JPH0879100A - Noncontact memory card - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide the noncontact memory card with excellent productivity, and excellent external appearance and communication characteristics, and to provide the key mount type noncontact memory card, excellent in operability, in which keys are easily attached to/detached from the card body. CONSTITUTION: The noncontact memory card is formed with a lower half 1, an upper half 2, a circuit board 3, and a key retainer spring 4. A board insert section 14, resin pools 17, 18 and a key support section 19 are formed to an inner side of the lower half 1 and the upper half 2 and resin escape sections 20, 21 used to lead excess sealing resin overflowed fron the board insert display section 14 to each of the resin pools 17, 18 are formed to a barrier 13 to part the board insert section 14 fron the resin pools 17, 18. The board retainer to regulate the setting position of the printed circuit board 3 is provided to the inner face of the lower half 1 and/or the upper half 2. A center axial line B-B of the key support section 19 is set in a direction tilted by nearly 450 with respect to a center axial line A-A in the lengthwise direction of the lower half 1.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a contactless memory card for transmitting / receiving power and transmitting / receiving signals to / from an external device in a contactless manner, and more particularly to a circuit board sealing structure provided in the card body. And a holding structure, and a key mounting structure used in connection with the contactless memory card.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an IC is mounted in a box-shaped card body constructed by joining an upper half and a lower half.
A contactless memory card has been proposed which incorporates a circuit board on which a coil for transmitting and receiving power and transmitting and receiving signals in a contactless manner with a computerized storage unit, a storage unit and an external device is incorporated.

In this type of contactless memory card,
The circuit board is generally resin-sealed with a thermosetting resin in order to fix the circuit board to the card body and to enhance the water resistance and dust resistance of the circuit board. For resin sealing of a circuit board, usually, for example, a small amount of thermosetting resin is injected into the board housing formed in the lower half, the circuit board is housed in the board housing, and the thermosetting resin is housed in the board housing. Filling, cover the lower half with the upper half, join the periphery of these both halves by means such as ultrasonic fusion, finally, heat the assembly to cure the thermosetting resin,
It is done by such a method. In this case, if air remains in the sealed substrate housing, the air remaining in the substrate housing expands due to heating during resin curing, and the force easily deforms the card body. In order to prevent such an inconvenience, conventionally, a cutout communicating with the outside is provided in a part of the substrate housing portion, and in the above process, the thermosetting property more than the amount actually required for resin sealing is provided in the substrate housing portion. When the resin is filled and the upper half is covered, excess thermosetting resin and air are allowed to escape from the notches to prevent air from remaining in the substrate housing portion.

Further, in this type of non-contact memory card, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 60-57234, it is constructed as a portable transmitter for unlocking the door lock of an automobile. , There is a card that can be equipped with a key for starting the engine.
In the above-mentioned publicly known example, a recess is formed on the surface of the card body to store a key, and a magnet is embedded in the bottom surface, and the magnetic key housed in the recess is attracted and held by the magnetic force of the magnet. Technology, and by providing a recess on the end surface of the card body that can store the key, one end of the key is rotatably pin-coupled to one end of the card body, and the other end of the key is pivoted around the coupling pin to lock the key. A technique is disclosed in which the card can be housed in the card body or pulled out from the card body.

[0005]

However, when the circuit board is sealed with resin, a structure in which excess sealing resin is allowed to escape to the outside from the notch provided in the card body can prevent air from remaining in the board housing portion. Although it can be done, on the other hand, it takes a lot of effort to wipe off the extra sealing resin that has flowed outside, and since the traces of the sealing resin wipe off tend to remain on the surface of the card body, it is possible to produce good products with high efficiency. There is another inconvenience such as difficulty.

Further, in the conventional upper half and lower half,
Since there is no means for holding the circuit board in a fixed position in the thickness direction of the card body, after filling the sealing resin and before the sealing resin cures, the circuit board can be freely Can move. Therefore, the distance from the surface of the card body to the coil surface cannot be strictly regulated, and the communication characteristics vary widely among the non-contact memory cards, which makes it difficult to secure optimum communication characteristics. .

Further, since the conventional non-contact memory card with a key has a structure in which the entire key is housed in a recess formed in the card body, it is difficult to take out the key from the card body and it is inconvenient to use. There is an inconvenience.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the deficiencies of the prior art, and its object is to provide a contactless memory card having good productivity and excellent aesthetics and communication characteristics. An object of the present invention is to provide a key-mounting type non-contact memory card which is easy to attach and detach the key to and from the card body and has good usability.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention firstly provides a power input and a signal in a box-shaped card body constituted by joining an upper half and a lower half. In a non-contact memory card formed by resin-sealing a circuit board in which a predetermined circuit including a transmission / reception coil is incorporated, in order to store the circuit board storage portion and excess sealing resin in the card body. The resin reservoir portion and the resin relief portion that communicates the housing portion of these circuit boards with the resin reservoir portion are provided.

Secondly, in the same contactless memory card as described above, the circuit board is held at a predetermined position in the thickness direction of the card body on the inner surface of at least one of the upper half and the lower half. A substrate holding part is provided. In this case, the board pressing portion is particularly preferably provided at a position corresponding to the central portion of the coil incorporated in the circuit board in order to more strictly regulate the distance from the surface of the card body to the coil surface.

Thirdly, in the same non-contact memory card as described above, a part of the key is detachably inserted into the card main body from a direction inclined with respect to the side direction of the card main body and held. A key compartment is provided.

[0012]

According to the first means, when the upper half and the lower half are joined, the excess sealing resin filled in the substrate housing portion passes through the resin escape portion and enters the resin reservoir portion. Stop resin does not flow out of the case body. Therefore, the labor for wiping is not required, and the aesthetic appearance of the product is not deteriorated.

According to the second means, the circuit board accommodated in the board accommodating portion is provided on the inner surface of the upper half and / or the lower half when the upper half and the lower half are joined. Since it can be pressed by the board pressing portion, the set position of the circuit board in the thickness direction of the card body can be strictly regulated. Therefore, the communication characteristics of the contactless memory card can be optimized and stabilized.

According to the third means, a part of the key can be held in a state of protruding from the side of the card body.
It is easy to remove the key from the card body. Also,
Since the insertion direction of the key with respect to the side direction of the card body and the insertion direction of the card body with respect to the card insertion part of the external device can be different from each other, when the card body is removed from the external device, It is difficult to make an operation mistake such as taking out only the key from the main body. Therefore, the non-contact memory card with a key can be made extremely easy to use.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a contactless memory card according to an embodiment, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an inner surface of an upper half of a contactless memory card according to an embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a contactless memory card according to an embodiment. It is a perspective view of the usage state of.

As shown in FIG. 1, the contactless memory card of this example includes a lower half 1, an upper half 2, a circuit board 3, and
The key pressing spring 4 is mainly included.

The lower half 1 and the upper half 2 are molded of a thermoplastic resin material such as polybutylene terephthalate which can be ultrasonically fused. Its plane shape is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, one corner is formed into a rectangular shape of the same shape with diagonally cut off. By joining the two halves together, as shown in FIG. 3, a thin box-shaped card body 5 is formed. Can be configured.

On the inner surface of the lower half 1, as shown in FIG. 1, a partition 12 having the same height is erected along the obliquely cut off portion, that is, the entire outer peripheral edge excluding the key insertion portion 11. . In addition, in the portion slightly biased to the key insertion portion 11 side from the central portion of the lower half 1 in the longitudinal direction, the partition walls 1 on both left and right sides are provided.
A partition 13 having the same height as that connecting the two is erected, and a substrate insertion portion 14 is defined. Further, at a portion closer to the key insertion portion 11 than the partition wall 13, two partition walls 15 and 16 connecting the both ends of the key insertion portion 11 and the partition wall 13 and having the same height as the partition wall 13 are erected substantially parallel to each other. The resin reservoirs 17 and 18 and one key holding portion 19 are defined. The central axis BB of the key holding portion 19 is set in a direction inclined at about 45 degrees with respect to the longitudinal central axis AA of the lower half 1.

The resin reservoirs 17 and 18 are the substrate insertion portion 14
A part of the partition wall 13 for separating the resin overflow part 17 and the board insertion part 14, and a partition wall for separating the resin storage part 18 and the board insertion part 14 for accumulating the excess overflowing sealing resin. Resin escape portions 20 and 21 for guiding the excess sealing resin overflowing from the substrate insertion portion 14 to the resin reservoir portions 17 and 18 are connected to a part of the portion 13.

Inside the two partition walls 15 and 16 formed in parallel with each other, a key pressing spring 4 which will be described in detail later is provided.
Spring hooks 15a, 15b, 16a for engaging the
16b is formed and each of the partition walls 15 and 16 is formed.
Spring pressing projections 22 and 23 are provided on the inner side of the projection at a distance allowing the key pressing spring 4 to be inserted therethrough.

A partition wall 13 is provided on both left and right sides of the lower half 1.
The card body 5 is engaged with a card engaging portion provided in an external device (not shown) at a portion slightly closer to the key insertion portion 11 than the key insertion portion 11 side, and the card body 5 is held at a predetermined position (communication possible position) in the external device. Engagement recesses 29 and 30 are formed for this purpose. Further, on the outer surface of the lower half 1 and the outer surface of the partition wall 12, an anti-slip groove 24 is continuously formed at the end portion on the key insertion portion 11 side.

On the inner surface of the upper half 2, as shown in FIG. 2, the partition walls 12, 13, 1 formed on the lower half 1 are formed.
The partition walls 12 ', 13', and
15 'and 16' are formed. Partition walls 12 ', 13', 15 ', 16 protruding from the inner surface of the upper half 2
′ Indicates partition walls 12, 13, 1 formed on the lower half 1
Lower half 1 is formed at a position adjacent to 5, 16
When the upper half 2 and the upper half 2 are joined, they are engaged with each other,
The positioning is performed in the long side direction and the short side direction. Of the partition walls protruding from the inner surface of the upper half 2,
Notches 20 'and 21' for resin escape are formed in portions of the partition wall 13 'facing the resin escape portions 20 and 21. In addition, air bleeding is performed on the portions of the partition walls 12 'that face the partition wall 13', the portions of the partition walls 15 'and 16' that face the partition wall 13 ', and the portions of the partition walls 15' and 16 'that face the partition wall 12'. A notch 25 for use is formed.

On the inner surface of the upper half 2, the partition wall 1
Substrate pressing portions 26, 27, 28 are provided in a protruding manner in a substrate insertion portion 14 'defined by 2'and the partition wall 13'.
The board pressing portions 26, 27, 28 are formed at a height such that the circuit board 3 housed in the board inserting portion 14 can be pressed against the inner surface of the lower half 1 when the lower half 1 and the upper half 2 are joined. It These substrate retainers 26, 27, 28
Can be formed at any position as long as it does not interfere with the coil and other components mounted on the circuit board 3. However, in order to make the coil setting position in the thickness direction of the card body 5 highly constant, the coil center It is particularly preferable to face the portion having no winding.

In the embodiment of FIG. 2, each substrate pressing portion 26, 27, 28 has a shape in which two arc-shaped protrusions are opposed to each other and a slight gap is provided between both ends of each protrusion. However, it may be formed in any other shape such as a solid prismatic shape or a cylindrical shape. Also,
On the outer surface of the upper half 2 and the outer surface of the partition wall 12 ′, a slip preventing groove 24 ′ is formed at a position facing the slip preventing groove 24, and at a position facing the engaging recesses 29 and 30. Engagement recesses 29 'and 30' are formed.

The circuit board 3 is formed in such a size and shape that it can be accommodated in the board accommodating portion 14, and one side thereof has a coil 31 for exchanging power with an external device in a non-contact manner. Coils 32 and 33 for transmitting and receiving signals to and from an external device in a non-contact manner are mounted. These coils 31, 32, 33 are configured by so-called plane coils formed by spirally printing a conductor on the surface of the circuit board 3. Besides, the circuit board 3 is provided with an arithmetic unit, a memory unit, and the like, which are integrated into an IC, and wirings for connecting the respective components are also formed, but these are not the gist of the present invention, and therefore, illustration thereof is omitted. The circuit board 3 is housed in a space defined by the board housing portion 14 of the lower half 1 and the board housing portion 14 ′ of the upper half 2, and then resin-sealed with a thermosetting resin.

The key pressing spring 4 is formed, for example, by processing a stainless wire or plate material. As shown in FIG. 1, the one key pressing spring 4 is inserted between the partition wall 15 and the spring pressing protrusion 22, and both ends thereof are engaged with the spring hook portions 15a and 15b. The other key pressing spring 4 has a partition wall 16 and a spring pressing protrusion 2 in the same manner as this.
3, and both ends thereof are engaged with the spring hook portions 16a and 16b. The gap between these two key pressing springs 4 is set to be narrower than the width of the key to be held therein, and the inserted key is elastically held.

The method of manufacturing the non-contact memory card according to the embodiment will be described below.

First, a small amount of thermosetting resin is injected into the substrate housing portion 14 formed in the lower half 1. As the thermosetting resin, any of a silicone type, an epoxy type and a urethane type can be used, but one having a viscosity that does not spread laterally immediately after injection is used.

The coils 31, 3 are placed in the substrate housing portion 14.
The circuit board 3 is housed with the mounting surfaces of 2, 33 facing upward. Since the circuit board 3 is formed to have a size and shape that can be exactly accommodated in the board housing portion 14, the board housing portion 14
The movement of the circuit board 3 in the surface direction can be restricted only by dropping the circuit board 3 inside.

The circuit board 3 is pressed against the inner surface of the lower half 1, and the thermosetting resin is spread while pushing out the air between the circuit board 3 and the lower half 1. This can prevent the disadvantage that air remains between the circuit board 3 and the lower half 1.

The substrate housing portion 14 is filled with a thermosetting resin. At this time, the amount of injected resin is obtained by subtracting the total of the volume of the circuit board 3 and the volume of the mounted components and the injection amount of the thermosetting resin previously injected from the volume of the board housing portion 14, and the two resin reservoir portions are provided as a margin. The amount is the amount of resin added, which does not exceed the total volume of 17 and 18.

The lower half 1 is covered with the upper half 2, and the upper half 2 is gradually pressed against the lower half 1 while pushing out excess resin and air in the substrate accommodating portions 14 and 14 '. The excess resin and the air in the substrate housing portions 14 and 14 'pass through the resin escape portions 20 and 21 formed in the lower half 1 and the resin escape notches 20' and 21 'formed in the upper half 2. Then, since it flows into the resin reservoirs 17 and 18 formed in the lower half 1 and the upper half 2, excess sealing resin flows out to the outer surfaces of the lower half 1 and the upper half 2, and a great deal of labor is required to wipe it off. There is no need to do so and the aesthetic appearance of the case body 5 is not impaired.

Partition walls 12, 1 projecting from the lower half 1
The top surfaces of 3, 15, 16 are brought into contact with the inner surface of the upper half 2 to completely seal the substrate housing portions 14, 14 '. At this time, the circuit board 3 has the board pressing portion 2 formed on the upper half 2.
The back surface of the lower half 1 is brought into close contact with the inner surfaces of the lower half 1 by 6, 27, 28, so that the setting position of the circuit board 3 in the thickness direction of the case body 5, in other words, the coil 31, 32, The distance to the formation surface of 33 can be made constant. Therefore, it is possible to mass-produce a non-contact memory card with a small variation in communication characteristics.

Next, the abutting portions of the lower half 1 and the upper half 2 are joined by means such as ultrasonic welding.

Finally, the assembly is heated to cure the thermosetting resin to obtain the desired non-contact memory card. The partition walls 12 ′, 15 ′, 16 ′ that define the resin reservoirs 17, 18 of the upper half 2 are provided with notches 25 for venting air, and the air expanded at the time of heating passes through these notches 25 to the outside. Therefore, the case body 5 is not deformed when the resin is cured.

The contactless memory card according to the above embodiment is
As shown in FIG. 3, the key holding unit 19 to the key holding unit 19
By inserting the key 41 into the card body 5 from a direction BB oblique to the longitudinal direction AA of the card body 5,
1 can be detachably held. Insertion part 41 of key 41
Since a is elastically held by the key pressing spring 4 provided in the card body 5, it cannot be easily dropped unless an external force larger than the elastic force of the key pressing spring 4 acts. . Further, as shown in the figure, if the grip portion 41b of the key is formed in a triangular shape and the key 41 is inserted until the end surface of the grip portion 41b hits the key insertion portion 11, the card on which the key 41 is mounted is inserted. Since the shape of the main body 5 can be a simple rectangle, the aesthetic appearance is good and the carrying is convenient. In addition, the grip portion 41 of the key
Since b is projected from the card body 5, the card body 5
The key 41 can be easily taken out from the container, which makes it convenient to use.

The non-contact memory card of this embodiment is attached / detached to / from an external device by operating the card body 5 in the longitudinal direction AA. On the other hand, the key 41 must be attached / detached to / from the card body 5 in the direction BB inclined with respect to the longitudinal direction AA of the card body 5. Therefore, when the card body 5 is taken out from the external device, an operation error such as accidentally taking out only the key 41 from the card body 5 is unlikely to occur, and the non-contact memory card with a key is extremely easy to use. You can

In the above embodiment, the contactless memory card with a key has been described as an example, but the gist of the present invention is not limited to this, and a contactless memory card having no key holding portion can be used. Can also be applied.

Further, the application example of the non-contact memory card is not limited to the portable transmitter for unlocking the door lock of the automobile, and it goes without saying that it can be applied to other arbitrary applications. For example, a contactless memory card can also be configured as a motorcycle start signal generator. In this case, the key attached to this may be a key used for opening and closing a helmet holder or a fuel tank cap of a motorcycle.

In addition, the gist of the present invention lies in the means for preventing the outflow of excess resin, the means for stabilizing the circuit board, and the mounting direction of the key in the non-contact memory card with the key, and the device other than the main part. Needless to say, the shape, arrangement, material and the like of each part can be arbitrarily designed regardless of the above embodiment. For example, it is possible to provide the substrate pressing portion on the lower half side and arrange the coil in the portion in contact with the inner surface of the upper half, or to provide the substrate pressing portion on both the lower half and the upper half so that the intermediate portion in the thickness direction of the card body. It is also possible to place the coil in position.

[0041]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the upper half and the lower half are joined, the excess sealing resin filled in the substrate housing portion is passed through the resin escape portion to the resin reservoir portion. Since the sealing resin does not flow out of the case main body, the non-contact memory card having an excellent appearance can be manufactured with high efficiency.

Further, at the stage where the upper half and the lower half are joined, the circuit board accommodated in the substrate accommodating portion is pressed by the substrate pressing portion provided on the inner surface of the upper half and / or the lower half. Therefore, it is possible to strictly regulate the setting position of the circuit board in the thickness direction of the card body, and it is possible to provide a non-contact memory card which has excellent communication characteristics and has little variation.

Further, since a part of the key is held in a state of protruding from the card body, the key can be easily taken out from the card body, and the attaching / detaching direction of the card body to / from an external device and the key to the card body Since the attachment and detachment directions of the card are different from each other, it is difficult to make an operation mistake such as accidentally taking out only the key from the card body when taking out the card body from an external device, and it is a very convenient non-contact memory card with key. Can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a contactless memory card according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an inner surface structure of an upper half.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a contactless memory card according to an embodiment in use.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 lower half 2 upper half 3 circuit board 4 key pressing spring 5 card body 11 key insertion part 12, 13, 15, 16 partition wall 12 ', 13', 15 ', 16' partition wall 15a, 15b, 16a, 16b spring hooking part 14 Board Insertion Section 14 'Board Insertion Section 17, 18 Resin Reservoir Section 19 Key Holding Section 20, 21 Resin Relief Section 20', 21 'Resin Escape Notch 22, 23 Spring Holding Protrusion 24 Non-Slip Groove 25 Air Evacuation Notch 26, 27, 28 board pressing part 31, 32, 33 coil 41 key

Front Page Continuation (72) Inventor Ken Nakazawa 1-4-1 Chuo, Wako, Saitama Stock Company Honda R & D Co., Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A circuit board in which a predetermined circuit including a coil for power input and a coil for signal transmission / reception is incorporated in a box-shaped card body constituted by joining an upper half and a lower half with a resin. In the non-contact memory card configured as described above, a storage portion for the circuit board, a resin storage portion for storing excess sealing resin, and a storage portion for the circuit board and the resin storage portion communicate with each other in the card body. A non-contact memory card, which is provided with a resin escape portion that 2. A circuit board in which a predetermined circuit including coils for power input and signal transmission / reception is incorporated in a box-shaped card body constituted by joining an upper half and a lower half with a resin. In the non-contact memory card, the substrate pressing portion for holding the circuit board at a predetermined position in the thickness direction of the card body is provided on the inner surface of at least one of the upper half and the lower half. A non-contact memory card characterized by that. 3. The contactless memory card according to claim 2, wherein the substrate pressing portion is provided at a position corresponding to a central portion of a coil incorporated in the circuit board. .