JPH09204963A - IC card - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) Abstract: An IC card that avoids the influence of static electricity applied from the outside is provided. In an IC card having a connector portion for connecting to a predetermined electronic device and a circuit board on which a predetermined electronic component or the like is mounted, the connector portion extends inward of the card and the circuit board. Each having a signal terminal, a ground terminal, and a reinforcing ground terminal for the ground terminal, and a reinforcing ground mounting portion for mounting the reinforcing ground terminal. A contact portion for contacting a terminal on the device side is provided, and inside the connector portion, the reinforcing ground terminal and another type of terminal are connected to surfaces of the circuit board opposite to each other. ,
A predetermined distance corresponding to the thickness of the circuit board is secured.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an IC card, and more particularly to the structure of a connector portion of the IC card.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, an IC card is an electronic card equipped with an electric circuit such as a semiconductor integrated circuit or an electronic circuit suitable for various uses such as a storage medium and system expansion. It is used in electronic devices such as computer devices such as personal computers and workstations. In general, an IC card has internal parts such as an electric circuit board incorporating predetermined electronic parts and the like arranged in a frame, and its upper and lower parts are covered with a pair of metal panels.
Further, it has a structure in which a connector portion in which electrodes for connecting the IC card to the card slot provided in the electronic device are arranged is arranged on one side surface. In the present specification, the "IC card" means a card shape or a flat plate shape,
A device provided with an electronic circuit including a semiconductor circuit or an electric circuit, for example, a PC card, a modem card, a LAN
Cards called by various other different names such as a card or an electronic card and having the same basic configuration are also included in this.

In order for the above IC card to operate normally, it is necessary to supply stable power in the IC card. For example, when the IC card is inserted in an incorrect angle into the card slot of the electronic device. In some cases, the power supply from the electronic device side to the built-in components on the IC card side may become unstable. In relation to such a problem, for example, in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 62-203072, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-48684 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-236183, a ground terminal pair or a power source voltage supply connector terminal pair forming the electrodes is It is disclosed that the other signal terminals are arranged on both sides and have a space in the horizontal direction so that they do not operate unless they are properly connected. According to this, when the IC card or the memory card is inserted into the system side, When removing the card, unstable current can be prevented from being transmitted to the card built-in parts. In addition to this, static electricity or the like applied from the outside can be considered as a material that can generate an unstable current in the IC card.

By the way, in order to avoid being directly affected by static electricity from the outside, a circuit board on which electronic parts and the like are mounted is usually protected by a metal panel on the upper and lower surfaces of the card supported by a frame made of plastic or the like. Has been done.
Hereinafter, regarding an IC card equipped with the metal panel,
This will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 9 is an overall perspective view of the IC card 21. The IC card 21 has a connector portion for connection to the electronic device side where the IC card is used, on one end side (front side) in the longitudinal direction. Electrode pin insertion holes 26a, 2 for inserting electrode pins on the electronic device side having a power supply terminal, a ground terminal, and a signal terminal into the connector housing 23 that constitutes the connector portion.
6b is arranged. If the ground terminal is only the ground terminal inserted from the electronic device side, the impedance of itself may be high, and in some cases, the problem of ground bounce occurs and the operating margin of the card increases. It is known that it may decrease. As a means for avoiding such a problem, as shown in FIG. 12, the connector portion 22 includes a reinforcing ground terminal 28 for the ground terminal. The reinforcing ground terminal is attached to the reinforcing ground mounting portion 25, and a plurality of convex contact portions 27 for contacting the terminals on the electronic device side are arranged on the upper surface of the reinforcing ground mounting portion 25. .

FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG. Inside the IC card, electrode pin insertion holes 26a provided in the circuit board 33 and the connector housing 23,
26b is electrically connected via the signal terminals 30a and 30b, and the circuit board 33 has the electrode pin insertion hole 26
It is horizontally supported at a height intermediate between a and 26b. The upper and lower sides of the circuit board 33 are protected by the metal panels 29a and 29b. One end of the reinforcing ground mounting portion 25 is provided with the connector housing 23 and the metal panel 2 on the upper surface of the card.
A reinforcing ground terminal 28, which is inserted into the card from between 9a and is attached to one end of the reinforcing ground attachment portion 25, is connected to the circuit board 33. An electronic component 35 such as a semiconductor element is mounted on the circuit board 33, and when the electronic component 35 is electrically connected to the electronic device side via the connector portion 22 at the time of card connection, The IC card 21 functions.

FIG. 11 shows a connection state of the IC card 21 to the card slot 36 on the electronic device side. A plastic member 39 having a card slot 36 for receiving the connector portion 22 of the IC card 21 is provided on a substrate 37 on the electronic device side. A plurality of electrode pins 34a, 34b including a power supply terminal, a ground terminal and a signal terminal are arranged on the inner wall of the card slot 36. When the card is connected, the electrode pins 34a, 34b are arranged on the IC card 21 side. It is inserted into the electrode pin insertion holes 26a and 26b. At this time, the convex contact portion 27 on the reinforcing ground attachment portion 25 on the IC card 21 side is brought into contact with the terminal 31 on the upper portion of the card slot 36 to be electrically connected to the board 37 on the electronic device side. ing.

12 and 14 are a perspective view and a plan view of the connector portion 22 of the IC card 21, respectively. 12 and 14, the signal terminals 30a and 30b and the ground terminal 28 are shown only on a part of the back surface side of the connector portion 22, but in reality, the explicit terminal group is the connector portion. It is provided across 22 in the width direction. FIG. 13 is an enlarged view of the terminal group in FIG.
Inside the connector section 22, the signal terminals 30a, 30b
Are electrically connected to the electrode pin insertion holes 26a and 26b, respectively, and extend from the upper and lower portions of the inner wall of the connector housing 23 to the circuit board 33. The plurality of reinforcing ground terminals 28 attached to one end portion of the reinforcing ground attaching portion 25 provided on the upper surface of the connector housing 23 are connected to the signal terminals 30 from above inside the card.
Similar to a and 30b, it extends to the circuit board 33.

As described above, the circuit board 33 is supported at a height positioned in the middle of the electrode pin holes 26a and 26b, and as shown in FIG. 10, the signal terminal extending from the upper part of the inner wall of the connector housing 23. 30a is connected to the upper surface of the circuit board 33, and the signal terminal 30b extending from the lower portion is connected to the lower surface of the circuit board 33. Further, the reinforcing ground terminal 28 extending from above inside the card is the signal terminal 30a.
Similarly to, is connected to the upper surface of the circuit board 33. As a result, in particular, the signal terminal 30a and the reinforcing ground terminal 28 are adjacent to each other with a slight gap.

[0009]

As described above, the electronic parts and the like built in the IC card are protected from various external influences. For example, static electricity applied from the outside may cause an unstable current in internal parts such as a semiconductor integrated circuit provided on a circuit board. However, in a conventional IC card, the upper and lower surfaces of the card are generally metal panels. A means is used that is configured so that the internal parts are not directly affected by static electricity.

However, the connector portion of the IC card to the side of various electronic devices is exposed on the outer surface of the IC card, and the static electricity applied from the exposed portion is transmitted through each terminal included in the connector portion and built in. May adversely affect parts. For example, in the IC card 21 of the conventional example, in particular, since the reinforcing ground terminal extending from above the card and the upper signal terminal 30a are adjacent to each other, static electricity is generated on the reinforcing ground mounting portion 25 of the connector portion 22. When applied to the contact portion 27, the static electricity may be transmitted to the signal terminal 30a via the reinforcing ground terminal 28. In some cases, the static electricity is transmitted to the circuit board 33 connected to the signal terminal 30a, causing an electronic component 35 such as a semiconductor element on the circuit board 33 to malfunction or damaging the electronic component 35 or the like. It is known that there are times when it happens.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an IC card which avoids the influence of static electricity.

[0012]

Therefore, an IC card according to an aspect of the present invention has a connector portion for connecting to a predetermined electronic device and a circuit board on which a predetermined electronic component or the like is mounted. The connector portion has a signal terminal extending inward of the card and connected to the circuit board, a ground terminal, and a reinforcing ground terminal for the ground terminal, and a reinforcing ground terminal for mounting the reinforcing ground terminal. And a reinforcing gland mounting portion,
A contact part is provided for contacting the terminal on the electronic device side when connecting the card, and inside the connector part,
The reinforcing ground terminal and the other terminal are arranged at a predetermined distance from each other.

An IC card according to another aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the reinforcing ground terminal and another type of terminal are connected to surfaces of the circuit board opposite to each other.

An IC card according to still another aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the other type of terminal is the signal terminal.

[0015]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.
This will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the IC card 1 according to the present embodiment is connected to an electronic device side such as a computer device such as a personal computer or a workstation in which the IC card is used at one end side (front side) in the longitudinal direction. Connector part 2
Having. The external shape of the IC card 1 in the present embodiment is similar to that of the conventional IC card shown in FIGS. 9 to 14. When the IC card 1 is inserted into the card slot provided on the electronic device side, the connector section 2 receives the terminal on the electronic device side. 2 and 4 are a perspective view and a plan view, respectively, of the connector portion 2 of the IC card 1 according to the present embodiment. In the connector housing 3 provided in the connector portion 2, a plurality of electrode pin insertion holes 6a and 6b for receiving electrode pins including various signal terminals on the electronic device side are arranged. As can be seen from FIG. 5, the IC card 1 has a built-in circuit board 13 including electronic components and the like, and when the card is connected, power is supplied from the electronic device side to the electronic components on the circuit board on the IC card side. Supplied. Incidentally, the aspect of connection of the IC card 1 according to the present embodiment to the electronic device side is the conventional example I as shown in FIG.
This is similar to the case of the C card 21.

By the way, as described above, if the ground terminal is only the ground terminal inserted from the electronic device side, the impedance of the terminal itself becomes high, and the problem of ground bounce occurs, and the operation margin of the IC card is increased. It is known that can be reduced. In order to avoid such a problem, the connector portion 2 has a reinforcing ground terminal 8. The reinforcing ground terminal 8 is attached to one end side of a reinforcing ground attachment portion 5 inserted into the card from between the connector housing 3 and the upper metal panel 9a, and inside the card, with respect to the circuit board. Connected. On the upper surface of the reinforcing ground mounting portion 5, a plurality of convex contact portions 7 for contacting the terminals on the electronic device side at the time of card connection are arranged.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the terminal group in FIG. In FIG. 2, the signal terminals 10a and 10b and the ground terminal 18 are shown only on a part of the back surface of the connector portion, but in reality, an explicit terminal group is provided in the width direction of the connector portion. Has been. Inside the card of the connector portion, the signal terminals 10a and 10b and the ground terminal 18 electrically connected to the respective electrode pin insertion holes extend to the circuit board.
In the present embodiment, the signal terminals 10a and 10b and the ground terminal 18 are arranged with respect to the position of the reinforcing ground terminal 8.
Are arranged in the lower part.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. Inside the IC card 1, the electrode pin insertion holes 6a, 6b provided in the circuit board 13 and the connector housing 3 are provided.
Are electrically connected via the signal terminals 10a and 10b, and the circuit board 13 is connected to the electrode pin insertion holes 6a and 6b.
It is horizontally supported at a height located in the middle of. An electronic component 15 including a semiconductor element or the like is provided on the circuit board 13, and the electronic component is applied from the outside by the upper and lower metal panels 9a and 9b supported by the frame 4 of the outer frame. Protected against the effects of static electricity. In the present embodiment, the signal terminal 10a and the ground terminal 18 are guided downward from the upper part of the inner wall of the connector housing 3 and connected to the lower surface of the circuit board 13 in the same manner as the signal terminal 10b, and the reinforcing ground terminal 8 is provided. Only circuit board 13
Connected to the upper surface of the As a result, the reinforcing ground terminal 8
Then, a predetermined distance in the vertical direction (that is, equivalent to the thickness of the circuit board) is secured between the signal terminals 10a and 10b and the ground terminal.

Next, an IC according to another embodiment of the present invention
The card will be described with reference to FIGS.
In the following description, the same components as those in the above-described embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 will be designated by the same reference numerals, and further description will be omitted. FIG. 6 is a perspective view from the inside of the connector portion 2 of the IC card according to the other embodiment, and FIG. 8 is a plan view of the connector portion 2.
6 and 8, the signal terminals 20a and 20b and the ground terminal 18 are shown only on a part of the back side of the connector portion, but in reality, the explicit terminal group is the width of the connector part. It is provided over the entire direction.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of a terminal group in the connector section 2 of FIG. In the present embodiment, among the other types of terminals extending from the upper portion of the inner wall of the connector housing 3, the terminals excluding the ground terminal 18 (that is, the signal terminal 20a) are guided downward, and similar to the signal terminal 20b. , Is arranged below the position of the reinforcing ground terminal 8 in order to be connected to the lower surface of the circuit board, and is connected to the lower surface of the circuit board. On the other hand, the reinforcing ground terminal 8 and the ground terminal 18 extending from above inside the card
Are connected to the upper surface of the circuit board. As a result, inside the card, the reinforcement ground terminal 8 attached to the end of the reinforcement ground attachment portion and the signal terminals 20a, 20
A predetermined distance in the vertical direction (that is, equivalent to the board thickness dimension of the circuit board) is secured with respect to b. There is no restriction that the ground terminal must be arranged at a predetermined distance from the reinforcing ground terminal. still,
The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments,
Therefore, although there are various means for these configuration methods, the present invention is applicable to any of them, and various improvements or design changes are possible without departing from the scope of the invention. Needless to say.

[0021]

According to the IC card of the aspect of the present invention, the reinforcing ground terminal and the terminal of the other type are provided inside the connector portion on the IC card side for connecting to the predetermined electronic device side. Since they are arranged at a predetermined distance from each other, the static electricity applied from the contact portion on the reinforcing ground mounting portion on the IC card side that contacts the terminal on the electronic device side,
It will not be transmitted to other types of terminals through the reinforcing ground terminal attached to the reinforcing ground attaching portion,
It is possible to eliminate the risk of damaging electronic components such as semiconductor elements in the C card.

Further, according to the IC card of another aspect of the present invention, the reinforcing ground terminal and the terminal of the other type are connected to the opposite surfaces of the circuit board, and
Since the reinforcing ground terminal and other types of terminals are arranged with a predetermined distance corresponding to the thickness of the circuit board, the reinforcing ground terminal is applied from the contact portion on the reinforcing ground mounting portion on the IC card side. It is possible to prevent static electricity from being transmitted to other types of terminals via the reinforcing ground terminal.

According to the IC card of still another aspect of the present invention, the other type of terminal disposed apart from the reinforcing ground terminal by a predetermined distance is I, except for the ground terminal.
Since the signal terminals are connected to the circuit board in the C card, it is possible to prevent the static electricity from being transmitted to electronic components such as semiconductor elements on the circuit board. On the other hand, there is no restriction that the ground terminal must be arranged at a predetermined distance from the reinforcing ground terminal.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an IC card according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a connector portion of the IC card according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a terminal group in the connector section.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the connector section.

5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a connector portion of an IC card according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of a terminal group in the connector section according to the other embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of a connector section according to the other embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of an IC card according to a conventional example.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken along line BB of the IC card according to the conventional example.

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view showing a state when the IC card according to the conventional example is connected to the electronic device side.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a connector portion of the IC card according to the conventional example.

FIG. 13 is an enlarged view of a terminal group in the connector portion of the IC card according to the conventional example.

FIG. 14 is a plan view of a connector portion of the IC card according to the conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

1,21 IC card, 2,22 connector part, 5,25
Reinforcement ground attachment part, 7,27 contact part, 8,28 Reinforcement ground terminal, 10a, 10b, 20a, 20b, 30a, 30
b signal terminal, 13,33 circuit board, 15,35 electronic parts, 18 ground terminal

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Office reference number FI technical display location H01R 23/02 G06K 19/00 L

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An IC card having a connector part for connecting to a predetermined electronic device and a circuit board on which a predetermined electronic component and the like are mounted, wherein the connector part extends inward of the card. It has a signal terminal, a ground terminal, and a reinforcement ground terminal for the ground terminal, which are respectively connected to the board, and a reinforcement ground attachment portion for attaching the reinforcement ground terminal. The reinforcement ground attachment portion is provided at the time of card connection. A contact portion for contacting a terminal on the electronic device side is provided, and inside the connector portion, the reinforcing ground terminal and another type of terminal are arranged at a predetermined distance from each other. The characteristic IC card. 2. The IC card according to claim 1, wherein the reinforcing ground terminal and another type of terminal are connected to opposite surfaces of the circuit board. 3. The IC according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the other type of terminal is the signal terminal.
card.