Abstract:
In a card connector to be connected to a card, An ejecting member is provided so as to be movable along a predetermined plane for ejecting the card in an ejecting direction. The ejecting member has a card contacting portion to be contacted with the card and a cam-operated portion. The ejecting member is urged towards the ejecting direction by a urging member. A cam mechanism is provided so as to movable along the predetermined plane in a direction intersecting the ejecting direction. The cam mechanism is elastically supported by a supporting member so that it is disposed at a predetermined position. The cam mechanism has a cam portion for controlling a position of the ejecting member in cooperation with the cam-operated portion.

Description:
This application claims priority to prior Japanese patent application JP 2005-101847, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   This invention relates to a card connector for use in connecting a card. 
   At present, various types of cards generally called an IC card or a memory card are used in an electronic apparatus. Typically, the card is removably inserted into a card connector mounted or connected to the electronic apparatus. 
   For example, a card connector of the type is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. 2001-267013. The card connector is adapted to be mounted to an electronic apparatus and comprises an insulator of a generally rectangular shape, a plurality of contacts held by the insulator, an eject lever coupled to the insulator to be slidable in inserting and removing directions for ejecting a card, and a spring for continuously urging the eject lever in an ejecting direction, namely, the removing direction. The eject lever is provided with a heart cam. On the other hand, the insulator is provided with a cam follower to be engaged with the heart cam. The heart cam has a cam groove. 
   The cam groove has a bottom provided with a plurality of steps in order to prevent reverse or backward running of the cam follower and a slope in front of each step in order to allow normal or forward running of the cam follower. As a consequence, the heart cam is inevitably increased in thickness in correspondence to the steps. 
   In addition, a spring for pressing the cam follower to the heart cam is required. Therefore, it is difficult to reduce the total thickness of a cam mechanism comprising the heart cam, the cam follower, and the spring. 
   When the card is inserted, a rotation torque is applied to the eject lever. With this structure, friction is produced between the lever and other elements during operation to impair an operation feeling. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a card connector which can be reduced in thickness of a cam mechanism. 
   It is another object of this invention to provide a card connector which can be reduced in friction between elements to enhance an operation feeling. 
   It is still another object of this invention to provide a card connector which can be reduced in spring force to assure a sufficient margin in strength of a housing and to reduce deformation of each element so that friction with another element is suppressed and an operation feeling is not impaired. 
   It is yet another object of this invention to provide a card connector in which a collision sound upon operation can easily be increased so as to enhance an operation feeling. 
   Other objects of the present invention will become clear as the description proceeds. 
   According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a card connector to be connected to a card, the card connector comprising an ejecting member movable along a predetermined plane for ejecting the card in an ejecting direction, the ejecting member having a card contacting portion to be contacted with the card and a cam-operated portion, an urging member urging the ejecting member towards the ejecting direction, a cam mechanism movable along the predetermined plane in a direction intersecting the ejecting direction, and a supporting member elastically supporting the cam mechanism so that the cam mechanism is disposed at a predetermined position, the cam mechanism having a cam portion for controlling a position of the ejecting member in cooperation with the cam-operated portion. 
   According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a card connector to be connected to a card, the card connector comprising an ejecting member to be contacted with the card for ejecting the card, an elastic member urging the ejecting member towards a card ejecting direction, and a cam mechanism having a cam portion to be engaged with a cam-operated portion of the ejecting member, the cam portion being operable to lock the ejecting member at a card fitting position when the card is inserted and to unlock the ejecting member when the card is ejected, the cam mechanism further comprising a rotation shaft and a supporting member, the cam mechanism being rotatably held by the rotation shaft, the supporting member urging the cam mechanism so that the cam mechanism is disposed at a predetermined position. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view showing a card connector according to an embodiment of this invention together with a substrate and a card; 
       FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the card connector in  FIG. 1  in a state where the card and a frame portion of the card connector are omitted; 
       FIG. 3  is an exploded perspective view of the card connector in  FIG. 1  as seen from a top side; 
       FIG. 4  is an exploded perspective view of the card connector in  FIG. 1  as seen from a bottom side; 
       FIG. 5  is a perspective view of the card connector in  FIG. 1  with its cover partially cut away; 
       FIG. 6  is a top plan view for describing an operation of the card connector in  FIGS. 1 to 5  when the card is inserted; 
       FIG. 6A  is an enlarged view of a characteristic part in  FIG. 6 ; 
       FIG. 7  is a top plan view for describing an operation of the card connector in  FIGS. 1 to 5  in a first stage when the card is ejected; 
       FIG. 7A  is an enlarged view of a characteristic part in  FIG. 7 ; 
       FIG. 8  is a top plan view for describing an operation of the card connector in  FIGS. 1 to 5  in an intermediate stage when the card is ejected; 
       FIG. 8A  is an enlarged view of a characteristic part in  FIG. 8 ; 
       FIG. 9  is a top plan view for describing an operation of the card connector in  FIGS. 1 to 5  in a last stage when the card is ejected; 
       FIG. 9A  is an enlarged view of a characteristic part in  FIG. 9 ; 
       FIG. 10  is a top plan view for describing an operation of the card connector in  FIGS. 1 to 5  in a first stage when the card is inserted; 
       FIG. 10A  is an enlarged view of a characteristic part in  FIG. 10 ; 
       FIG. 11  is a top plan view for describing an operation of the card connector in  FIGS. 1 to 5  in an intermediate stage when the card is inserted; 
       FIG. 11A  is an enlarged view of a characteristic part in  FIG. 11 ; 
       FIG. 12  is a top plan view for describing an operation of the card connector in  FIGS. 1 to 5  in a stage slightly before the card is completely inserted; 
       FIG. 12A  is an enlarged view of a characteristic part in  FIG. 12 ; 
       FIG. 13  is a top plan view for describing an operation of the card connector in  FIGS. 1 to 5  in a stage immediately before the card is completely inserted; and 
       FIG. 13A  is an enlarged view of a characteristic part in  FIG. 13 . 
   

   DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
   Referring to  FIGS. 1 to 5 , description will be made of a structure of a card connector according to an embodiment of this invention. 
   The card connector illustrated in the figures is depicted by a reference numeral  102 . The card connector  102  is mounted on a substrate  110  built in an electronic apparatus and is used for connecting a memory card  100 . The card connector  102  comprises a base portion  101  automatically mounted at a predetermined position on the substrate  110 , and a frame portion  20  coupled to the base portion  101  and fixed to the substrate  110 . The base portion  101  comprises a number of base contacts  2  made of metal and soldered to the substrate  110 , and a base housing  1  made of resin and fixedly holding the base contacts  2  by press-fitting. 
   The frame portion  20  covers the base portion  101  mounted to the substrate  110  and comprises a locator  3  made of resin, a plurality of contacts  5  made of metal, a housing  30  made of resin, a cover  40  made of metal, a heart cam  50  made of resin and serving as a cam portion, a lever  60  made of metal and serving as an ejecting member for ejecting the card  100 , a first spring  6  of an elastic member, and a second spring  7  as a supporting member. The housing  30  has a protrusion which serves as a rotation shaft  24 . A combination of the heart cam  50 , the rotation shaft  24  fitted to a rotation hole  51  of the heart cam  50 , and the second spring  7  forms a cam mechanism. As illustrated in  FIG. 4 , the locator  3  has left and right protrusions  3   a  press-fitted to a U-shaped portion  21   a  of the housing  30  to be fixed. 
   The contacts  5  has press-fit portions  5   a  and  5   b  press-fitted to holes (not shown) of the housing  30  so that the contacts  5  are fixed to the housing  30 . The rotation hole  51  of the heart cam  50  is fitted over the rotation shaft  24  of the housing  30  so that the heart cam  50  is rotatable. 
   The second spring  7  is a coil spring having a coil body  7   c . The coil body  7   c  has one end provided with a hook  7   a  engaged with a protrusion  26  of the housing  30  and the other end provided with a hook  7   b  engaged with a protrusion  52  of the heart cam  50 . In this state, the heart cam  50  is continuously applied with a pulling force from the second spring  7  to be kept at an uninclined or untilted position (i.e., a position substantially parallel to an ejecting direction or a removing direction depicted by an arrow A). 
   The lever  60  has a hole  61  fitted over a rotation shaft  27  of a cylindrical protrusion of the housing  30  to be rotatable in a predetermined plane. The lever  60  has a card contacting or ejecting portion  62  to be engaged or contacted with the memory card  100  when the memory card  100  is ejected and inserted. 
   The first spring  6  comprises a tension coil spring and has hooks  6   a  and  6   b  formed at opposite ends thereof. The hook  6   a  is engaged with a spring attaching portion  63  comprising a protrusion at a rotating end of the lever  60 . The hook  6   b  is engaged with a cylindrical protrusion  28  of the housing  30 . The lever  60  is continuously applied with a pulling force from the first spring  6  to be urged in the ejecting direction A around the rotation shaft  27 . Thus, the first spring  6  serves as an urging member for urging the lever  60  in the ejecting direction A. 
   The heart cam  50  comprises a depressed portion  50   a  having a bottom surface parallel to the predetermined plane and having no step, and a protruding portion  50   b  disposed on the depressed portion  50   a  and defining a generally heart-like contour. The protruding portion  50   b  has a recess  58  formed at an end portion near to the protrusion  52 . 
   The cover  40  has left and right holes  41  and a guiding portion  42 . The left and right holes  41  are fitted over protrusions  29  of the housing  30  and the guide portion  42  is fitted to a slit portion  31  so that the cover  40  is fixed. 
   The lever  60  has a card ejecting portion  62  formed on a side near the rotation hole  51  formed near a forward end of a recess  25  of the housing  30 . The positional relationship at that portion may be represented by a leverage or lever ratio given by:
 
 g×e=h×f   (1),
 
where g represents a card removing force, e, a distance between the rotation shaft  27  and a card ejecting position  62 , h, a force exerted by the first spring  6  to urge the lever  60  in the ejecting direction A, and f, a distance between the rotation shaft  27  and the spring attaching portion  63 . Actually, in order to eject the card  100 , the relationship must be:
 
 g×e&lt;h×f. 
 
Thus, the rotation torque for ejecting the card  100  is increased.
 
   Referring to  FIGS. 6 to 13B , description will be made of an operation of the card connector illustrated in  FIG. 3 . 
   In  FIGS. 6 and 6A , the memory card  100  is inserted. In this state, the lever  60  is applied with a force by the first spring  6  in the ejecting direction A around the rotation shaft  27  of the housing  30 . However, since a protrusion  64  of the lever  60  as a cam follower is fitted to the recess  58  of the heart cam  50 , the card ejecting portion  62  of the lever  60  can not rotate any further in the ejecting direction A. Therefore, the memory card  100  can be held at its initial position. At this time, the heart cam  50  is applied with a rotation force by the second spring  7  in a clockwise direction C. 
   Referring to  FIGS. 7 and 7A , the memory card  100  is going to be ejected. From the state illustrated in  FIGS. 6 and 6A , the memory card  100  is pushed in a inserting direction B to an innermost position. When the memory card  100  is pushed inward in the inserting direction B, the card ejecting portion  62  of the lever  60  is pushed so that the lever  60  is rotated in the inserting direction B around the rotation shaft  27  of the insulator  30 . Then, the protrusion  64  of the lever  60  is disengaged from the recess  58  of the heart cam  50  and moves over a protrusion  57 . However, since the heart cam  50  is pulled by the second spring  7 , the heart cam  50  is rotated in the clockwise direction C to take the untilted position. The protrusion  64  of the lever  60  collides with a wall  55  of the heart cam  50 . At this time, a collision sound is generated and rotation of the heart cam  50  is stopped. 
   Referring to  FIGS. 8 and 8A , the memory card  100  is ejected. Specifically, from the state illustrated in  FIGS. 7 and 7A , the memory card  100  collides with a wall  32  of the housing  30  and the pushing force of the memory card  100  is weakened. At this time, the lever  60  is applied with a force by the first spring  6  in the ejecting direction A and rotated around the rotation shaft  27  of the housing  30  to eject the memory card  100  via the card ejecting portion  62 . The heart cam  50  is pulled by the second spring  7  to rotate in the clockwise direction C so that the heart cam  50  takes the untilted position. The protrusion  64  of the lever  60  passes over a left side of the protrusion  57  of the heart cam  50 . When the lever  60  is moved in the ejecting direction A, the heart cam  50  is pushed by the protrusion  64  of the lever  60  and is rotated in the clockwise direction C. 
   Referring to  FIGS. 9 and 9A , the memory card  100  is completely ejected. The lever  60  applied with the force by the first spring  6  in the ejecting direction A collides with the wall  32  of the housing  30  and the rotation of the lever  60  is stopped. The memory card  100  is also stopped. At this time, the heart cam  50  is rotated in a counterclockwise direction D under the force from the second spring  7  and takes the untilted position. 
   Referring to  FIGS. 10 and 10A , the memory card  100  is inserted. When the memory card  100  is inserted, the lever  60  is rotated via the card ejecting portion  62  around the rotation shaft  27  of the housing  30  in the inserting direction B. At this time, the protrusion  64  of the lever  60  collides with a wall  59  of the heart cam  50  so that the heart cam  50  is rotated around the rotation shaft  24  of the housing  30 . 
   Referring to  FIGS. 11 and 11A , the memory card  100  is inserted in the manner similar to  FIGS. 10 and 10A . In this state also, the protrusion  64  collides with the wall  59  of the heart cam  50 . The heart cam  50  is rotated around the rotation shaft  24  to have a maximum displacement in the counterclockwise direction D. 
   Referring to  FIGS. 12 and 12A , the memory card  100  is in the state immediately before it is completely inserted. In  FIGS. 11 and 11A , when the protrusion  64  of the lever  60  passes over a protrusion  56  of the heart cam  50 , the heart cam  50  is rotated around the rotation shaft  24  in the counterclockwise direction D with the maximum displacement. Since the heart cam  50  is pulled by the second spring  7  to take the untilted position, the heart cam  50  is rotated in the clockwise direction C. Then, a wall  54  of the heart cam  50  collides with the protrusion  64  of the lever  60  to generate a collision sound. 
   Referring to  FIGS. 13 and 13A , the memory card  100  is completely inserted immediately before it is returned to the initial position. When the memory card  100  in the state illustrated in  FIGS. 12 and 12A  is pushed in the inserting direction B, the memory card  100  collides with the wall  32  of the housing  30 . When operator&#39;s hold is loosened, the memory card  100  is moved in the ejecting direction A. This is because the lever  60  is continuously pulled by the first spring  6  in the ejecting direction A around the rotation shaft  27  of the insulator  30  and, therefore, the memory card  100  is pushed via the card ejecting portion  62  of the lever  60  in the ejecting direction A. Consequently, the lever  60  colliding with the wall  54  of the heart cam  50  is rotated in the ejecting direction A. Since the heart cam  50  is rotated in the clockwise direction C under the force of the second spring  7 , the protrusion  64  of the lever  60  then collides with the protrusion  57  of the heart cam  50  to generate a collision sound. The lever  60  moves in the ejecting direction A into the state illustrated in  FIGS. 6 and 6A . Thus, the memory card  100  is moved to the initial position. 
   With the above-mentioned structure, no step is formed on the bottom of the cam and the lever is required to perform rotational movement alone. Therefore, no spring for pressing a cam follower is necessary. Accordingly, the card connector can be designed to have a reduced thickness. 
   The moment applied to the lever includes a rotation torque applied by the spring and a rotation torque applied by the memory card. Each of the torques is generated around the rotation support point of the lever. Therefore, a moving path of the lever is stable and friction between the lever and other elements is reduced. Thus, the operation feeling is not impaired. 
   As described in conjunction with  FIG. 5 , the lever has the card ejecting portion on the side near the rotation support point and the spring attaching portion formed outside the card ejecting portion to continuously urge the lever in the ejecting direction. At this portion, the relationship in the above equation (1) is produced. From the equation (1):
 
 h=g×e/f   (2).
 
   Since e/f is smaller than 1, h&lt;g. Thus, h is designed to be small. 
   Thus, the spring force can be designed to be small so that a sufficient margin is assured in strength of the insulator. By reducing the spring force, deformation or warp of the lever or the insulator is suppressed so that friction with other elements is reduced and the operation feeling is not impaired. 
   One of the factors determining the operation feeling is a magnitude of the collision sound generated upon collision between the wall of the heart cam and the protrusion of the lever. When the magnitude of the collision sound is large, the operation feeling is good. In the above-mentioned card connector, the heart cam is pulled by the use of the spring so that the protrusion of the lever collides with the wall of the heart cam to generate the collision sound. In a case where the insulator is sufficient in strength, it is possible to increase the strength of the spring. In this event, the rotation force of the heart cam can be enhanced so that the collision sound upon collision with the protrusion of the lever can simply be increased. 
   Although this invention has been described in conjunction with the preferred embodiment thereof, this invention may be modified in various other manners within the scope of the appended claims. The above-mentioned card connector is applicable to a memory card connector for an electronic apparatus or an electric apparatus such as a digital camera, a portable terminal, and a notebook-type personal computer.