Patent ID: 7234970

Claim:
A smart card connector for receiving a fully installed smart card, said connector having an insulative frame with a frame face that lies facewise adjacent to said fully installed smart card, and said connector having a plurality of contacts with parts that project vertically beyond said frame face for engaging contact pads of the smart card, wherein the connector is mounted on a circuit board that has a plurality of signal traces and at least one ground trace, and wherein a first of said contacts is a signal contact that has a rear end forming a signal tail that lies exposed at a rear end of said frame and that is connected to one of said signal traces, including: a shield structure mounted on said connector, said shield structure including a metal shield that has a rearward portion that lies rearward of said tail to block easy access to said tail, and with said metal shield connected to said ground trace on said circuit board, whereby to help block unauthorized projection of a conductor device from the rear of said connector against said tail and to ground such a conductor device; wherein said frame face of said insulative frame lies in a horizontal plane and said insulative frame has a rear end; said signal contact has a rear portion that lies under said insulative frame and said signal contact has a rear part that extends rearward of an adjacent portion of said insulative frame and that merges with said tail; and including an insulative barrier with a rear portion that lies above said metal shield; said insulative barrier has a forward barrier part that lies in a protecting position wherein said forward barrier part extends over said rear part of said signal contact rear portion and over said tail, said forward barrier part has an upper face that lies no higher than said insulative frame rear end, and said forward barrier part has a front end that abuts said rear end of said insulative frame.