JP5790542B2 - IC card connector - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an IC card connector in which one IC card among a plurality of IC cards having different shapes can be selectively attached and detached.

  In the IC card connector, a plurality of IC cards having different shapes, for example, an SD (trademark) card (secure digital card) or a Memory Stick Duo (trademark) card are mounted and used in one electronic device. A connector housing having a common card slot for each IC card in the connector housing and a composite card housing portion in which each IC card is selectively attached and detached is provided in the connector housing.

  In an IC card connector having such a composite card housing portion in the connector housing, for example, as shown in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2, each card housing portion overlaps with each other. Are formed in the front-rear direction along the direction in which the IC card is attached or removed, or the respective card receiving portions are formed in a hierarchical manner so as to partially overlap each other. In such a configuration, the IC card can be smoothly attached and detached so that a predetermined IC card avoids an erroneous insertion operation by a user into a card storage unit different from the regular card storage unit. Needed.

  As a necessary countermeasure, for example, as disclosed in Patent Document 2, an actuator having an actuator having a shutter portion that restricts an erroneous insertion operation of a predetermined IC card has been proposed. The actuator is supported by the connector housing so as to be rotatable in the vicinity of the common card slot. The shutter portion of the actuator orthogonal to the IC card attachment / detachment direction has a passage opening through which only a small-sized memory stick Duo card out of the plurality of IC cards as described above passes.

  In such a configuration, when the SD card is mounted, the shutter portion of the actuator is pressed by the leading end portion of the SD card guided by the guide groove formed at the peripheral edge of the card slot. At that time, since the actuator is unlocked, the actuator is rotated. As a result, the SD card passes over the shutter part of the rotated actuator and is mounted in the card housing part for the SD card. On the other hand, when a Memory Stick Duo card is installed, the tip of the Memory Stick Duo card that has passed through the card slot is guided by the peripheral edge of the passage opening in the shutter part of the actuator, so that it is installed in the card housing for the Memory Stick Duo card. Will be. At that time, since the actuator is locked, the actuator is not rotated.

JP 2011-14405 A JP 2011-222505 A

  In an IC card connector having a composite card housing portion in the connector housing as described above, an actuator may not be provided from the viewpoint of reducing the height of the IC card connector and reducing the manufacturing cost. In such a case, when the SD card is mounted, the SD card is easily mounted in the card accommodating portion for the SD card by being guided by the guide groove formed at the peripheral edge of the card slot that can be visually confirmed. The Rukoto.

  However, when a Memory Stick Duo card is mounted, the Memory Stick Duo card passes through without being guided by the SD card guide groove formed at the periphery of the card slot. In addition, the card holder for a Memory Stick Duo card has a plurality of protrusions corresponding to a plurality of grooves formed at the front end of the Memory Stick Duo card formed in a row at a predetermined interval. , It is easy for the user to attach the card because it is not possible to visually check the protrusion from the outside by inserting each groove formed on the tip of the Memory Stick Duo card while fitting it to the corresponding protrusion. Not.

  In view of the above problems, the present invention is an IC card connector in which one IC card of a plurality of IC cards having different shapes can be selectively attached and detached. It is an object of the present invention to provide an IC card connector that can easily attach and detach an IC card having a relatively narrow width among a plurality of IC cards having different shapes without using an actuator that restricts an insertion operation.

In order to achieve the above object, an IC card connector according to the present invention includes a first card housing portion in which a first IC card is removably accommodated through a card slot, and a direction substantially orthogonal to the attachment / detachment direction. A second card housing portion in which a second IC card having a width smaller than the width of the first IC card is detachably housed via a common card slot and the first card housing portion. And a plurality of contacts that are respectively disposed in the first card housing portion and the second card housing portion in the housing portion and are electrically connected to the electrode portions of the first IC card and the second IC card. comprising a terminal, and is formed integrally with one side wall of which forms part of the second card accommodating part of the housing portion, the distal end portion of the inserted second IC card, the second month The card guiding part that guides toward the inner peripheral part of the other side wall that faces the one side wall that forms the other part of the card accommodating part is in the vicinity of the boundary part between the first card accommodating part and the second card accommodating part The both side surfaces of the leading end portion of the second IC card inserted and guided are guided by the inner peripheral surface of one side wall and the inner peripheral surface of the other side wall. It is characterized by that.

  Further, the end face of the card guiding portion may receive the leading end portion of the first IC card attached to the first card housing portion.

  Furthermore, when the second IC card is inserted through the common card slot and the first card accommodating portion, the chamfered portion at the tip of the second IC card is brought into contact with the card guiding portion, The side surface of the second IC card to be inserted may be guided in a direction orthogonal to the attaching / detaching direction of the second IC card and contact the inner peripheral portion of the other side wall.

  According to the IC card connector of the present invention, the tip of the inserted second IC card is provided on one of the side walls forming a part of the second card housing portion in the housing portion. The card guiding part that guides toward the inner peripheral part of the other side wall that faces the one side wall that forms the other part of the card accommodating part is a boundary part between the first card accommodating part and the second card accommodating part By being in a position corresponding to the vicinity, the leading end portion of the second IC card having a width smaller than the width of the first IC card is guided toward the inner peripheral portion of the other side wall by the card guiding portion. Therefore, an IC card having a relatively narrow width among a plurality of IC cards having different shapes can be easily attached and detached without using an actuator that restricts an erroneous insertion operation of a predetermined IC card.

It is sectional drawing in an example of the connector for IC cards which concerns on this invention. It is sectional drawing shown along the II-II line in FIG. In the example shown by FIG. 1, it is sectional drawing which shows the state with which the SD card was mounted | worn. (A), (B), and (C) are diagrams used for explaining operations in the example shown in FIG. It is a fragmentary sectional view shown along the VV line in 4 (C). It is a top view which shows the back surface of a Duo card. FIG. 7 is a side view of the Duo card shown in FIG. 6.

  An example of the IC card connector according to the present invention is arranged on a wiring board PB inside an electronic device such as a mobile phone, a portable audio device, and a digital camera.

  The IC card connector includes a memory card, for example, an SD card (secure digital card) (trademark) 32 (see FIG. 3) as a first card, or a memory stick Pro-Duo (trademark) as a second card. One of the cards 30 (see FIGS. 6 and 7) (hereinafter also referred to as a Duo card 30) is detachably accommodated. The IC card connector electrically connects the contact pad of the accommodated memory card and a connection terminal portion of a wiring board PB (see FIG. 2) for signal input / output disposed inside a predetermined electronic device. It is supposed to be. The memory card is not limited to the above-described SD card, but may be an MMC (multi media card) card (trademark) instead.

  For example, the SD card 32 is set to have a thickness of about 2.1 mm and vertical and horizontal dimensions of about 32 mm and about 24 mm, respectively. The longitudinal dimension and the width dimension of the Duo card 30 are smaller than the longitudinal dimension and the width dimension of the SD card 32. The SD card 32 has a contact pad disposed in a plurality of recesses formed in parallel with each other at the tip of the back surface. A chamfered portion 322 is formed at one corner of the tip of the back surface. The write protect button 321 of the SD card 32 takes, for example, the leftmost position or the rightmost position in FIG. FIG. 3 shows the SD card 32 as viewed from the front surface side of the SD card 32 where the contact pads cannot be seen.

  The plate-like Duo card 30 has, for example, a front surface portion 311 and a back surface portion 312 that face each other as shown in an enlarged manner in FIG. In FIG. 6, only the back surface portion 312 of the Duo card 30 is shown. Further, the Duo card 30 has a chamfered portion 303 at the corner of the tip thereof.

  On the back surface portion 312 of the Duo card 30, a protrusion is formed along the side surface of the Duo card 30 by a predetermined length around a relatively shallow recess 302 formed in a portion adjacent to the chamfered portion 303. Yes. When the Duo card 30 is mounted in a card housing portion to be described later, a projection portion 157 (see FIG. 1) for preventing erroneous insertion of the housing portion to be described later is inserted into the recess 302.

  In addition, an escape portion 301 is provided at a portion separated by a predetermined distance from the protrusion on the side surface of the Duo card 30. The escape portion 301 is formed thinner than the thickness of other portions.

  A plurality of recesses are formed at predetermined intervals in the front end portion of the back surface portion 312 of the Duo card 30 at positions spaced apart from the recesses 302 toward the center, substantially parallel to the long sides. The width of each recess and the length along the longitudinal direction of the Duo card 30 are set to be the same. A partition wall partitions the adjacent recesses and between the recesses located at the end of the row and the recesses 302. A dimension Lb from the end surface of the partition wall facing the recess 302 to the side surface of the Duo card 30 is set to a predetermined value. The dimension Lb is set smaller than the dimension La along the side surface in the chamfered portion 303 described above.

  In FIG. 6, contact pads 304 as electrode portions are provided on the bottom surfaces of the plurality of recesses. Therefore, the contact pad 304 has a 10-pin system. Further, the electrode group composed of the plurality of contact pads 304 is formed at a position where the center position of the electrode group is deviated in one direction with respect to the central axis C in FIG.

  As shown in an enlarged view in FIG. 1, the IC card connector is a card storage unit 10 that detachably stores the SD card 32 as the first card or the Duo card 30 as the second card. And a plurality of contact terminals 4 connected to the SD card 32 arranged in the card accommodating portion 18, the contact terminals 8, and the Duo card 30 arranged in the card accommodating portion 10. And a plurality of contact terminals 6 to be connected.

  The housing portion 1 is integrally formed of, for example, a molded resin material, and includes a base portion 15 that forms the lower portion of the card housing portions 10 and 18 and a top plate portion 16 that forms the upper portion of the card housing portions 10 and 18. , Including.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the base portion 15 includes side walls 11, side walls 12 and 13 that form both side portions of the card accommodating portions 10 and 18, and a contact terminal 6 for a Duo card. A contact terminal fixing wall portion 14 that forms an end wall, and a bottom portion that connects the side walls 11, 12 and 13 and the contact terminal fixing wall portion 14 are configured.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the card receiving portion 18 formed between the base portion 15 and the top plate portion 16 has an end opposite to a contact terminal fixing portion described later as a common card slot. It is open. In the card slot, one of the SD card 32 and Duo card 30 is selectively passed. In addition, it is not restricted to such an example, Instead of the top-plate part 16, you may comprise so that a metal cover member may be fixed to the base part 15. FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 3, a guide groove 111 for guiding one side portion of the SD card 32 to be inserted is formed on the inner peripheral portion of the side wall 11 at the peripheral edge of the common card slot on the side wall 11 side. ing. The end of the guide groove 111 has a slope 112 that receives the chamfer 322 of the inserted SD card 32. The slope portion 112 is connected to a guide surface 113 that is continuous with the inner peripheral portion of the side wall 11 that forms the card accommodating portion 10 described later. The guide surface 113 is formed so that the gradient thereof is gentler than the gradient of the slope portion 112.

  On the peripheral edge of the card slot on the side wall 12 side, a detection switch housing portion 121 for housing a write protect button detection switch is formed inside the side wall 12 facing the side wall 11. Moreover, the side wall 12 has the guide wall 122 in an inner peripheral part. The guide wall 122 forms the inner wall of the detection switch storage unit 121 on the card storage unit side, and guides the side surfaces of the inserted SD card 32 and Duo card 30.

  The write protect button detection switch detects the position of the write protect button 321 of the SD card 32. The write protect button detection switch includes a movable contact piece 22 that can be elastically displaced and a fixed contact piece 21. As shown in FIG. 3, the movable contact piece 22 includes a contact portion 221 that selectively contacts the write protect button 321 of the inserted SD card 32 and a fixed contact piece 21 according to the movement of the contact portion 221. One end portion of the contact portion 222 contacts the contact portion. The contact portion 221 protrudes toward the card slot through the opening of the side wall 12. The contact portion 222 is bent with respect to the contact portion 221 so as to face the fixed contact piece 21. Thereby, when the contact portion 221 in the write protect button detection switch is brought into contact with and pushed back to the write protect button 321 of the SD card 32, for example, a high level signal is formed and the contact portion 221 is inserted. When not contacting the write protect button 321 of the SD card 32, a low level signal is formed.

  The SD card recognition switch supported by the guide wall 122 and disposed in the detection switch housing 121 includes an elastically displaceable movable contact piece 24 and a fixed contact portion 223 provided adjacent to the movable contact piece 22. ing. The movable contact piece 24 has at one end a contact portion 241 that contacts one side surface of the mounted SD card 32 and a contact portion 242 that contacts the fixed contact portion 223 according to the displacement of the contact portion 241. doing. The contact portion 241 protrudes into the card housing portion 18 through an opening formed at the end portion of the guide wall 122. At that time, as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 3, the protruding amount of the contact portion 241 is such that the tip of the contact portion 241 contacts the chamfered portion 303 of the Duo card 30 when the Duo card 30 is inserted. It is set not to.

  As a result, as shown in FIG. 3, when the contact portion 241 in the SD card recognition switch is brought into contact with the side surface of the inserted SD card 32 and pushed back, for example, a high level indicating that the SD card 32 has been installed. When the level signal is formed and the contact portion 241 does not contact the side surface of the inserted SD card 32, that is, when the Duo card 30 is inserted, or the side surface of the SD card 32 is still in contact with the contact portion 241. If the SD card 32 is not inserted, or if the SD card 32 is not attached, a low level signal is formed.

  At a position adjacent to the opening formed at the end portion of the guide wall 122 described above, a card guide portion 131 having a substantially perpendicular corner portion is connected to the end portion of the side wall 12 as shown in FIG. Is formed. When the Duo card 30 is inserted, as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 1, the card guiding part 131 is arranged so that the leading end of the Duo card 30 is a card as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. It shall guide to the accommodating part 10 side. An end surface of the card guiding portion 131 on the card accommodating portion 18 side is formed substantially perpendicular to a plane including the guide surface of the guide wall 122 described above. The height from the plane including the guide surface of the guide wall 122 described above to the portion connected to the inner peripheral surface of the side wall 13 in the card guiding portion 131 is set to be smaller than the dimension Lb of the Duo card 30 described above.

  As shown in FIG. 3, when the SD card 32 is mounted, the end surface of the card guiding portion 131 on the card accommodating portion 18 side receives the end surface of the front end portion of the mounted SD card 32, and the SD card 32. The contact pads are positioned with respect to the contact terminals 4 and 8.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the plurality of contact terminals 6 protrude and extend from the contact terminal fixing wall portion 14 into the card accommodating portion 10 so as to be substantially parallel to the side walls 11 and 12 at a predetermined mutual interval. It is arranged.

  The plurality of contact terminals 6 arranged in the card accommodating portion 10 are fixed by soldering to a contact portion that has elasticity and contacts the contact pads 304 of the Duo card 30 and is electrically connected to the electrode portion of the wiring board PB. And a soldered terminal portion electrically connected to each other, a contact portion thereof and the soldered terminal portion connected to each other, and a fixing portion fixed to the groove 158 of the contact terminal fixing wall portion 14. Yes. A fixing portion of the contact terminal 6 made of a thin metal material, for example, phosphor bronze for a spring, is press-fitted into the groove 158 from the side opposite to the insertion direction of the Duo card 30, thereby being inserted into the contact terminal fixing wall portion 14. It is fixed.

  A projection 157 for preventing erroneous insertion is provided between the contact terminal 6 closest to the side wall 13 and the side wall 13 among the plurality of contact terminals 6 arranged in the card accommodating portion 10. It is formed substantially parallel to the contact terminal 6 at a position separated by a predetermined distance from the part. The erroneous insertion preventing projection 157 has a height that is smaller than the depth of the recess 302 of the Duo card 30.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 1, as shown in FIG. 1, each of the protruding portions 154 having the same shape as the contact portion of each contact terminal 6 in the base portion 15 is provided on the portion facing the contact portion of the Duo card 30. Two projecting portions 155 and 156 having the same shape are formed at predetermined equal intervals. The two protrusions 155 and 156 having the same shape are formed at predetermined intervals on both sides of the eight protrusions 154, respectively.

  The protrusions 154, 155, and 156 are formed corresponding to the shapes of the plurality of recesses of the Duo card 30 in which the contact pads 304 are disposed. As a result, when the Duo card 30 is mounted in the card storage unit 10, the plurality of protrusions 154, 155, and 156 are engaged with the plurality of recesses of the Duo card 30, respectively. The pad 304 is positioned with respect to the contact portion of the contact terminal 6. Further, one end of the erroneous insertion preventing projection 157 and one end of the plurality of projections 154, 155, and 156 are formed on a common straight line extending in a direction substantially orthogonal to the card attaching / detaching direction. The Rukoto.

  As shown in FIG. 2, a slope portion 152 is formed at a position between the plurality of protrusions 154, 155, and 156 and a plurality of contact terminals 4 described later. When viewed from directly above, a plurality of protrusions 154, 155, and a length Da from one end surface of the 156 to the skirt of the slope portion 152 in the vicinity of the slope portion 152 are as shown in FIG. The dimension La of the Duo card 30 is set to be substantially the same. Further, the length Dc in the width direction between the inner peripheral portions of the side wall 11 and the side wall 13 is set slightly larger than the width dimension of the Duo card 30 so that there is a predetermined gap therebetween.

  Further, the eight contact terminals 4 and the one contact terminal 8 are arranged so as to extend into the card accommodating portion 18 substantially parallel to the side walls 11 and 12 at a predetermined mutual interval. .

  As shown in FIG. 2, each contact terminal 4 and contact terminal 8 have elasticity, a contact portion that contacts and is electrically connected to a contact pad of the SD card 32, and an electrode portion of the wiring board PB described above. A soldered terminal portion that is soldered and electrically connected to each other, and a contact portion and the soldered terminal portion that are connected to each other and fixed to the groove 151 of the base portion 15. ing. The soldered terminal portions of the plurality of contact terminals 4 and contact terminals 8 protrude from the end portion of the base portion 15 toward the card slot and are arranged in a row toward the side walls 11 and 12.

  In such a configuration, when the SD card 32 is mounted in the card accommodating portion 18, as shown in FIG. 3, one side portion of the inserted SD card 32 is guided to the guide groove 111 on the peripheral edge of the card slot. The other side of the SD card 32 is guided to the guide wall 122. Further, the chamfered portion 322 of the SD card 32 is received by the slope portion 112 of the side wall 11, and the front end portion of the SD card 32 is brought into contact with the end surface of the card guiding portion 131 of the side wall 13. As a result, the contact portions of the contact terminals 4 and 8 and the contact pads of the SD card 32 are electrically connected.

  On the other hand, when the Duo card 30 is inserted into the card storage unit 10 after passing through the card storage unit 18, the corner of the tip of the Duo card 30 is the side wall 11 as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. When the leading end portion of the Duo card 30 is pushed in, the side surfaces of the leading end portion of the Duo card 30 are the inner peripheral surface of the side wall 11 and the inner peripheral surface of the side wall 13, respectively. It will be guided by the surface. Therefore, there is no possibility that the Duo card 30 is inserted in a posture in which the entire Duo card 30 is inclined.

  Further, as shown by a solid line in FIG. 4A, the chamfered portion 303 of the inserted Duo card 30 passes through the card accommodating portion 18 and comes into contact with the card guiding portion 131 of the side wall 13 and is further pressed. First, when the chamfered portion 303 is in sliding contact with the corner of the card guiding portion 131, the leading end portion of the Duo card 30 is moved in the direction indicated by the arrow that is substantially perpendicular to the IC card attaching / detaching direction. Further, since the chamfered portion 303 abuts on the card guiding portion 131, the chamfered portion 303 is prevented from abutting on the tip of the abutting portion 241 of the SD card recognition switch. As a result, it is possible to prevent a malfunction that the SD card recognition switch recognizes that the SD card 32 is installed by mistake. Next, after one side surface of the Duo card 30 is moved toward the inner peripheral surface of the side wall 11 and the slope portion 152, it is brought into contact with the inner peripheral surface of the side wall 11. As a result, as shown in FIG. 4 (B), both side surfaces of the inserted Duo card 30 are substantially parallel to the side wall 11 and the side walls 12 and 13, respectively, so that the tip of the inserted Duo card 30 is provided. Each concave portion in the portion is positioned and opposed to the protrusions 154, 155, 156, and 157. Subsequently, when the leading end portion of the Duo card 30 is further pushed beyond the inclined surface portion 152 in the insertion direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. 4B, each of the leading end portions of the Duo card 30 is shown in FIG. After the recess is engaged with the protrusions 154, 155, 156, and 157, the leading end of the Duo card 30 is brought into contact with the end surface of the inner peripheral portion of the card accommodation unit 10. As a result, the contact portions of the plurality of contact terminals 6 and the contact pads 304 of the Duo card 30 are electrically connected. Therefore, in any of the cases described above, the Duo card 30 can be easily attached to and detached from the card accommodating portion 10 through the card accommodating portion 18 without being inserted in an oblique posture.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Housing part 4, 6, 8 Contact terminal 10, 18 Card accommodating part 11, 12, 13 Side wall 30 Duo card 32 SD card 131 Card guidance | induction part 303 Chamfering part

Claims (3)

A first card accommodating portion in which the first IC card is detachably accommodated through the card slot, and a second width having a width smaller than the width of the first IC card in a direction substantially perpendicular to the attaching / detaching direction. A housing part having an IC card that is detachably accommodated via the common card slot and the first card accommodating part;
A plurality of contact terminals respectively disposed in the first card housing portion and the second card housing portion in the housing portion and electrically connected to the electrode portions of the first IC card and the second IC card; With
The tip of the inserted second IC card is formed integrally with one side wall forming a part of the second card housing part in the housing part, and the other part of the second card housing part is used. The card guiding portion for guiding toward the inner peripheral portion of the other side wall facing the one side wall to be formed is at a position corresponding to the vicinity of the boundary portion between the first card housing portion and the second card housing portion. It is a corner formed, and both side surfaces of the leading end portion of the inserted and guided second IC card are guided by the inner peripheral surface of the one side wall and the inner peripheral surface of the other side wall. Characteristic IC card connector. 2. The IC card connector according to claim 1, wherein an end surface of the card guiding portion receives a leading end portion of the first IC card mounted in the first card housing portion.   When the second IC card is inserted through the common card slot and the first card accommodating portion, the chamfered portion at the tip of the second IC card is brought into contact with the card guiding portion. 2. The side surface of the second IC card to be inserted is guided in a direction orthogonal to the attaching / detaching direction of the second IC card and abuts against the inner peripheral portion of the other side wall. Or the connector for IC cards of Claim 2.

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