JPH0745343A - Socket for ic card - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make a socket for IC cards small and thin and at the same time make connection of the socket with an appliance for IC cards easy and certain by forming pins made of an insulator and composed of U-shaped outer frame, a lower connection terminal, and an inner connection terminal by molding. CONSTITUTION:A U-shape groove 25 for guide of an IC card and for storage of an inner connection terminal 24 consisting of the upper end of a pin 22 to be connected with an electrode terminal of the IC card is formed in the inside of a U-shaped outer frame composing a main body and made of an insulating material, e.g. plastic. The groove 25 is positioned at the center in the thickness direction of the U-shaped outer frame and the pin 22 is composed of a lower connection terminal 26 which is projected downward out of the bottom face of the U-shaped outer frame and an inner connection terminal 25 which is extended upward. A socket is composed by arranging pins 22 in numbers of necessity in molding dies and molding plastics. Consequently, the thickness is made thin, possibly as thin as 1mm or less, and at the same time connection to an external appliance can be done surely.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an IC card socket.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art It is well known that an information storage card of a type that magnetically stores information on the card has been widely used as a kind of interface between banks, other institutions and customers. is there. This so-called magnetic card is reasonably convenient, and at present, the card is of this type.

However, the biggest drawback of this type of card is that the amount of information stored for minutes is too small.
Another serious drawback is that it is possible to provide the stored information in response to a request from an external device, but it has no logic or calculation function in itself.

In order to eliminate these drawbacks, so-called I
C card is proposed. Further, in a conventional IC card or the like, a circuit board and a connection terminal are separately prepared, and this is connected with a connector to connect with an external device. Further, for connection with an external device, a terminal window is provided on the card surface to expose the terminal and connect with the external device.

[0005]

However, there are still insufficient IC cards, and in particular, these IC cards still have many problems in connection with external devices.

Further, although these cards are expensive, one of the causes is the difficulty of manufacturing the cards.

Further, since various active and passive elements such as a battery, a memory, a central processing unit, and a switch are built in, it is difficult to miniaturize, especially thin.

Further, in the conventional IC card, the connection terminals for the external device are provided separately from the board, and the terminals are exposed from the terminal window on the card surface. Many, and it was difficult to make a latch-up circuit.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an IC card socket which is small and thin without the above-mentioned drawbacks and which is easy and reliable to connect with an IC card device.

[0010]

In order to solve the above problems, as a result of intensive studies, as a result, the ends of the flexible circuit board or the printed circuit board are separated from each other in a direction perpendicular to the sides and parallel to each other. An IC card having a plurality of electrode terminals covered on both sides and connected to each other, and an insulating material which is located on both sides of the circuit board except for the portions directly above the electrode terminals and is covered and adhered to the circuit board. In order to connect the electrode terminals of such an IC card to an external device, the present invention has developed a socket having the following shape.

That is, an outer frame made of an insulator having a substantially U-shape and having a U-shaped groove at the center in the width direction inside thereof, and a U-shaped bottom portion of the outer frame are planted. A plurality of metal connecting pins, which are spaced apart from each other and are located in parallel with each other, said pins penetrating the inside of the outer frame from the lower connecting terminals protruding downward from the U-shaped bottom portion of the outer frame; And an internal connection terminal projecting into the groove, the upper end of which is the same as or slightly lower than the upper end of the U-shaped groove.
It is a socket for cards.

That is, an outer frame made of an insulator having a substantially U-shape and having a U-shaped groove in the widthwise central portion inside thereof, and a U-shaped bottom portion of this outer frame. Prepare a socket having a plurality of pins. At this time, the pins of the socket are made of metal, and these pins are separated from each other in parallel and are surrounded by an outer frame insulator.

The lower ends of these pins project below the lower surface of the outer frame by a required dimension. Further, the upper portions of these pins penetrate upwardly through the outer frame bottom portion and project into the U-shaped groove. The tip of the pin protruding into the U-shaped groove should be approximately the same as the tip of the U-shaped groove or slightly lower than that.

[0014]

In this manner, the card of the present invention has a plurality of flexible printed circuit boards or printed circuit boards which are connected to each other at the end portions of the flexible printed circuit board or the printed circuit board, both sides of the circuit board being spaced parallel to each other and perpendicular to the sides. Since it has a plurality of electrode terminals and is formed by simply molding the passive and active elements and other necessary parts attached thereto, it is easy to manufacture, and therefore inexpensive and excellent in mass productivity.

Further, the thickness can be made thin (1 mm or less is possible) because it is an integral mold, and the connection to an external device is made reliable through the socket of the present invention.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. 1 to 8, an IC card combined with the IC card socket of the present invention will be described for reference.

In FIG. 1, 10 is an IC according to the present invention.
Although a card is shown, 11 is a flexible printed circuit board in the drawings, and circuit parts such as a central processing unit 15 [(CPU, hereinafter abbreviated as CPU), a random access memory (RAM, hereinafter abbreviated as RAM), A read-only memory (ROM, hereinafter abbreviated as ROM)] is attached, and a battery 14 is connected to the battery 14 by an appropriate method.

At least one surface of the flexible printed circuit board 11 has connection conductor coatings for connecting these circuit components to each other, between the circuit components and the battery, and between these and electrode terminals 13 which will be described later. Is omitted.

On the front and back surfaces of the circuit board assembly thus constructed, an insulating material 1 covering the entire surface and most of the side surfaces is formed.
2 is attached to make an IC card. A longitudinal side sectional view of the completed IC card is shown in FIG. A part of the IC card 10 encircled by a circle III in FIG. 2 is enlargedly shown in FIG. The figure is shown with an appropriate enlargement ratio for explanation.

The left and right sides of the electrode terminal 13 are provided with cavities 16 so that upper connection terminals of a socket, which will be described later, can be inserted into this portion of the IC card. In addition, as shown in FIG. 1, the electrode terminals 13 arranged in parallel with each other have a cross section taken along the line IV-IV ′ shown in FIG.
Although there are cavities 16 on both sides of the electrode terminal 13, the electrode terminals are separated from each other by an insulating coating 12, and the FPC 11 is in contact with the insulating coating 12 in this portion.

The reason for doing this is that the insulating coating bears a part of the force applied to the electrode terminals by the upper connection terminals of the socket when the IC card is inserted into the socket to be described later, and the electrode terminals 13 and the FPC therein It is intended to reduce the force applied to and prevent their deformation.

The electrode terminals may be provided on only one side of the FPC, or may be folded back at the upper end of the FPC 11 and attached to both sides thereof, as clearly shown in FIGS. Further, a metal thin plate having a width similar to that of these terminals may be attached by soldering or the like for reinforcement.

In this way, high reliability contact is ensured by the double-sided contact of the electrode terminals, and at 20P or less, 4-point contact and non-directionality when the IC card is inserted are also possible (see FIGS. 5A and 5B).

The terminal 13 is made of a conductive material, preferably metal. It is preferable that this electrode is subjected to shaving. As a result, a long life is possible, and when combined with the simple ZIF method, the life can be 10,000 times or more.

The FPC electrode is composed of, for example, Cu, Ni, Au in this order on polyimide.
(See FIGS. 6A and 6B)

Such an electrode terminal is found only on one short side of the rectangular IC card in the above-mentioned embodiment, but it is not limited to this, for example, on both short sides or four sides. You may divide and attach in multiple groups in an appropriate position above.

Further, although a rectangular IC card is shown in the above embodiment, other shapes may be used if necessary.

In the embodiment of the rectangular IC card, the two sides 17 and 18 perpendicular to the side having the electrode terminal group 13 are formed.
Is preferably rotationally asymmetric when viewed from the extension direction of the side. For example, it is desirable that the cross sections taken along the line VII-VII 'of FIG. 1 are as shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, respectively.

Forming the side portions 17 and 18 in such a shape is effective in avoiding erroneous insertion into a socket, which will be described later. Instead of making the sides asymmetrical as described above, for example, ribs or grooves parallel to the sides may be provided slightly inside the side edges, and grooves or ribs may be provided at the corresponding portions of the socket. (Fig. 8
See A and B. )

Such an IC card can be directly connected to an external device through the electrode terminal 13. But,
This type of IC card has a large number of electrode terminals (for example, 20
Therefore, the pitch between the terminals is, for example, 1.
It is close to 27mm. It is difficult to provide an external device with a corresponding connection pin of a pitch for various reasons. Therefore, it is preferable to establish a connection between the IC card and the external device via a socket.

The socket of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. In FIG. 9, reference numeral 20 denotes a socket according to the present invention, which is a substantially U-shaped outer frame 21 made of an insulating material, preferably a plastic material, forming a main body, and a pin penetrating the bottom of the outer frame at a right angle. 22 and 22. A grip 23 for gripping may be attached to the left and right sides of the main body.

Inside the outer frame, there is provided a U-shaped groove 25 for guiding the IC card and for accommodating an internal connection terminal 24 formed of an upper end of a pin 22 connected to an electrode terminal of the IC card. The position of the groove 25 is located at the central portion in the thickness direction of the U-shaped outer frame, as shown in FIG.

The pin 22 has a lower connecting terminal 26 projecting further downward from the bottom surface of the U-shaped outer frame, and an internal connecting terminal 24 extending upward from this terminal and penetrating the bottom of the outer frame into the U groove. Consists of.

Such a socket can be made by arranging the required number of pins 22 in a mold and molding a plastic, for example.

The upper end of the internal connection terminal 24 of the pin 22 is preferably flush with or slightly lower than the upper edge 27 of the bottom U-shaped groove as shown in FIGS. This is because the IC card is guided by the groove and the electrode terminal 13 contacts the internal terminal 24 of the socket to complete the connection.

Further, the inner surface of the U-shaped groove between the internal terminal 24 and the upper edge 27 of the U-shaped groove is raised by an appropriate method, or it is easily bent by inserting an IC card into this portion, but by removing it. It is also possible to provide a flexible thin film (both not shown) which returns to the original position to prevent unwanted dust intrusion when not in use.

As for the portions on both sides of the inner frame of the U-shaped groove, the shapes may be made different on both sides by matching the side shapes of the IC card shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B. Depending on the groove (FIG. 8A) or rib (FIG. 8B) of the IC card of FIG. By such means, it is possible to prevent erroneous insertion of the IC card.

The internal terminal 24 of the pin has a tentative effect when it contacts one surface of the electrode terminal 13 of the IC card. However, this is inconvenient because the bending force is applied to the electrode terminal of the IC card, and thus the FPC only from one side. In order to avoid such an inconvenience, it is desirable that two pins 22 are planted in the frame body so as to sandwich the electrode terminals 13 from both sides as shown in FIGS.

The pin 22 receives a repeated load of pushing or pulling each time the IC card is inserted into or removed from the socket. If the pin is straight, this repeated load may cause the pin to fall out. To avoid this, it is desirable that the pin be bent at a right angle at least twice in the penetration as shown in FIGS.

As a practical matter, it is convenient to connect every other lower terminal 26 of the pin in a zigzag arrangement for connection with an external device, while the internal terminals are aligned on one plane. Therefore, when the odd-numbered pin group counting from one of the pins 22 is bent two times to the left in FIG. 11,
It is desirable to bend the even-numbered pin group to the right twice. The IC card is indicated by a dotted line in FIG.

[0041]

With the above-described structure, an IC card having a thickness of 1 mm or less and an IC card socket can be used. Depending on the type of the IC card reinforcing material (molding material), the IC card can be bent freely. It should be understood that it is possible to manufacture, and in addition to realizing all the above-mentioned actions, there is no chance of erroneous insertion of the IC card into the socket, and it is possible to provide a robust socket.

Further, the electrode terminals of the IC card are provided on both ends of the printed circuit board over both sides, and the connection is ensured because the terminals are connected to this.

Further, since the electrode terminals are printed on the circuit board of the IC card, even when the latch-up circuit is provided, it is possible to freely create a circuit without being restricted by the position of the latch-up, and the electrode can be formed for each circuit pattern. Therefore, the IC card and the socket for the IC card can be manufactured at low cost.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an elevation view of an IC card.

FIG. 2 is a side view of an IC card.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a portion surrounded by a circle III in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line IV-IV ′ in FIG.

FIG. 5A is an enlarged view of an electrode surface of an IC card.

FIG. 5B shows a width of 1 mm.

FIG. 6A is a sectional view of an electrode of an FPC.

FIG. 6B is a sectional view of an electrode of an FPC.

FIG. 7A is a top view of an IC card.

FIG. 7B is a top view of the IC card.

FIG. 8A is a top view of an IC card.

FIG. 8B is a top view of the IC card.

FIG. 9 is a schematic front view of the socket of the present invention used for an IC card.

FIG. 10 is a partially cutaway enlarged view of the socket.

FIG. 11 is a sectional view taken along line XI-XI ′ of FIG.

FIG. 12 is an enlarged view of internal terminals.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... IC card, 11 ... FPC, 12 ... Insulating material, 13 ... Electrode terminal, 14 ... Battery 15 ... Central processing unit 16 ... Vacancy 20 ... IC card socket, 21 ... Outside Frame, 22 ...... Pin 24 ...... Internal connection terminal 25 ...... Groove 26 ...... Lower connection terminal 27 ...... U-shaped groove upper edge

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An outer frame made of an insulator having a substantially U-shape and having a U-shaped groove in the widthwise central portion inside thereof, and a U-shaped bottom portion of the outer frame. A plurality of metal connecting pins, which are spaced apart from each other and are located in parallel with each other, said pins penetrating the inside of the outer frame from the lower connecting terminals protruding downward from the U-shaped bottom portion of the outer frame; A socket for an IC card having an internal connection terminal projecting into the groove and terminating at the same end as or slightly below the upper end of the U-shaped groove. 2. The socket according to claim 1, wherein a dustproof device is attached to the upper end of the U-shaped groove. 3. The socket according to claim 1, wherein the U-shaped grooves on both sides of the U-shaped groove have different left and right shapes to prevent erroneous insertion of a card inserted therein. 4. The socket according to claim 1, wherein said pin has two internal terminals so as to sandwich the electrode terminals of the IC card inserted therein from both sides. 5. The socket according to claim 1, wherein the pin is bent at least twice in the penetrating portion of the outer frame.