Abstract:
The present invention provides an electronic card connector, and intends to arrange one single testing terminal which forms a testing circuit together with an inherent conductive terminal of the electronic card connector, thereby obtaining a testing function which must be done by using two insertion pins in the prior art. Due to omitting one testing terminal, the volume of the electronic card connector is further reduced, and product assembly becomes more simply and opera table, thereby improving product efficiency, and greatly lowing manufacturing cost.

Description:
This application is a national phase of PCT Application No. PCT/CN2006/003125, filed Nov. 20, 2006, which in turn claims priority to China Patent Application No. 200520046792.2, filed Nov. 22, 2005. 
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to an electronic card connector, and more particularly to an electronic card connector with a testing function, which uses a testing terminal and an inherent conductive terminal thereof to form a conductive circuit. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Electronic card connectors are widely used for electronic products insertable by cards, for transmitting direct current. A conventional electronic card connector commonly needs two testing terminals, to form a test circuit. During using, the two testing terminals are respectively arranged at a dielectric body and a shield shell of the electronic card connector, for conductively contacting or shutting-off the test circuit via an electronic card inserting or pulling out of the electronic card connector. 
     A related prior art is disclosed by a Taiwan patent publication No. 585357, filed by Chen Lizhen on 14 Jan. 2003, published on 21 Apr. 2004, and titled “improved resilient contacting piece of an electronic card connector”. Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the connector of the patent comprises a dielectric body  1   a , a plurality of contacting terminals  2   a  formed on the dielectric body  1   a ; a metal shield shell  3   a , covering on the dielectric body  1   a , for making an electronic card be inserted between the dielectric body  1   a  and the metal shield shell  3   a ; a contacting piece  31   a , formed by punching downward from a rear side of the metal shield shell  3   a , and the contacting piece  31   a  has a resilient contacting portion  311   a ; a test piece  4   a , embedded in a rear side of the dielectric body  1   a , and has a resilient contacting section  41   a , corresponding to the resilient contacting portion  311   a  of the contacting piece  31   a . According to the above-mentioned structure, after an electronic card  5   a  is inserted into the electronic card connector, the electronic card will firstly push against the resilient contacting portion  311   a  of the resilient piece  31   a , and the resilient contacting portion  311   a  will then forwardly push against the resilient contacting section  41   a  of the test piece  4   a , for making the contacting piece and the test piece both be in a pushed state, thereby having a resilient contacting return route. 
     Analysis from the above, the conventional electronic card connector must use two insertion pins to form a test circuit, thereby two spaces for the two insertion pins must be pre-reserved during manufacturing the electronic card connector, so it is a lengthy and costly work during assembly, and at the same time, the volume of the electronic card connector cannot be continuously reduced, resulting in a relative high manufacturing cost for the whole electronic card connector. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An object of the present invention is to provide an improved electronic card connector, which is further miniaturized, convenient in assembly and with low manufacturing cost. 
     To fulfill the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides an electronic card connector, which intends to provide only one testing terminal to form a test circuit with one of the inherent conductive terminals of the electronic card connector, thereby to obtain a testing function of the prior art in which two insertion pins must be used. 
     Therefore, due to one testing terminal omitted, the present invention makes the volume of the electronic card connector be further reduced, and assembly of the product be more simple and convenient, thereby improving production efficiency and greatly lowing manufacturing cost thereof. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
         FIG. 1  is an exploded perspective view of a prior art electronic card connector; 
         FIG. 2  is a view of a prior art electronic card connector wherein an electronic card has been inserted into the electronic card connector; 
         FIG. 3  is an exploded perspective view of an electronic card connector according to a first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4A  is an assembled perspective view of the electronic card connector of the first embodiment of the present invention with a testing terminal mounted on an insulative housing of the electronic card connector, wherein a shield shell is omitted; 
         FIG. 4B  is a top view of the  FIG. 4A ; 
         FIG. 5  is a top view of the electronic card connector of the first embodiment after being assembled, showing location of the testing terminal in the electronic card connector; 
         FIG. 6  shows a relative location state of the testing terminal and the conductive terminal facing to the testing terminal on the electronic card after the electronic card has been inserted into the electronic card connector in  FIG. 5 ; 
         FIG. 7  is an exploded perspective view of an electronic card connector according to a second embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 8A  is an assembled perspective view of the electronic card connector of a second embodiment of the present invention with a testing terminal having been mounted on an insulative housing of the electronic card connector, wherein a shield shell is omitted; 
         FIG. 8B  is a top view of the  FIG. 8A ; 
         FIG. 9  is a top view of the electronic card connector of the second embodiment after being assembled, showing location of the testing terminal in the electronic card connector; 
         FIG. 10  shows a relative location state of the testing terminal and the conductive terminal faced to the testing terminal on the electronic card after the electronic card has been inserted into the electronic card connector in  FIG. 9 ; and 
         FIG. 11  is an exploded perspective view of an electronic card connector according to a third embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring to drawings in detail, and first referring to  FIGS. 3 ,  7  and  11 , which disclose three preferred embodiments of an electronic card connector according to the present invention, respectively, and the electronic card connector mainly includes two components, one is an insulative housing  1 , and the other is a shield shell  2 . The insulative housing  1  may be formed by press molding from an insulative material, such as plastic, and the shield shell may formed by being punched from a conductive metal sheet, and also may be formed by molding from plastic. The insulative housing  1  and the shield shell  2  are cooperated to form a receiving cavity  5  with an insertion opening  6  for the electronic card (see  FIGS. 5 and 9 ). 
     Referring to  FIGS. 3 ,  7  and  11 , the insulative housing  1  includes a front portion  11  and a rear portion  12 , the insertion opening  6  for the electronic card is located at the rear portion  12 , the electronic card passes through the rear portion  12  of the insulative housing  1  to get to the front portion  11  when it enters into the receiving cavity  5  (see  FIGS. 5 and 9 ). The insulative housing  1  has a bottom wall  13  forming the receiving cavity  5  for the electronic card, and the bottom wall  13  is mounted on a circuit board  8  having soldering pads  81 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 3 ,  7  and  11  again, a plurality of conductive terminals  3  are mounted into the corresponding passageways  14  of the rear portion  12  of the insulative housing  1 , respectively. Each conductive terminals  3  has a contacting portion  31  cantilevering forwardly to the receiving cavity  5 , for contacting a proper contacting point  71  of the electronic card  7  which have inserted into the receiving cavity  5  (see  FIGS. 6 and 10 ). 
     The shield shell  2  is shaped generally in a rectangular, which includes a top wall  21  forming the top of the receiving cavity  5  for the electronic card. The shield shell  21  has a pair of side walls  22  and  23 , which extend along two opposite sides of the top wall  21 , and overhangs downward therefrom. 
       FIGS. 3 to 6  show various states of the first preferred embodiment of the present invention, and  FIGS. 7 to 10  show various states of the second preferred embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 11  shows the third preferred embodiment of the present invention. The identical reference numbers in the drawings indicate the identical components in each preferred embodiment. It should be understood, that the present invention intends to provide only one testing terminal, which is mounted at the front portion  11  of the insulative housing  1 , spaced with and facing to anyone of the plurality of conductive terminals  3 . In the first embodiment shown in  FIGS. 3 to 6 , a resilient arm and a fixing portion of the testing terminal are not linear. In the second embodiment shown in  FIGS. 7 to 10 , the resilient arm and the fixing portion of the testing terminal are linear. In the third embodiment shown in  FIG. 11 , the resilient arm of the testing terminal directly extends from the fixing portion. 
     Further in detail, the first embodiment of the present invention shown in  FIGS. 3 to 6 , the testing terminal  4  has a fixing portion  41 , a connecting portion  42 , a soldering portion  43 , a resilient arm  44  and a contacting portion  45 , wherein, the contacting portion  45  is formed by outwardly extending and bending from the resilient arm  44 ; the fixing portion  41  is formed by extending and bending from one end of the connecting portion  42  toward one side of the connecting portion  42 , the soldering portion  43  is formed by extending from the other end of the connecting portion  42  toward the side the fixing portion  41  locates, the resilient arm  44  extends outward from the other end of the connecting portion  42  opposite to the end of the fixing portion  41  locates, opposite to the soldering portion  43 , as shown in  FIG. 3 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 3 ,  4 A and  4 B, which detailed illustrate procedure of the testing terminal  4  being assembled to the insulative housing  1 . As shown in  FIG. 3 , a fixing block  15  and a receiving slot  16  are formed in the front portion  11  of the bottom wall  13  of the insulative housing  1 , the fixing portion  41  of the testing terminal  4  is insert-molding into the fixing block  15  of the insulative housing  1 . The testing terminal  4  may also be fixed to the insulative housing  1  via a plug-in way, that is, the fixing portion  41  of the testing terminal is fixed to the fixing block  15  of the insulative housing  1  via barbs  411  of the fixing portion  41  being interference with inserting slots  151  of the fixing block  15 ; and at the same time, the resilient arm  44  is embedded and inserted into the corresponding receiving slot  16  of the front portion  11  of the insulative housing  1 , then the soldering portion  43  is soldered to a corresponding soldering pad  81  of the circuit board  8 , and here, the contacting portion  45  of the testing terminal  4  is spaced with and facing to the contacting portion  31  of one of the conductive terminals  3  (as shown in  FIG. 4B ). When the electronic card  7  is inserted into the receiving cavity  5  (see  FIG. 5 ) from the insertion opening  6  for the electronic card, the contacting portion  45  of the testing terminal  4  and the contacting portion  31  of the conductive terminal  3  interval faced thereto contact one contact point  71  of the electronic card  7  at the same time, thereby forming a conductive circuit, and functioning as a switch, as shown in  FIG. 6 . 
       FIGS. 7 to 10  shown various state views of a second embodiment of the present invention, and the only difference between the second embodiment and the first embodiment is the shape of the testing terminal. The testing terminal  4 ′ in the second embodiment has a fixing portion  41 ′, a connecting portion  42 ′, a soldering portion  43 ′, a resilient arm  44 ′ and a contacting portion  45 ′, wherein, different from the testing terminal  4  in the first embodiment, the resilient arm  44 ′ and the fixing portion  41 ′ are located at opposite sides of an identical end of the connecting portion  42 ′, as shown in  FIG. 7 . Therefore, after the testing terminal  4 ′ is fixed to the insulative housing  1 , the resilient arm  44 ′ thereof is embedded in a corresponding receiving slot  16  of the insulative housing  1  (see  FIG. 8A , different from the location in the first embodiment), and furthermore, the contacting portion  45 ′ thereof is spaced with and facing to the contacting portion  31  of a corresponding conductive terminal  3  (see  FIG. 8B ), thereby the contacting portion  45 ′ of the testing terminal  4 ′ and the contacting portion  31  of the conductive terminal  3  interval faced thereto contact the contact point  71  of the electronic card  7  at the same time, thereby forming a conductive circuit, functioning as a switch, as shown in  FIG. 10 . 
       FIG. 11  is an exploded perspective view of the electronic card connector according to a third embodiment of the present invention. The third embodiment differs from the above-mentioned two embodiments in shape of the testing terminal and assembly of the testing terminal with the insulative housing. As shown in  FIG. 11 , the testing terminal  4 ″ in the third embodiment has a fixing portion  41 ″, a soldering portion  42 ″, a resilient arm  43 ″ and a contacting portion  44 ″, wherein, as different from the testing terminals  4  and  4 ′ in the first and the second embodiments, respectively, the testing terminal  4 ″ in the third embodiment omits the connecting portion, the soldering portion  42 ″ and the resilient arm  43 ″ are formed by extending outward from two ends of the fixing portion  41 ″, respectively. In this embodiment, two sides of the fixing portion  41 ″ have barb  411 ″, respectively, the contacting portion  44 ′ is formed by bending outward from the resilient arm  43 ″. Another difference between this embodiment and the other two embodiments mentioned above is that, the insulative housing  1  cancels the fixing portion (as reference number  15  in the first embodiment and label  15 ′ in the second embodiment), thereby during assembly, the fixing portion  41 ″ of the testing terminal  4 ″ is embedded and inserted into a corresponding receiving slot  16  in the insulative housing  1 , and is fixed by the barbs  411 ″ of the fixing portion  41 ″ interference with two side walls of the receiving slot  16 , respectively, then, like the above-mentioned two embodiments, the soldering portion  42 ″ is soldered to a corresponding soldering pad  81  of the circuit board  8 , so that the contacting portion  45 ′ of the testing terminal  4 ″ also is spaced with and facing to the contacting portion  31  of one of the conductive terminals  3  (not shown). 
     It should be noted that, structures of the testing terminals of the present invention are not limited to those described in the above-mentioned three embodiments, and at the same time, the testing terminal may be selectively spaced with and facing to anyone of the conductive terminals to form a testing circuit, correspondingly, locations and numbers of the fixing block and the receiving slot of the insulative housing and of the soldering pads on the circuit board may be adjusted and add or subtract, respectively, so as to adapt for the testing terminal. 
     Although the present invention is disclosed above through the preferred embodiments which are not for limiting the present invention, anyone skilled in the art may do a few of modification and improvement without departing from the spirit and range of the present invention, accordingly, the protection range of the present invention should be based on claims defined by the present patent application.