Electrical connectors – With insulation other than conductor sheath – Plural-contact coupling part
Reexamination Certificate
2003-05-28
2004-08-31
Ta, Tho D. (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With insulation other than conductor sheath
Plural-contact coupling part
C361S737000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06783399
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a universal slot for accommodating various types of flash memory cards, and more particularly to a universal slot for accommodating various types of flash memory cards, which is changed in its case structure so as to allow various types of flash memory cards having different sizes to be inserted thereinto.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, a flash memory is referred to as a flash EEPROM, which is developed by combining advantages of two types of semiconductor memory devices, i.e., EPROM and EEPROM. The flash memory is a highly-integrated non-volatile memory device, which allows erasure of data stored therein and is reprogrammable.
To use such a flash memory card, there is need to provide a storage device, which utilizes personal computers as well as electronic home appliances, as platforms. As various storage devices based on flash memory have been developed in recent years, various applied electronic appliances such as digital cameras, MP3 players, PDAs, printers and keyboards, which are adapted to adopt such flash memories, have become commercially available.
As this kind of flash memory cards, approximately six types of flash memory cards are commercially available at the present day. Although all the six types of flash memory cards are memory devices based on a flash memory, the flash memory cards are different in their shapes and sizes, and techniques to mount the flash memory cards on the appliances are also different. Hence, the manufacturers of the six types of flash memory cards are cultivating their respective markets. However, it is difficult to realize the standardization of the flash memory cards under current conditions, and electronic appliances such as digital cameras, MP3 players and PDAs adopt different types of flash memory cards.
Accordingly, a demand for a product for accommodating all the types of flash memory cards is gradually increased. To accommodate many types of flash memory cards, it is necessary to provide the number of slots corresponding to the number of the types of the flash memory cards. As a result, since all the flash memory cards are different in the number and the position of their pins, their size and so on, there is a limit to miniaturization of the size of the products.
Conventional examples of inserting various flash memory cards into the corresponding slots are now described with reference to
FIGS. 1 and 2
.
FIG. 1
shows an example of inserting five types of flash memory cards into three slots, and
FIG. 2
shows an example of inserting four types of flash memory cards into three slots.
In an example shown in
FIG. 1
, a Memory Stick
17
, a CompactFlash card or a Micro Drive
18
and a Secure Digital or a MultiMedia card
19
are inserted into card holes
14
,
15
and
16
of a slot
11
for Memory Stick, a slot
12
for CompactFlash card or Micro Drive and a slot
13
for Secure Digital or MultiMedia card, all of which are mounted on a printed circuit board
10
of a storage device. In this example, the CompactFlash card or the Micro Drive
18
may be inserted into only one slot, and the Secure Digital or the MultiMedia card
19
may also be inserted into only one slot.
In an example shown in
FIG. 2
, a Memory Stick
47
, a SmartMedia card
48
and a Secure Digital or a MultiMedia card
49
are inserted into card holes
44
,
45
and
46
of a slot
41
for Memory Stick, a slot
42
for SmartMedia card and a slot
43
for Secure Digital or MultiMedia card, all of which are mounted on a printed circuit board
40
of a storage device. In this example, the Secure Digital or the MultiMedia card
49
may be inserted into only one slot. Since the CompactFlash card or the Micro Drive
18
shown in FIG.
1
and the SmartMedia card
48
shown in
FIG. 2
are different in width and thickness, the two types of cards must be used in different slots.
That is, to utilize the six types of commercially available flash memory cards together, at least four slots must be provided. More specifically, to utilize six types of flash memory cards, i.e., a Memory Stick, a CompactFlash card, a Micro Drive, a Secure Digital, a MultiMedia card and a SmartMedia card, in one storage device, which is adapted to write on and read data from the flash memory cards, the storage device must be provided with dedicated slots of the six types of flash memory cards.
A conventional small-sized memory card connector is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2002-158068. More specifically, the Patent discloses a small-sized memory card connector which allows a compact memory card to be freely inserted into a casing and then to be connected thereto, comprising: a plurality of terminal parts provided at different positions in the casing, each of which is adapted to be connected to a corresponding one of various memory cards; a sensor for detecting a type of a memory card inserted into the casing; and a stopper for positioning the memory card to a corresponding terminal part according to the detection by the sensor.
However, the memory card connector of the Patent has a disadvantage in that it is difficult to detect a type of an arbitrary memory card where the sensor does not include a switch for detecting a width of the memory card and a switch for detecting a thickness of the memory card. In addition, the memory card connector must have the stopper to position the memory card according to the detection result. The stopper is adapted to be protruded or pushed according to the detection result of the sensor, so as to stop the inserted memory card to a certain position. At this point, since the stopper is not fixed but moved by insertion of the memory card, there is a complication in its structure and a limit to its movement. That is, the stopper is pushed laterally when a long and slim memory card is inserted into the slot, while the stopper is protruded again when the memory card is pulled out of the slot. Accordingly, since the stopper is moved by insertion of the memory card, the slot is apt to be damaged. In addition, it is complicated to install the stopper in the slot. Malfunction of the stopper causes the memory card not to be inserted into the slot.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a universal slot for accommodating any of various types of flash memory cards.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a universal slot for accommodating various types of flash memory cards, which is changed in its case structure so as to allow any of various types of flash memory cards having different sizes to be firmly inserted thereinto.
In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a universal slot for accommodating any of various types of flash memory cards, comprising: a slot case divided into upper and lower spaces, and having an insert hole at its front face; a door provided at the insert hole, which is opened when the flash memory card is inserted into the insert hole; an elastic element for biasing the door to be closed; slide faces for directing the flash memory card into the upper space of the slot case; a plurality of insert guides with first and second insert guide faces into which the flash memory card inserted along the first and second insert guide faces and the slide faces is fitted, wherein, the first insert guide faces direct the flash memory card into the lower of the slot case and the second insert guide faces are provided at the inner position of the first insert guide faces to guide the flash memory card passed through the first insert guide faces; and a plurality of electrodes including contacts corresponding to pins of the flash memory card fitted in the plurality of insert guides.
The second insert guide faces may serve as blocking faces for preventing further ingression of the flash memory card when the flash memory card passed over the first insert guide faces are
Gottlieb Rackman & Reisman P.C.
Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., LTD
Ta Tho D.
Tsukerman Larisa
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