card bo
Ito Toshiyasu
Sakamoto Takahiro
Sato Shigeru
Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner LLP
Ta Tho D.
Yamaichi Electronics Co. Ltd.
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