Abstract:
A card connector ( 100 ) used for receiving a card (B) having a notch at a lateral edge thereof, comprises an insulative housing ( 10 ), a number of terminals ( 30 ) and two conductive pieces ( 40 ) retained in the insulative housing, and an ejector ( 50 ). The insulative housing defines a card receiving room for accommodating the card and a receiving cavity ( 109 ) communicating with the card receiving room. The ejector slides along the receiving cavity and comprises a slider ( 51 ) engaging with the card and moving along with the card. A conductive plate ( 80 ) is secured on the slider of the ejector. The conductive plate actively moves beneath the conductive pieces and slightly contacts the conductive pieces to establish an electrical connection between the conductive pieces through the conductive plate.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates generally to a card connector, and more particularly to a card connector having a switch element for detecting a position of an inserted card. 
     2. Description of Related Arts 
     Integrated circuit (IC) cards are connected to other electronic devices electrically in conjunction with corresponding card connectors. In order to contact or cut electrically between IC cards and other equipments accurately and conveniently, the card connectors commonly equip with switches to achieve above-mentioned object. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 6,709,281 issued to Shishikura et al. on Mar. 23, 2004 discloses a card connector for receiving an electrical card. The card connector defines a card receiving space and comprises an insulating housing, a plurality of contacts exposed into the card receiving space and arranged on a bottom wall of the insulating housing, and a write protect switch. The write protect switch comprises a stationary metal piece and a cantilevered metal piece. The cantilevered metal piece has a projecting touching portion, which can come in contact with the electrical card. When the electrical card slides to one of two positions: a protect-on position (write inhibit position) and a protect-off position (write enable position), the two metal pieces is connected or separated structurally and electrically for detecting the electrical card. 
     In general, the write protect switch can detect a slide position of an electrical card. However, because the stationary metal piece meets the cantilevered metal piece which two simply contact with each other, dust and other matters residing on both of contacting portions thereof can not be cleared automatically, resulting in no-reliable connection between the two metal pieces of the switch. Accordingly, the electrical card is not effectively detected. 
     Hence, an improved card connector is highly desired to overcome the aforementioned disadvantage of the prior art. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a card connector having a switch element which effectively detects a position of an inserted card. 
     To achieve the above object, A card connector used for receiving a card having a notch at a lateral edge thereof, comprises an insulative housing, a number of terminals and two conductive pieces retained in the insulative housing, and an ejector. The insulative housing defines a card receiving room for accommodating the card and a receiving cavity communicating with the card receiving room. The ejector slides along the receiving cavity and comprises a slider engaging with the card and moving along with the card. A conductive plate is secured on the slider of the ejector. The conductive plate actively moves beneath the conductive pieces and slightly contacts the conductive pieces to establish an electrical connection between the conductive pieces through the conductive plate. 
     Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective, assembled view of a card connector constructed in accordance with the present invention, with two cards respectively as A and B inserted therein; 
         FIG. 2  is another perspective, assembled view of the card connector of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective, assembled view of the card connector without the two cards; 
         FIG. 4  is another perspective, assembled view of the card connector without the two cards; 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective, partly assembled view of the card connector; 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective, exploded view of the card connector; 
         FIG. 7  is another perspective, exploded view of the card connector; 
         FIG. 8  is a perspective, exploded view of the ejector; 
         FIG. 9  is a first cross-sectional view of the electrical connector when the card B is not fully inserted; and 
         FIG. 10  is a second cross-sectional view of the electrical connector when the card B is fully inserted. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1-10 , a card connector  100  of the present invention is used for receiving two cards respectively as a first card A and a second card B. The first card A is preferably a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card and the second card B is preferably a SD (Secure Digital Memory) card in this embodiment. The SD card B defines a notch (not shown) at a lateral edge thereof. The card connector  100  includes an insulative housing  10 , a plurality of first terminals  20  and a plurality of second terminals  30  received in the insulative housing  10 , a pair of conductive pieces  40 , an ejector  50  assembled at a side of the insulative housing  10 , a bottom shell  60  and a top shell  70  covering the insulative housing  10  for defining two card receiving rooms  110 ,  120 . A first card receiving room  110  is defined between the top shell  70  and the insulative housing  10  for receiving the first card A and a second card receiving room  120  is defined between the bottom shell  60  and the insulative housing  10  for receiving the second card B. The card connector  100  further comprises a conductive plate  80 , which is secured with the ejector  50 . The conductive plate  80  connects or disconnects with the conductive pieces  40  when the second card B is inserted at different positions, such that the conductive pieces  40  and the conductive plate  80  are used as a switch (not labeled) for detecting the insertion of the card B. The card connector  100  further comprises a card lock  90 , which is also secured with the ejector  50 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 5 and 6 , the insulative housing  10  is rectangular and comprises a base portion  101 , a rear wall  102 , and a pair of lateral walls  103  extending upwardly, vertically from the base portion  101 . The base portion  101  defines an upper surface (not labeled) which the rear wall  102  and the lateral walls  103  extend from and a lower surface (not labeled) opposite to the upper surface. The base portion  101  defines a plurality of passageways  105  extending through the upper and the lower surfaces thereof. The passageways  105  are arranged in two rows along a front-to-rear direction taken along with the insertion of the first card A. The passageways  105  are used for retaining the first terminals  20 . The base portion  101  defines a cutout  107  abutting against the passageways  105 , which is used for receiving the second terminals  30  and the second terminals  30  are retained in the cutout  107  along a left-and-right direction perpendicular to the front-to-rear direction. The insulative housing  10  defines a receiving cavity  109 , which is located adjacent to the rear wall  102  and extends along the left-and-right direction. The receiving cavity  109  is used for receiving parts of the ejector  50 . The receiving cavity  109  communicates with the second card receiving room  120 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 5 and 6 , the base portion  101  of the insulative housing  10  defines a pair of recessed portions  1011  for assembling the bottom shell  60 . The lateral walls  103  defines a plurality of first protrusions  1035  for both assembling the top and the bottom shells  70 ,  60 . The lateral walls  103  further define a pair of recesses  1031  at distal ends of the receiving cavity  109 . Each lateral wall  103  forms a second protrusion  1033  received in the corresponding recess  1031 . The base portion  101  further defines a slot  104  between the cutout  107  and the receiving cavity  109 . The cutout  107  extends through the upper surface and the lower surface of the base portion  101 . The base portion  101  forms a third protrusion  106  extending into the slot  104 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 5-7 , the first terminals  20  are received in the passageways  105  of the insulative housing  10  along the front-to-rear direction. The second terminals  30  are received in the cutout  107  along the left-and-right direction. The first and second terminals  20 ,  30  form a plurality of soldering pads  203 ,  303  which are electrically connected to a printed circuit board and a plurality of contacting pads  201 ,  301  respectively extending into the first and the second card receiving rooms  110 ,  120 . The arrangement of the first terminals  20  is complied with the standard of SIM card connector, and the arrangement of the second terminals  30  is also complied with the standard of SD card connector, and both are not described in detail herein. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 5 and 6 , the conductive pieces  40  are received in the slot  104  of the insulative housing  10 . Each conductive piece  40  comprises a scraping/contacting portion  401  received in the slot  104  and partially extending beyond the lower surface of the base portion  101 , a meandering/connecting portion  405  extending from the scraping/contacting portion  401 , and a tail/soldering portion  403  extending from the meandering/connecting portion  405  to align with the soldering pads  303  of the second terminals  30 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 5-8 , the ejector  50  is used for ejecting the SD card B out of the second card receiving room  120 . The ejector  50  comprises a slider  501 , a pin member  503 , and a spring member  505 . The slider  501  comprises a first block portion  5010  locating at a side of the spring member  505  and a second block portion  5012  locating at an opposite side of the spring member  505 . The first block portion  5010  defines a heart-shaped slot  5011  and is attached to an outer surface of the rear wall  102  of the insulative housing  10 . The second block portion  5012  extends beside the second card receiving room  120  and secures the conductive plate  80  and the card lock  90  at opposite ends thereof. The second block portion  5012  forms a slantwise surface  5013  facing towards the second card receiving room  120 . The second block portion  5012  defines a plurality of slits  5014 . The spring member  505  of the ejector  50  is received in the receiving cavity  109  and is compressed by the slider  501  when the SD card B is inserted. The pin member  503  has two bending ends, with one bending end securing to the insulative housing  10  and the other bending end slidably moving in the heart-shaped slot  5011 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 6 and 7 , the top shell  70  and the bottom shell  60  comprise respective main portions  701 ,  601  and a plurality of retention portions  703 ,  603  extending vertically from the main portions  701 ,  601 . The retention portion  703 ,  603  are correspondingly assembled with the recessed portion  1011 , the second protrusions  1033  of the recesses  1031 , and the first protrusions  1035 . Particularly, the bottom shell  60  further comprises a stamped portion  605  at the main portion  301 . The stamped portion  605  is received the slot  104  and is engaged with the third protrusion  106 . The top shell  70  further comprises an elastic piece  705  pressing against the pin member  503  of the ejector  50  when the card connector  100  is assembled. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 6 and 8 , the conductive plate  80  is metallic and comprises a retaining wing  801  at one end thereof, a hook portion  803  at the other end thereof, and a flat piece  802  connecting with the retaining wing  801  and the hook portion  803 . The retaining wing  801  and the hook portion  803  are both engaged with the second block portion  5012  of the slider  501 . The card lock  90  is also metallic and comprises a U-shaped portion  901  and a V-shaped locking portion  502  integral with the U-shaped portion  901 . The U-shaped portion  901  comprises a pair of retaining pins  903  respectively receiving in the slits  5014  of the slider  501 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1-10 , the SIM card A and the SD card B are respectively inserted into the card connector  100 . The SIM card A is received in the first card receiving room  110  throughout a first card inserting port (not labeled) and electrically connects with the first terminals  20 . The SD card B is received in the second card receiving room  120  throughout a second card inserting port (not labeled) and electrically connects with the second terminals  30 . The first card receiving room  110  is stacked above the second card receiving room  120 . When the SD card is at a first position at which the switch is at a protect-on position (write inhibit position) as shown in  FIG. 5 , the spring member  505  is in a released state and the conductive plate  80  and the conductive pieces  40  are disconnected. When a user pushes the SD card B, the locking portion  502  of the card lock  90  snaps with the notch of the SD card B. The slantwise surface  5013  of the slider  501  abuts against the lateral edge of the SD card B and so, the slider  501  moves together with the SD card B. The pin member  503  slides in the heart-shaped slot  5011  and the spring member  505  is compressed, during which, the conductive plate  80  moves to the conductive pieces  40 , and ultimately, the conductive plate  80  is located beneath the conductive pieces  40 . Because the conductive pieces  40  are raised upward such that the connection between the conductive pieces  40  and the conductive plate  80  is very stable. The switch is at the protect-off position (write enable position) as shown in  FIG. 6 , and the SD card B is inserted at a second position. When the SD card B is ejected to the original first position from the second position, the slantwise surface  5013  of the slider  501  pushes the SD card B out of the card connector  100  and the switch renews to the protect-on position (write inhibit position). 
     In the present invention, because the conductive plate  80  moves along with the slider  501  in the insertion/ejection of the SD card B, the flat piece  802  of the conductive plate  80  connects or disconnects with the scraping/contacting portions  401  of the two conductive pieces  40  of the switch, it is possible to clean dust and other matters residing on both of scraping/contacting portions  401  of the conductive pieces  40  automatically. Reliable connection is achieved between the two metal pieces of the switch. Accordingly, whether the SD card B is fully inserted or not is durably and effectively detected. Because the conductive pieces  40  are raised upward and accordingly, resilience of the conductive pieces  40  is still strong, nearly not weakened after repeated use. 
     While a preferred embodiment in accordance with the present invention has been shown and described, equivalent modifications and changes known to persons skilled in the art according to the spirit of the present invention are considered within the scope of the present invention as described in the appended claims.