Patent Publication Number: US-6908321-B1

Title: All-in-one card connector

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates generally to electronic devices, and more particularly to an all-in-one card connector exclusively for entry of one single electronic card once. 
   2. Description of the Related Art 
   There is a conventional all-in-one card connector, such as four-in-one card connector compatible with four electronic memory cards including MS (Memory Stick), SM (Smart Media), MMC (Multi Media Card), and SD (Secure Digital). Due to a gradually popular memory card of XD (eXtreme Digital), a five-in-one card connector compatible with the XD card in addition to the aforementioned four memory cards is presented. 
   In the design of the conventional all-in-one card connector, spaces for receiving some electronic cards never mutually interfere, e.g. SM card and SD card. In other words, the user can insert the SM and SD cards into the card connector at the same time, but it will not happen that when one card has been inserted into the card connector, another card fails to be inserted into the card connector. However, once two cards are accidentally inserted into the card connector at the same time, it may incur error action or reading error or even malfunction of the whole card connector. Thus, a card connector, which is compatible with multiple types of memory cards and exclusively allows inserting one single card once, is necessary as improvement of the prior art. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The primary objective of the present invention is to provide an all-in-one card connector, which is compatible with multiple types of memory cards and is to allow inserting only one electronic card rather than multiple cards once. 
   The foregoing objective of the present invention is attained by the all-in-one card connector, which is comprised of a base, two plate-like members, and a plurality of terminals. The base is laminated and centrally hollow, having an opening formed at a front end thereof, two lateral sections formed respectively at bilateral sides of the opening, a concavity formed at one of the two lateral sections and recessed downwards from a top side of the base, a movable guide member mounted in the concavity for upward and downward movement by an external force, and a springy member mounted between the guide members and the base for generating resilience, which keeps the guide member moving towards a fixed direction. The two plate-like members respectively include a plurality of slots formed thereon. The base is mounted closely between the two plate-like members, and therefore, at least two receiving spaces are defined between base and the two plate-like members. The two receiving spaces communicate with the outside for receiving at least two types of electronic cards. The terminals each have an end mounted on the plate-like member are embedded into a slot, and partially extend into at least one of the receiving spaces to be electrically connected with contact pads of an inserted card. Accordingly, when an electronic card is inserted into the card connector, the guide member allows the entry of the card to be pushed by the card to move towards a direction to further stop entry of another card. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
       FIG. 2  is an exploded view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
       FIG. 3  is a sectional view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
       FIG. 4  is a sectional view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing that an SD card is inserted; 
       FIG. 5  is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing that the SD card is inserted; 
       FIG. 6  is a sectional view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing that an SM card is inserted; 
       FIG. 7  is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing that the SM card is inserted; and 
       FIG. 8  is a sectional view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing that a springy member is a torsion spring. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
   Referring to  FIGS. 1-3 , an all-in-one card connector  10  constructed according to a preferred embodiment is comprised of a laminated base  11 , two plate-like members  21 , and a plurality of terminals  31 . 
   The base  11  is centrally hollow and is provided with an opening  12  formed at a front end thereof, two lateral sections  14  formed respectively at bilateral sides of the opening  12 , a concavity  15  formed at one of the lateral sections  14  and recessed downwards from a top side of the base  11  and abutting the opening  12 , a movable guide member  16  mounted in the concavity  15  for upward and downward movement by an external force, and a springy member  18  embodied as a tongue and mounted between a bottom side of the guide member  16  and the base  11  for generating resilience, which keeps the guide member  16  moving upwards. The guide member  16  has a bevel  17  facing forwards and upwards. When an SM card is inserted into the card connector  10 , the SM card contacts against the bevel  17  of the guide member  16  and then pushes the guide member  16  downwards. The guide member  16  further has two blocking portions,  161  and  162  respectively, for blocking the SD, MMC, XD, or MS card. 
   The two plate-like members  21  act as a top plate-like member and a bottom plate-like member respectively including a plurality of slots  22  formed thereon. The base  11  is mounted closely between the two plate-like members  21 . At least two receiving spaces  24  and  241  are defined between the base and the two plate-like members  21 , communicating with the outside for receiving at least two types of electronic cards. 
   The terminals  31  each have an end connected with the plate-like member  21 , are embedded into the slot  22 , and partially extend into at least one of the receiving spaces  24  and  241  to be electrically connected with contact pads of an inserted electronic card (not shown). 
   Referring to  FIG. 3 , before an electronic card is inserted into the card connector  10 , the guide member  16  is pushed upwards by the springy member  18  to contact against the top plate-like member  21 . The two receiving spaces  24 ,  241  respectively define a first receiving space formed between the top plate-like member  21  and the guide member  16  for receiving the SM card, and a second receiving space  241  formed between the bottom plate-like member  21  and the guide member  16  for receiving the SD, MS, MMC, and XD cards. 
   Referring to  FIGS. 4 and 5 , when the SD card  97  is inserted into the card connector  10 , the guide member  16  is pushed upwards by the springy member  18  to contact against the top plate-like member  21 , such that the SD card  97  can directly pass by the guide member  16  to enter the second receiving space  241 . In the meantime, the guide member  16  is located at a higher position, and while inserting the SM card  98  into the card connector  10 , the SM card  98  is stopped by the bevel  17  of the guide member  16  and fails to enter the first receiving space  24 . It is to be noted that the SD card  97  can alternatively be the MS card, MMC card, or XD card. 
   Referring to  FIGS. 6 and 7 , when the SM card is inserted into the card connector, the SM card  98  contacts against the bevel  17  of the guide member  16  and then pushes the guide member  16  downwards to pass by the guide member  16 , and meanwhile, the guide member  16  is still being pushed upwards by the springy member  18  to contact against a bottom side of the SM card  98 . At the same time, the guide member  16  is located at a lower position, and the SD card  97 , MMC card, or XD card is stopped by the blocking portion  161  and fails to enter the second receiving space, and the MS card is stopped by the blocking portion  162  and fails to enter the card connector. 
   Referring to  FIG. 8 , the springy member  18 ″ can alternatively be a torsion spring to generate the same result as the tongue  18 . 
   From the above recitation, the guide member is indeed to exclusively allow a single electronic card to be inserted into the card connector once and stops the entry of other cards, such that the all-in-one card connector of the present invention is not only compatible with multiple types of electronic cards but also to exclusively allow the entry of one single card once. 
   It is to be noted that the springy member is not limited to the tongue or the torsion spring and can be other alternative. In addition, the guide member neither structurally thickens the present invention nor alters the external design (locations of pins, shape, thickness, etc.) of the present invention.