JPH01219980A - Card holder structure for ic card reader/writer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To exactly and smoothly insert and attach an IC card into a card holder by expanding both side plates of the card holder toward the card insertion port direction and constituting them as side face guide plates for inserting through the IC card. CONSTITUTION:A card holder 14 is provided so as to be opposed to a card insertion port 16 which is opened in a casing front plate 12b on a casing bottom plate 12a of an IC card reader/writer 12. To the card insertion port, an opening/ closing door 18 which is turned in a single swing shape is attached. The card holder 14 consists of a holder bottom plate which has been attached onto the casing bottom plate 12a, both holder side plates 14b, 14b and a holder top plate 14c. The holder side plate 14b has a side face guide plate 20 extended toward the direction of the card insertion port 16 from a holder inlet 14d part, and this side face guide plate 20 continues to a widened width part 20b through an expanded and curved part 20a. The holder bottom plate and the holder top plate 14c constitute a lower face guide plate 22 and an upper face guide plate 24 toward the direction of the card insertion port.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a card holder structure for an IC card reader/writer, and particularly to a guide structure for guiding and inserting an IC card into the card holder.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, IC cards with built-in memory and CPU functions have become popular, for example, in order to streamline document management in various commercial transactions. And such an IC card is an IC
It is connected to a card reader/writer (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as a reader-like) to perform the necessary reading and writing.For this purpose, an IC card is inserted into the reader/writer at a predetermined connection position inside the reader/writer. A card holder is provided.

Conventionally, this type of card holder is generally provided facing and as close as possible to the card insertion slot opened in the front plate of the casing of the reader/writer, to prevent the insertion of the IC card into the card holder. It is designed for convenience.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in conventional card holders of this type, it has not always been possible to smoothly insert an IC card for the following reasons.

That is, as mentioned above, the card holder is provided as close as possible to the card insertion slot, but the card insertion slot is
Generally, an opening/closing door is installed to preserve and protect the complicated electronic circuit components inside the reader/writer. Therefore, the distance between the card holder and the card insertion slot is at least equivalent to the height of the opening/closing door. A certain separation distance is required. Further, the difference between the internal dimension of the card holder and the external dimension of the IC card, that is, the gap between the two, is set as small as possible in order to properly connect the IC card holder to the reader/writer. Therefore, such a card holder,
Regarding the relative position or dimensions of the card insertion slot and the IC card, if the insertion angle of the IC card into the card insertion slot is slightly off, the IC card cannot be inserted into the card holder.

These inconveniences impede the operability of the IC card as the frequency of use of the IC card increases, and the I
This may cause damage to the C card and reader/writer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a card holder structure for an IC card reader/writer that allows an IC card to be inserted into the card holder accurately and smoothly.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the card holder structure of the IC card reader/writer according to the present invention is such that both side plates and the top plate of the card holder extend in an expanded shape toward the card insertion slot, and the bottom plate gradually extends. It is characterized in that it extends in a thin wall shape and is configured as a side guide plate, an upper guide plate, and a lower guide plate for inserting an IC card, respectively.

In this case, only one or two of the guide plates may be provided, but it is optimal if all three guide plates are provided. Further, a widened portion is provided on the side guide plate via the widening curved portion, and the interval between both widened portions is set to be larger than the width of the opening/closing door of the card insertion slot. Furthermore, it is preferable that the upper guide plate be configured so as to come into contact with the opening/closing door when the card insertion slot is opened.

[Effect]

Even if the IC card inserted from the card insertion slot is inserted at an incorrect angle, the side guide plate will prevent it from coming off in the left and right direction.
Dislodgement in the vertical direction is guided and corrected in the correct insertion direction by the upper guide plate, the lower guide, and the dot plate, respectively. Therefore, the IC card can be inserted into the card holder accurately and smoothly. In this case, the card insertion opening/closing door can be opened and closed within the widened portion of the side guide plate without any problem.

〔Example〕

Next, an embodiment of the card holder structure of an IC card reader/writer according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 to 3, a card holder 14 according to the present invention is provided on a casing bottom plate 12a of an IC card reader/writer 12, facing a card insertion slot 16 opened in a casing front plate 12b. The inner dimension of the card insertion slot 16 is normally set slightly larger than the inner dimension of the card holder 14, but the inner dimension of the card holder 14 is set to a predetermined dimension slightly larger than the outer dimension of the TC card. Note that an opening/closing door 18 is attached to the back side of the card insertion slot 16 and is pivoted in a single-opening manner via a rotating shaft 18a (see FIG. 3), and this opening/closing door 18 is attached to the rotating shaft 18a. A coil spring (not shown) is normally biased to a position that closes the card insertion slot I6. In the figure, reference numeral 12
c and 12d indicate a casing side plate and a casing top plate, respectively.

The card holder 14 has a holder bottom plate 14a attached on the casing bottom plate 12a and both holders (JTI plates 14b, 1
4b and a holder top plate 14c. The holder side plate 14b has a side guide plate 20 extending from the holder portion 14d toward the card insertion slot 16, and this side guide plate 20 extends from the widening portion 20b via the widening curved portion 20a.
Continuous to. Then, the distance between both wave width portions 20b, 20b is 1. As shown in FIG. 2, a is set larger than the width dimension Lb of the opening/closing door 18, and
is configured to be pivoted to open and close via its rotating shaft 18a. The holder bottom plate 14a extends in a gradually thinner manner from the holder portion 14d toward the card insertion slot 16, and constitutes a lower guide surface 22 whose upper surface is sloped downward. The center portion of the holder top plate 14c extends upwardly from the holder portion 14d toward the card insertion slot, thereby forming an upper guide plate 24. This upper guide plate 24 will be described in detail later, but as shown in FIG. It is constructed so that it also serves as a guide plate.

In such a configuration, the IC card 10 is in the correct posture with respect to the card insertion slot 16, that is, when the IC card 10 is in the correct posture relative to the card insertion slot 16.
When the IC card 10 is inserted at the center of the casing 6 and in a direction perpendicular to the casing front Fj, 12b, the IC card 10 passes through the holder opening 14d and is smoothly and precisely inserted into the holder 14. However, for example, as shown in FIG.
When the C card 10 is inserted facing left in the figure, the IC
The left corner 10a of the card 10 is prevented from being inserted into the holder 14d. However, this deviated left corner portion 10a has a holder population of 14. The IC card 10 comes into contact with the side guide plate 20 extending from the portion d, and then slides on the widened portion 20b and the widened curved portion 20a to guide and correct the correct insertion direction, whereby the IC card 10 is easily inserted into the holder. It passes through the cap 14d and is properly inserted into the holder 14.

Further, when the IC card 10 is inserted downward as shown by the solid line in FIG. It is guided and corrected in the correct insertion direction via the lower surface guide plate 22 extending from the portion, and is accurately inserted into the holder 14. Furthermore, in Figure 3, 2
When the IC card 0 is inserted upward as shown by the dotted chain line, the upper edge 10c of the rC card 10
Although the upper edge portion 10c deviates from the holder portion 14d, the upper edge portion 10c is guided and corrected in the correct insertion direction via the opening/closing door 18 that abuts the upper guide plate 24 extending from the holder portion 14d and the upper guide plate 24. and is properly inserted into the holder 14.

Note that when the IC card 10 is inserted diagonally upward or diagonally downward, the IC card 10 is inserted between the top guide plate 24, one of the side guide plates 20, or the bottom guide plate 22, and one of the side guide plates. It is clear that the insertion direction can be guided and corrected via 20 to the correct insertion direction. Furthermore, since the opening/closing door 18 is pivoted within the widened portion 20b of the side guide plate 20 as described above, the opening/closing operation of the opening/closing door 18 is not hindered (
It is done.

As described above, according to the card holder structure of the present invention, the IC
Even if the insertion angle of the card with respect to the card insertion slot is incorrect, this insertion angle is automatically guided and corrected to the correct insertion angle by each guide plate provided on the card holder. Therefore, the IC card can be easily and accurately inserted into the card holder.

It's done smoothly. Moreover, in this case, even if the card insertion slot is provided with an opening/closing door, the IC card can be inserted smoothly without any problem.

Although the present invention has been described above with reference to preferred embodiments, the present invention can be modified in many ways without changing its spirit. For example, the lower guide plate may extend only from the center of the holder bottom plate. Further, the present invention is not limited to the card holder structure of an IC card reader/writer, but can be used as it is as a card holder structure of other similar devices, for example, a normal card reader.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the card holder structure of the IC card reader/writer according to the present invention has both side plates, a top plate, and a bottom plate of the card holder expanded or extended downward toward the card insertion slot. Since it is constructed as a guide plate for an IC card, even if the insertion angle of the IC card deviates when it is inserted into the card insertion slot, the insertion angle is automatically guided and corrected to the correct insertion angle by each guide plate. Therefore, the IC card can be easily and accurately attached to the card holder.

It can be done smoothly. Moreover, in this case, even if the card insertion slot is provided with an opening/closing door, the insertion and insertion will not be hindered in any way.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the card holder structure of the IC card reader/writer according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the card holder structure of the IC card reader/writer shown in FIG. FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line mm in FIG. 1; 10...rc card 10a, left corner 1
0b , , lower edge 10c , , upper edge 1
2., IC card reader/writer 12a,...
Casing bottom plate 12b, Casing front plate 12c, Casing side plate 12d, Casing top plate 14, Card holder 14a, Holder bottom plate 14b, Holder side plate 14c, Holder top plate 14d. , holder inlet 16. ,,Card insertion slot 18, ,Opening/closing door 18a, ,1 rotation shaft 20,
,,side guide plate 20a,,,expansion curved part 20b
,,, widening part 22. ,,lower guide plate 24,,
Upper Guide Plate Patent Applicant Nippon Chemi-Con Co., Ltd. FIG, 2 FIG, 3 Procedure Nef11 Correct Do 1 (Method) % Formula % 1, Incident Indication 1988 Special Correction Application No. 44538 2, Name of Invention IC Card Reader Writer card holder structure 3, relationship with each case to be amended Special applicant address 167 Higashi-Ome-chome, Ome-shi, Tokyo 1 name Representative of Nippon Chemi-Con Co., Ltd. and Sankai Sahara 4, agent (1) Drawings 6. Contents of correction

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] (1) A card holder structure for an IC card reader/writer, characterized in that both side plates of the card holder are expanded toward the card insertion slot to serve as side guide plates for inserting an IC card. (2) The IC card reader/writer according to claim 1, wherein the side guide plate has a widened portion through the widening curved portion, and the interval between the widened portions is set larger than the width of the card insertion opening/closing door. Card holder structure. (3) An IC card reader/writer characterized in that the bottom plate of the card holder is configured as a lower guide plate for IC card insertion, with the bottom plate gradually extending toward the card insertion slot and having a downwardly inclined inner surface. card holder structure. (4) A card holder structure for an IC card reader/writer, characterized in that the top plate of the card holder extends in an expanded shape toward the card insertion slot to serve as a top guide plate for inserting an IC card. (5) The card holder structure for an IC card reader/writer according to claim 4, wherein the upper guide plate is configured to abut against the opening/closing door when the card insertion slot is opened. (6) side guide plates for IC card insertion, with both side plates and the top plate of the card holder extending in an expanded shape toward the card insertion slot, and the bottom plate gradually extending in a thinner shape;
A card holder structure for an IC card reader/writer, characterized in that it is configured as an upper guide plate and a lower guide plate.