Patent Abstract:
A card connector into and from which a plurality of cards are inserted and removed, includes a required number of contacts, and a housing arranging and holding the contacts and having one or plural fitting openings each into which the card is inserted. The contacts each includes contact portions to contact at least two cards so that the same contact can be brought into contact with at least two cards. The card connector has a high degree of freedom for design of substrate and connector without complicating the arrangement of connection portions of contacts and is easy to assemble and easy to mount connection portions onto a substrate by a customer or consumer.

Full Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to a card connector for use in electric and electronic appliances in instruments and for use in printers and card readers, and more particularly to a card connector adapted to accommodate a plurality of cards by means of the same contacts. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     There have been many different kinds of cards as media for a wide variety of information. It has been a common practice to acquire or store various information from or onto a card inserted into a card connector connected to an information appliance. 
     In prior art card connectors, contacts are arranged correspondingly to cards which are able to be inserted into the card connector, respectively, in one-to-one relationship, and the contacts each at least comprise a contact portion adapted to contact the card, a holding portion held in a housing, and a connection portion to be connected to a substrate. Such card connectors are disclosed in the following Patent Literature 1 (Japanese Patent Application Opened No. 2003-31,861) and Patent Literature 2 (Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-161,293). 
     Patent Literature 1 
     According to the Abstract of the Japanese Patent Application Opened No. 2003-31,861, this invention has an object to provide a card connector for integrated circuit (IC) cards having a push-in and push-out mechanism common to plural kinds of cards to achieve the miniaturization in overall shape of the connector. In a card connector for IC cards including a housing having an inserting opening common to plural kinds of IC cards, into which an IC card is inserted to bring the electrode of the IC card into connection with the contacts in the inserting opening, the housing includes therein a slider adapted to advance or retract in conjunction with push-in and push-out operations of the IC card in the housing, and a locking mechanism for locking the slider and the IC card when the push-in is effected and for releasing the locking when the push-out is effected, whereby a shape and a position are set in the slider depending upon the width, length and front shape of the IC card, positions of electrodes of the IC card, and positions of the contacts relative to the housing, thereby enabling the slider to engage the IC card in compliance with shapes of the plural kinds of IC cards.  FIGS. 1 and 2  of the Patent Literature 1 illustrate contacts each corresponding to respective card in one-to-one relationship. 
     Patent Literature 2 
     According to the Abstract of the Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-161,293 filed by the applicant of the present case, the invention has an object to provide a card connector which, after one card has been inserted, is capable of preventing a further card from being inserted and easy to design its housing and easy to remove a card and achieves its miniaturization without any limitation in circuit design of substrates and without any obstruction to the high density of conductors. In a card connector including a required number of contacts adapted to contact connection portions of a plurality of memory cards and a housing having a plurality of inserting openings for receiving a plurality of memory cards, respectively, and arranging and holding the contacts therein, the card connector comprises at least one locking member located at a predetermined position on the housing and pivotable or movable when one kind of card is inserted, and at least one spring member displaceable when one kind of card is inserted, thereby permitting only one kind of card to be inserted with the aid of the locking member and the spring member. FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 of the Patent Literature 2 show contacts each correspond to respective card in one-to-one relationship. 
     In recent years, miniaturizations have proceeded in the information appliances as well as substrates or boards used therein so that areas occupied by the substrates have become narrower. Such a limitation of areas occupied by the substrates leads to the use of a plurality of substrates. Moreover, if a plurality of connectors is required for exchanging a plurality of memory cards, information appliances would become bulky which would be inconvenient for carrying them. Consequently, card connectors for receiving a plurality of cards have been proposed as in the Patent Literatures 1 and 2. 
     The card connectors disclosed in the Patent Literatures 1 and 2 suffer several disadvantages from plural kinds of contacts necessarily required correspondingly to a plurality of cards to be inserted, complicated arrangement of connection portions of the contacts, and difficulties in assembling operationality and mounting operation by a customer. Moreover, as the plural kinds of contacts are required corresponding to the number of cards, areas occupied by the substrates will increase, resulting in limitation of freedom for design of the substrate and connector. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the invention to provide a card connector which overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art described above and which has a high degree of freedom for design of substrate and connector without complicating the arrangement of connection portions of contacts and is easy to assemble and easy to mount connection portions onto a substrate by a customer or consumer. 
     The above object can be achieved by a card connector  10  into and from which a plurality of cards are inserted and removed, including a required number of contacts  14  each having a contact portion adapted to contact the card, and a housing  12  arranging and holding the contacts  14  and having one or plural fitting openings each into which the card is inserted, wherein according to the invention the contacts  14  each comprise contact portions  22  and  24  to contact at least two cards  50  and  60  so that the same contact  14  can be brought into contact with at least two cards  50  and  60 . 
     In the case that two cards  50  and  60  are inserted into upper and lower fitting openings arranged one above the other, the above object can be achieved by a card connector  10  into and from which two cards  50  and  60  are inserted and removed one above the other, including a required number of contacts  14  each having a contact portion adapted to contact the card  50 ,  60 , and a housing  12  arranging and holding the contacts  14  and having two fitting openings  26  and  28  into which the cards  50  and  60  are inserted, respectively, wherein according to the invention the contacts  14  each comprise contact portions  22  and  24  to contact the two cards  50  and  60 , respectively, so that the same contact  14  can be brought into contact with the two cards  50  and  60 . 
     The housing  12  includes an upper wall  30 , a lower wall  32 , two side walls  34  for connecting the upper and lower walls  30  and  32 , and a rear wall  36 , and these upper  30 , lower  32 , two side  34  and rear  36  walls form the one or plural fitting openings  26  and  28 , and the two side walls  34  are each provided at the inside with guide means  38  for guiding the card to the contact portions  22  and  24  of the contacts when the card  50 ,  60  is inserted. 
     The contacts  14  each comprise a connection portion  16  at one end adapted to be connected to a substrate or the like, a holding portion  18  provided contiguously to the connection portion  16  for fixing the contact to the housing  12 , and contact pieces  20  at the other end, which are formed by dividing the portion adjacent to and extending from the holding portion  18  toward the other end into a plurality of pieces each having a contact portion  22 ,  24  adapted to contact the corresponding card. 
     The contact pieces  20  of the contacts  14  adapted to contact a card  60  to be inserted into the fitting opening  28  upper than the lowermost fitting opening  26  are bent such that the bent contact pieces  20  of the contacts  14  do not extend into the lower fitting opening  26 . Moreover, the contacts  14  are inserted into the housing  12  from the side of the fitting opening and held in the housing. 
     As can be seen from the above description, the card connector according to the invention can bring about the following significant function and effect. According to the invention, the connector  10  into and from which a plurality of cards are inserted and removed, including a required number of contacts  14  each having a contact portion adapted to contact the card, and a housing  12  arranging and holding the contacts  14  and having one or plural fitting openings each into which the card is inserted, wherein the contacts  14  each comprise contact portions  22  and  24  to contact at least two cards  50  and  60  so that the same contact  14  can be brought into contact with at least two cards  50  and  60 . Therefore, the card connector  10  according to the invention has a high degree of freedom for design of substrate and connector without complicating the arrangement of connection portions  16  of contacts  14  and without any limitation of areas occupied by substrates, and is easy to assemble and easy to mount connection portions onto a substrate by a customer or consumer. 
     According to the invention, the card connector  10  into and from which two cards  50  and  60  are inserted and removed one above the other, including a required number of contacts  14  each having a contact portion adapted to contact the card  50 ,  60 , and a housing  12  arranging and holding the contacts  14  and having two fitting openings  26  and  28  into which the cards  50  and  60  are inserted, respectively, wherein the contacts  14  each comprise contact portions  22  and  24  to contact the two cards  50  and  60 , respectively, so that the same contact  14  can be brought into contact with the two cards  50  and  60 . Consequently, the card connector  10  according to the invention has a high degree of freedom for design of substrate and connector without complicating the arrangement of connection portions  16  of contacts  14  and without any limitation of areas occupied by substrates, and is easy to assemble and easy to mount connection portions onto a substrate by a customer or consumer. 
     According to the invention, the housing  12  includes an upper wall  30 , a lower wall  32 , two side walls  34  for connecting the upper and lower walls  30  and  32 , and a rear wall  36 , and these upper  30 , lower  32 , two side  34  and rear  36  walls form the one or plural fitting openings  26  and  28 , and the two side walls  34  are each provided at the inside with guide means  38  for guiding the card to the contact portions  22  and  24  of the contacts when the card  50 ,  60  is inserted. Therefore, the cards  50  and  60  can be reliably conducted to the contact portions  22  and  24  of the contacts  14 . 
     According to the invention, the contacts  14  each comprise a connection portion  16  at one end adapted to be connected to a substrate or the like, a holding portion  18  provided contiguously to the connection portion  16  for fixing the contact to the housing  12 , and contact pieces  20  at the other end, which are formed by dividing the portion adjacent to and extending from the holding portion  18  toward the other end into a plurality of pieces each having a contact portion  22 ,  24  adapted to contact the corresponding card. Accordingly, it is possible to provide a card connector  10  which is able to be connected to a plurality of cards  50  and  60  by the use of the same contacts  14 . 
     According to the invention, the contact pieces  20  of the contacts  14  adapted to contact a card  60  to be inserted into the fitting opening  28  upper than the lowermost fitting opening  26  are bent such that the bent contact pieces  20  of the contacts  14  do not extend into the lower fitting opening  26 . Therefore, the same contacts  14  can be securely brought into contact with a plurality of cards  50  and  60  and there is no card to which the contacts could not be connected. 
     According to the invention, the contacts  14  are inserted into the housing  12  from the side of the fitting opening and held in the housing. Therefore, the contacts  14  having a plurality of contact pieces  20  can be easily inserted into the housing  12 , and unintentional deformation of the contacts  14  is easy to confirm. 
     The invention will be more fully understood by referring to the following detailed specification and claims taken in connection with the appended drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1A  is a perspective view of a card connector viewed from the above on the fitting opening side; 
         FIG. 1B  is a perspective view of the card connector similar to that shown in  FIG. 1A , with the upper wall of the housing removed; 
         FIG. 2A  is a perspective view of the card connector with a card inserted into the upper fitting opening; 
         FIG. 2B  is a perspective view of the card connector with a card inserted into the lower fitting opening; 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view of a contact used in the card connector; and 
         FIG. 4  is a front view of the card connector. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     One embodiment of the invention will be explained with reference to  FIGS. 1A to 4 .  FIG. 1A  is a perspective view of the card connector viewed from above on the side of its fitting opening, while  FIG. 1B  is a perspective view of the card connector similar to that shown in  FIG. 1  with the upper wall of its housing removed.  FIG. 2A  is a perspective view of the card connector with a card inserted in the upper fitting opening, while  FIG. 2B  is a perspective view of the card connector with a card inserted in the lower fitting opening.  FIG. 3  is a perspective view of a contact used in the card connector according to the invention.  FIG. 4  is a front elevation of the card connector. 
     The card connector  10  according to the invention mainly comprises contacts  14  and a housing  12 . 
     Before explaining the components of the card connector, the cards will be explained. The cards are used for printers, card readers and the like. The cards each mainly comprise contact portions adapted to contact the contact portions  22  and  24  of the contacts  14 , patterns connecting from the contact portions of the card to circuits, and connection portions adapted to be connected to integrated circuits and central processing units mounted on the patterns. Cards to be used for the card connector  10  according to the invention include MULTIMEDIA card, SD card (SECURE DIGITAL memory card), MEMORY-STICK, SMARTMEDIA, COMPACTFLASH, XD card, MEMORY-STICK DUO, and the like, these being IC cards having built-in central processor unit (CPU) or integrated chips (ICs) used as memory devices for storing information. 
     With the card connector  10  in the illustrated embodiment, the Memory-Stick  60  is inserted into the upper fitting opening, and the Memory-Stick Duo  50  is inserted into the lower fitting opening. 
     First, the contact  14  will be explained which is a subject matter of the invention. The contacts  14  are made of a metal and formed by means of the press-working of the known technique. Preferred metals from which to form the contacts  14  include brass, beryllium copper, phosphor bronze and the like which comply with the requirements such as electric conductivity, springiness, workability, and the like. 
     The contact  14  comprises at least contact portions  22  and  24  adapted to contact the plurality of cards  50  and  60 , respectively, a holding portion  18  to be fixed to the housing  12 , and a connection portion  16  to be connected to a substrate. 
     An important aspect of the contact  14  according to the invention lies in the feature capable of contacting a plurality of cards. For example, the contact  14  can contact both the Memory-Stick  60  inserted in the upper fitting opening and the Memory-Stick Duo  50  inserted in the lower fitting opening of the card connector. While the contact can contact the two cards  50  and  60  as shown in  FIG. 3 , it will be apparent that it is possible to design the contact to be able to contact more than two cards. 
     While the connection portion  16  of the contact  14  is of a surface mounting type (SMT) in the illustrated embodiment, it may be of a dip type. The connection portion  16  of the contact  14  may be suitably designed according to a specification of the substrate to which the connection portion  16  is connected. In the illustrated embodiment, the connection portion  16  extends onto the side of the insertion of the cards  50  and  60  (on the side of the fitting openings  26  and  28  for the cards), although the connection portion  16  may extend onto the opposite side of the fitting openings. The extending direction of the connection portion may be suitably designed in consideration of the specification of the substrate, positions of the contact portions of the cards  50  and  60  and positions of insertion of the cards into the upper and lower fitting openings. It is preferable to insert and hold the contact  14  into the housing from the side of the fitting opening (from the side of the insertion of the cards) in view of easier insertion of the contact and easier ascertainment of deformation of the contact. 
     The holding portion  18  of the contact  14  serves to fix the contact  14  to the housing  12  by press-fitting arrow-head members into the housing  12 , the arrow-head members being previously provided at the holding portion  18  to extend in width directions. Other than the press-fitting, it may be fixed to the housing  12  by hooking, welding, or the like. The size of the holding portion  18  may be suitably designed in consideration of the fact that the forwardly extending portion from the holding portion  18  is divided into a plurality of contact pieces  20  as described below, and the strength of the housing  12 , miniaturization of the card connector  10  and the like. In the illustrated embodiment, the holding portion  18  is approximately 25 mm in width. 
     As described above, in order to bring the contact  14  (a single contact) into a plurality of cards (two cards in the illustrated embodiment), the forwardly extending portion from the holding portion  18  is divided into two contact pieces  20  extending in the longitudinal direction in the illustrated embodiment. The contact pieces  20  are each provided at its tip with a contact portion  22 ,  24  adapted to contact the respective card  50 ,  60 . Positions of the contact portions  22  and  24  are suitably designed so that they extend into the respective fitting openings  26  and  28  to obtain predetermined contact pressures as shown in  FIG. 1B , and further in consideration of positions of the contact portions of the cards  50  and  60  to be inserted and recognition of the cards to be inserted into the upper and lower fitting openings. As the Memory-Stick  60  is to be inserted into the upper fitting opening and the Memory-Stick Duo  50  is to be inserted into the lower fitting opening in the illustrated embodiment, the contact portion  24  to contact the Memory-Stick  60  in the upper fitting opening is longer and arranged at a higher position, and the contact portion  22  to contact the Memory-Stick Duo  50  in the lower fitting opening is shorter and arranged at a lower position. In order to locate the contact portion  24  for the Memory-Stick at the higher position to extend into the fitting opening  28  for the Memory-Stick, the contact piece  20  of the contact  14  is bent at its mid portion. The mid portion of the contact piece  20  at which it is bent is designed so as to avoid the bent portion of the contact piece  20  from extending into the lower fitting opening  26  for the Memory-Stick Duo  50 . In other words, the contact piece  20  of the contact  14  adapted to contact the card  60  to be inserted into the upper fitting opening  28  is bent so as not to extend into the lower fitting opening  26  below the upper fitting opening  28 . Widths of the contact pieces  20  are about one half of the width of the holding portion  18 . 
     The housing  12  will then be explained. The housing  12  is formed from an electrically insulating plastic material by means of the injection molding of the known technique. The materials suitable for the housing  12  include polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), polyamide (66PA or 46PA), liquid crystal polymer (LCP), polycarbonate (PC) and the like and combination thereof in consideration of dimensional stability, workability, manufacturing cost and the like. The housing  12  may be provided with a required number of fitting openings into which a plurality of cards is inserted, respectively. The housing  12  is provided with two fitting openings  26  and  28  arranged one above the other in the illustrated embodiment. Sizes of the fitting openings  26  and  28  are suitably designed so that the cards  50  and  60  can be inserted into the fitting openings, respectively, and on insertion of the cards  50  and  60 , they can be brought into contact with the contacts  14 . 
     The housing  12  comprises at least an upper wall  30 , a lower wall  32 , two side walls  34  and a rear wall  36 . A required number of intermediate walls may be provided depending upon the number of cards to be inserted, as the case may be. The upper wall  30 , the lower wall  32 , the two side walls  34  and the rear wall  36  form the upper fitting opening  28  for the Memory-Stick  60  and the lower fitting opening  26  for the Memory-Stick Duo  50 . 
     The side walls  34  are each provided on the inside with guides  38  for the purpose of facilitating conducting the inserted cards to the respective contact portions  22  and  24  of the contacts. Sizes of the guides  38  may be determined to enable the cards  50  and  60  to be guided to the respective contact portions  22  and  24  of the contacts and may be suitably designed in consideration of the sizes of the cards  50  and  60  and the strength of the housing  12 . 
     Although the card connector having two fitting openings for the cards  50  and  60  arranged one above the other is shown in the illustrated embodiment, it is to be understood that a card connector may be constructed to bring a plurality of cards into contact with the same contacts irrespective of the number of cards. 
     Examples of applications of the present invention are card connectors  10  for use in electric and electronic appliances in instruments and for use in printers and card readers and particularly card connectors capable of accommodating a plurality of cards with the same contacts  14 . 
     While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and other changes in form and details can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Technology Classification (CPC): 7