Electricity: electrical systems and devices – Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical... – For electronic systems and devices
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-05
2001-04-10
Gandhi, Jayprakash N. (Department: 2841)
Electricity: electrical systems and devices
Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical...
For electronic systems and devices
C361S736000, C361S832000, C200S530000, C235S492000, C257S679000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06215665
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a thin integrated circuit card having an improved manually actuated switch.
The invention relates in particular to an integrated circuit card of the type having two external plates, a lower and an upper plate, separated by at least one intermediate plate, of the type in which the plates have electronic components connected to each other by conducting traces, and of the type containing at least one switch able to allow or prohibit passage of an electric current between two of its terminals that are connected to at least one of the traces.
Because new manufacturing techniques have been developed, it is now possible to obtain very small-sized electronic components that can be integrated into cards with a very small total thickness.
2. Description of the Related Art
French Patent Application No. 96.12661 has now proposed an integrated circuit card having both a chip with flush contacts and a circuit for producing sound signals that is connected to a sound transducer, the whole being contained in the total thickness of the card which does not exceed 0.8 mm, which is compatible with the widest-spread standard format for integrated circuit cards.
Such cards, provided with a sound signal producing circuit, can transmit coded information over a classic telephone line, such information serving for example for remote control of various types of apparatus.
This information is generally coded by a principle known in English as “dual tone modulation frequency (DTMF).”
However, the presence of such a circuit requires provision of a trigger switch designed to be actuated by the card user to cause coded signals to be transmitted.
According to the prior art, such switches are made in the form of a deformable dome provided on one of the external faces of the card, which the user must press in the thickness direction of the card to establish an electrical contact between the deformed dome and a conducting area provided opposite the dome on one of the faces of the card.
To trigger such a switch, the user must grip the card in its thickness direction, for example between the thumb and index finger, and he generally applies substantial force to the card which necessarily bends it, particular in the case of very thin cards.
Such bending, repeated regularly, can eventually damage some of the components of the card, which then becomes unusable.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The goal of the invention is thus to provide a switch for a very thin integrated circuit card whose design allows easy manipulation by the user without subjecting the card to excess force.
With this goal, the invention provides an integrated circuit card of the type seen previously, characterized in that the switch has a pushbutton provided at one peripheral edge of the card, which slides in a lengthwise direction in the plane of the card between an active and a resting position, and which controls a contact key designed to connect the terminals of the switch electrically.
According to other characteristics of the invention:
The pushbutton of the switch is guided in a vertical direction perpendicularly to the general plane of card by two faces opposite each other, an upper face and a lower face, of two plates of the card;
The pushbutton of the switch is received at least partially in a slot formed in at least one of the intermediate plates which terminates in a peripheral edge of the card, and whose two lengthwise edges, opposite each other, guide the pushbutton;
The pushbutton of the switch has at least one tab that extends in a transverse direction in the general plane of the card, the tab is received in an opening provided in one of the lengthwise edges of slot of the intermediate plate, and the travel of the pushbutton in the lengthwise direction is determined, in at least one direction, by cooperation of the tab with one lengthwise end transverse edge of the opening;
The pushbutton is in the shape of a plate, it has a rear control edge, in it has two lengthwise side edges that guide it in the slot, the pushbutton has two transverse tabs that extend transversely outward from each of its lateral edges and are received in two openings formed in the lengthwise edges of the slot, and it has a T-shaped cutout of which a lengthwise portion terminates rearward in a transverse portion of the cutout and frontward in a the front edge of the pushbutton;
The pushbutton is returned elastically to its resting position by a return spring;
The return spring is provided between the front edge of the pushbutton and a bottom transverse edge of the slot;
The return spring is provided in the form of a deformable elastic blade whose center portion is supported by the bottom edge of the slot and whose two edges are bent back so that they contact the front edge of the pushbutton on either side of the front edge of the cutout;
The rear edge controlling the pushbutton is flush with the edge of the card when the pushbutton is in the resting position, and the outer plates of the card have, opposite the slot, notches formed in their edges to allow the user to urge the pushbutton lengthwise toward the inside of the card into its active position, particularly by acting on the pushbutton by one of his fingers;
The contact key is parallelepipedic, it is received in the transverse portion of the cutout of the pushbutton, and one front face of the contact key is designed to cooperate with a fixed component of the switch which, when the pushbutton is in the active position, is received inside the lengthwise portion of the cutout of the pushbutton;
The fixed component has two ends connected to the terminals of the switch, which are intended to be connected electrically by the contact key when the pushbutton is in the active position;
The fixed component is an insulator, both of whose ends are metallized and which is intended to be short-circuited by the contact key;
The fixed component is a capacitor, and the contact key is designed to cause the capacitor to discharge;
The contact key of the switch is a conducting pellet made of a polymer material containing conducting particles;
The switch causes an active component of the card to be triggered;
The switch controls a circuit that produces sound signals;
The thickness of the card is approximately 0.8 mm.
Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will emerge from reading the detailed description that follows, for understanding of which reference will be made to the attached drawings wherein:
REFERENCES:
patent: 4405845 (1983-09-01), Kondo et al.
patent: 4453061 (1984-06-01), Tamura
patent: 4797542 (1989-01-01), Hara
patent: 4882750 (1989-11-01), Henderson
patent: 5016086 (1991-05-01), Inoue et al.
patent: 5151774 (1992-09-01), Mori et al.
patent: 5455857 (1995-10-01), McGuire
patent: 5696363 (1997-12-01), Larchevesque
patent: 5760356 (1998-06-01), Garcia et al.
patent: 5818030 (1998-10-01), Reyes
patent: 0664633 (1995-07-01), None
patent: 2436486 (1979-09-01), None
Gandhi Jayprakash N.
Gemplus S.C.A.
Plottel Roland
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