IC card connector

An IC card connector is provided for connecting an IC card having a terminal array to external equipment. The connector includes a base member having a plurality of electrically conductive contacts exposed on one side of the base member for engaging the terminal array of the IC card. A cover is hinged to the base member for movement toward and away from the one side of the base member. The cover has a receptacle for securing the IC card thereon for pivotal and slidable movement therewith, whereby pivoting of the cover onto the base member of the IC card connector and sliding the cover relative to the base member effects engagement of the IC card terminal array with the contacts.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
 This invention generally relates to the art of electrical connectors and,
 particularly, to an IC card connector for connecting an IC card,
 especially a SIM card, in an IC card reader system in a cellular phone or
 the like.
 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
 IC cards have been developed and contain IC's (integrated circuits)
 including memory circuits, such as rams (random access memories), and
 control circuits, such as CPUs (central processing units). A special type
 of IC card, called a SIM card (subscriber identification module card) is
 of increasing interest and used in cellular phones as an identification
 and storage unit for subscriber related data. SIM cards normally include a
 terminal array for connection through a card reader system to the external
 equipment. The connector usually includes some form of IC card socket and
 a plurality of electrodes or contacts exposed in the socket for engaging
 the terminal array of the IC card. The card is inserted and removed from
 the socket, and the connector contacts are resilient or comprise springy
 contacts for yieldably engaging the terminal array of the card when the
 card is inserted into the socket.
 With the ever-increasing miniaturization of IC cards and their respective
 connectors, various problems continue to arise. For instance, the very
 handling of the miniature IC cards is difficult, and proper positioning of
 the cards in the connector presents corresponding problems when the card
 is inserted into and removed from the card-receiving cavity or other
 receptacle means of the connector. In addition, the terminal array on the
 card can become contaminated or soiled which can result in incomplete
 connections between the terminal array on the card and the contacts of the
 connector which, in turn, results in incomplete or intermittent
 connections to the external equipment.
 For improving contact between a SIM card and further electronic circuitry,
 prior art EP 0 633 633 B1 recommends to provide electrical contact
 elements for mounting and contacting the connector which extend beyond at
 least one edge of the base of the connector. Such space-consuming
 terminals appear to be necessary for this type of connector since opening
 of the cover takes place by deformation of the cover tending also to
 deform the base member or to loosen the base member of the connector from
 the underlying electronic circuitry. However, this relatively long
 terminal is fragile daring transportation and handling, susceptible to
 damage and consumes unnecessary mounting space on a printed circuit board.
 Obviously, there is a deleterious influence on the SIM card during opening
 and closing of the cover if deformations are introduced by the deformed
 cover into the card. U.S. Pat. No. 5,320,552 teaches a contacting
 apparatus for an integrated IC chip card having a rotatable cover
 accommodating a chip card. The cover is movable relative to the chip card
 which is accommodated in the cover. It is intended to prevent any relative
 movement between the chip card and the contact elements of a base member
 when the cover is moved to the locking position. However, any
 contamination on the contacts of the base member or the chip card, e.g. as
 occurring during normal use from dirt, contaminants, oxidation or due to
 touching the contacts by the user, may cause a deterioration of the
 electrical properties of the contacts.
 This invention is directed to solving the above problems in a miniature SIM
 card connector which is simple to manufacture and assemble.
 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
 An object, therefore, of the invention is to provide a new and improved IC
 card connector for connecting an IC card having a terminal array, in an IC
 card reader system or the like.
 In the exemplary embodiment of the invention, the IC card connector
 includes a base member having a plurality of electrically conductive
 contacts exposed on one side thereof. A cover is hinged to the base member
 for movement toward and away from the one side. The cover has receptacle
 means for securing the IC card thereon for movement therewith, whereby
 closing the cover onto the base member effects engagement of the IC card
 terminals with the contacts on the base member.
 According to the invention, the cover is mounted pivotally and slidably on
 the base member, whereby in a position of the cover rotated toward said
 one side of said base member a sliding movement of the cover relative to
 the base member causes engagement or disengagement of locking elements of
 the cover and the base member and causes a movement of the IC card
 relative to the base member.
 According to the invention there is no deformation of the cover necessary
 for opening or closing the connector. As a consequence thereof, forces for
 opening and closing the cover are well defined so that any terminals for
 making contact with electronic circuitry of a card reader are relatively
 shorter and lie within the dimensions of the base member.
 In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the IC card is moved relative
 to the base member due to the sliding movement during opening and closing
 of the cover wiping away any contamination on the contacts. Thus a
 reliable and undisturbed contact is ensured over an extended time of use.
 Moreover, based on the sliding movement an indication can he provided to
 the external circuitry whether the connector is closed correctly. By using
 additional contacts held in the cover and further contacts mounted on the
 base member, a signal is provided due to a bridging of said additional
 contacts at the base member by means of the contacts of the cover.
 According to the invention, bridging only takes place in the finally
 closed position of the cover.
 In a further preferred embodiment of the invention, the cover and the base
 member, respectively, are provided as a unitarily molded component of
 dielectric material such as plastic or the like. The cover has flanges
 providing means for slidably receiving the IC card in an edge-wise
 fashion.
 The card reader system may include a printed circuit board and, in such an
 application, the base member is illustrated herein as including means,
 i.e. mounting pegs, for mounting the base member to the printed circuit
 board with the contacts engageable with circuit traces on the board. The
 contacts have resilient portions exposed on the one side of the base
 member for engaging the terminal array of the IC card.
 Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent
 from the following detailed description taken in connection with the
 accompanying drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
 Referring to the drawings in greater detail, and first to FIG. 1, the
 concepts of the invention are embodied in an IC card connector, generally
 designated 10, which is extremely simple and includes two basic
 components, namely a base member, generally designated 11, and a cover,
 generally designated 12. As described in greater detail hereinafter, FIG.
 1 shows an IC card 13 inserted into cover 12 in the direction of arrow
 "A".
 The IC card 13 is a miniature card of conventional or known construction
 and includes a terminal array 14 on the bottom side thereof. In a most
 preferred embodiment the IC card 13 is a SIM (subscriber identification
 module) card as used in cellular phones for identification and storage of
 subscriber related data.
 Referring to FIG. 1 in conjunction with FIG. 3, base member 11 includes a
 generally flat base portion 15 having raised areas 17, 18 at the front
 thereof. Part 16 of base member 11 at the rear end of flat portion 15 is
 thicker than base portion 15 to support hinge means 19 and forces
 introduced by the cover 12. Hinge means 19, including a pair of upwardly
 projecting portions 20, 21 and hook or snap-fit portions 20a, 21a at the
 end thereof shown in FIGS. 8 and 10, are provided at the rear of base
 portion 15. Cover 12 is held pivotally and slidably in the direction of
 the axis of rotation (shown as double headed arrow "B" in FIG. 2) within
 hinge means 19.
 A plurality of mounting pegs 22, 23 depend from the underside of base
 portion 15 as shown in FIG. 3 for mounting in appropriate mounting holes
 in a printed circuit board (not visible in the appended drawings), for
 instance. Each mounting peg 22, 23 may have a different diameter to ensure
 correct mounting on the printed circuit board.
 Lastly, a plurality of contacts, generally designated 25, 39, 41 on base
 member 11, is mounted in base member 11 as will be described in greater
 detail hereinafter, whereby portions of the contacts are exposed on the
 top side of the base member 11 as can be seen in FIGS. 4 and 9.
 Referring to FIGS. 3 and 6, raised areas 17 and 18 include projections
 which defined respective recesses 26, 27 for accommodating in the closed
 position of the connector 10 locking steps or projections 26, 29 extending
 generally perpendicular to the axis of rotation from cover 12.
 Base member 11, therefore includes all of the elements described above,
 including upwardly projecting portions 20, 21 having associated hook or
 snap-fit portions 20a, 21a, locking recesses 26, 27, and mounting pegs 22,
 23, and is fabricated of a unitarily molded single component of dielectric
 material, such as plastic or the like, as seen in FIGS. 8 and 10.
 Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4 in conjunction with FIGS. 7 and 9, FIG. 3 shows
 a perspective view of the base member as seen from the rear and below and
 FIGS. 4 and 7 show plan views of the bottom of base member 11, whereas in
 FIG. 9 a cross sectional view along line A--A of FIG. 5 is depicted. These
 figures best illustrate the configuration and mounting of contacts 25, 39
 and 41 on the base member 11. More particularly, it can be seen in FIG. 9
 that each contact 25 includes a generally horizontal leg 25a held within
 base member 11 and terminating at one end in a card contact portion 25b.
 The contacts are formed with a resilient or springy leg 25c which is
 formed such that the resilient leg 25c projects upwardly beyond the top
 surface of the base member 11 so as to be exposed on the top side thereof
 and terminates in card contact portion 25b.
 Each contact 25 is held in the base member 11 by injection molding, e.g.
 insert molding, whereby the dielectric material of base member 11 encloses
 a portion of contacts 25. The base member 11 is shown in FIG. 4 as being
 of generally rectangular shape mounting contacts 25 below the terminal
 array 14 of IC card 13. The outside ends 25d of contacts 25 are adapted to
 contact the external circuitry of an underlying printed circuit board and
 do not project beyond the dimensions of base member 11 (see FIG. 9)
 When contacts 25 are properly held within base member 11, and the base
 member 11 is properly mounted to the printed circuit board, outside ends
 25d of contacts 25 are maintained in surface contact with appropriate
 circuit traces on the surface of the printed circuit board.
 Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 in conjunction with FIG. 3, cover 12 is a
 one-piece component fabricated of molded dielectric material, such as
 plastic or the like. The cover includes a thin, flat body 31, locking
 projections 28, 29 projecting from the front of body 31, and rear hinge
 pins 32a, 32b extending transversely of the body 31 and within portions
 20, 21 of base member 11. A pair of side flanges 33, 34 is formed to be
 spaced slightly from an inside surface of the body 31 and a rear flange 35
 is formed at the rear of cover 12. Flanges 33 and 34 project toward the
 middle of the body 31 to define receptacle means for an IC card 13 between
 the inside surface of body 31 and inside surfaces of flanges 33 and 34.
 The IC card 13 is inserted edge-wise prior to use in the direction of
 arrow "A" beneath and between side flanges 33 and 34 of the cover 12 in
 the preload position as shown in FIG. 1 until a leading edge of the IC
 card becomes stopped by rear flange 35 of the cover 12.
 In assembly of cover 12 to base member 11, hinge pins 32a, 32b of the cover
 12 are seated into portions 20, 21 of base member 11 (see FIGS. 2 and 10)
 in a way that extension 42 defined by hinge pin 32b abuts the right side
 of rear upwardly projecting portion 21. In this upright position of cover
 12 extension 42 blocks any lateral movement of the cover 12 relative to
 base member 11.
 After insertion, the cover may be pivoted downwardly in the direction of
 arrow "C" (FIG. 3) and locking projections 28, 29 of the cover 12 are
 placed adjacent recesses 26, 27 of base member 11 (see FIG. 5). In this
 completely downwardly pivoted position, extension 42 of cover 12 is not in
 contact with upwardly projecting portions 21 enabling a lateral sliding
 movement of cover 12 relative to base member 11. Due to this sliding
 motion in the direction of arrow "D" shown in FIG. 5, projections 28, 29
 are moved into recesses 26, 27 of base member 11 to prevent the cover 12
 from being pivoted upwardly in a direction opposite arrow "C" and
 extension 42 is positioned between upwardly projecting portions 21. In a
 preferred embodiment, recesses 43 are defined in upwardly projecting
 portions 21 for accommodating extension 42 in the closed position of the
 connector 10.
 Looking to FIG. 8 in conjunction with FIGS. 4 and 5, formed on flat base
 portion 15 is a sensory device 36 being a tactile/audible device
 comprising an arm 36a having a projection or nose 37 camming in the
 position shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 with an associated projection or nose 38
 of side flange 34 of cover 12. At the beginning of sliding motion of cover
 12 relative to base member 11, an increased slide resistance is
 encountered due to the camming motion of projections 37, 38 and a click is
 heard in the finally closed position of connector 10 along with a
 decreased slide resistance in the last part of the sliding movement.
 During the sliding movement of cover 12 relative to base member 11,
 contact array 14 of an IC card 13 inserted into cover 11 is displaced
 relative to contacts 25 of portion 15 causing a sliding and wiping motion
 of contacts of array 14 relative to contacts 25. Moreover, in the course
 of sliding cover 12, one or two plastic rails 40 of base member 11 guide
 the rear edge of cover 12 which defines a groove 44 (see FIG. 8). Due to
 the mechanical contact between plastic rails 40 and groove 44 in the
 downwardly pivoted position of cover 12, any unwanted tilt or motion
 perpendicular to the axis of rotation is prevented.
 Referring to FIGS. 4 and 7 in conjunction with FIG. 1, bridging contacts 45
 are held at side flange 34 of cover 12 and make contact with contacts 39,
 41 of base member 11 in the finally closed position of connector 10 as
 shown in FIG. 7. In this position, external circuitry may sense a reduced
 electrical resistance along the electrical path defined by contacts 39, 41
 and bridging contacts 45 and produce a signal indicating the closed
 position of connector 10.
 When cover 12 is moved from the position shown in FIG. 7 to the position
 shown in FIG. 4, due to the sensory tactile/audible device 36, first, a
 predefined increased slide resistance is encountered decreasing
 subsequently with an audible click. This click indicates that locking
 projections 28, 29 are moved out of recesses 26 and 27 unlocking the cover
 12 relative to base member 11 and that bridging contacts 45 are moved
 apart from contacts 39, 41 causing an increased electrical resistance
 between contacts 39, 41 indicating that cover 12 is opened.
 At this moment cover 12 may be pivoted in a direction opposite arrow "C"
 shown in FIG. 3 to the opened position of cover 12 and the IC card 13 may
 be removed from connector 10.
 In handling, especially removing or inserting, an operator simply grasps
 the IC card 13 by its edges, to preclude the possibility of touching the
 terminal array 14 of the IC card 13. No touching is required of the
 terminal array 14 when removing or inserting the IC card from or into
 engagement with contacts 25 and/or to mount the IC card onto the base
 member 11. It will be understood that the invention may be embodied in
 other specific forms without departing from the spirit or central
 characteristics thereof. The present examples and embodiments, therefore,
 are to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive,
 and the invention is not to be limited to the details given herein.