INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA SMART AFFINITY CARD WITH FLASH MEMORY

• US 20090236430A1
• Filed: 06/01/2009
• Published: 09/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Timothy D. Larin
• Original Assignee: R & R Card Systems, Inc.
• Inventors: Bertuccelli, Randall P., Webb, Richard S.
• Granted Patent: US 8,177,129 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/492
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/044 comprising galvanic contacts for contacting an integrated circuit chip thereon
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/347 Passive cards
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/0806 Details of the card record carriers per se G06K
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/084 Additional components relating to data transfer and storing, e.g. error detection, self-diagnosis
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/086 by passive credit-cards adapted therefor, e.g. constructive particularities to avoid counterfeiting, e.g. by inclusion of a physical or chemical security-layer for security documents G07D7/00; for the reading of record-carriers in general G06K7/00; for the design of coded credit-cards G06K19/10
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 7/0033 with cards or other card-like flat carriers, e.g. flat sheets of optical film
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 7/24 Record carriers characterised by shape, structure or physical properties, or by the selection of the material characterised by the arrangement of information on the carrier G11B7/007
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 7/28 Re-recording, i.e. transcribing information from one optical record carrier on to one or more similar or dissimilar record carriers

Abstract

A multipurpose card, including a multimedia card portion with tiny protrusions on its face and a second card portion with tiny recesses which mate with the protrusions, wherein the two card portions easily connect and come apart. The multimedia card portion includes a flash memory device, which can be a removable, and a plug for programming the flash memory device. The multimedia card portion can also include an elongated finger hole and ‘wings.’ The finger hole and wings allow a user to grip the multimedia card in one hand with a thumb and middle/ring finger and pop apart the second card portion with an index finger.

Claims

1. A multipurpose card, comprising:

a multimedia card portion adapted to receive a solid state multimedia memory device;

a substantially flat second card portion having first means to releasably connect to the multimedia card portion in a stacked relationship, the multimedia card portion having second means to releasably connect to the first means, wherein the solid state multimedia memory device is accessible by a multimedia processor while the card portions are releasably connected to each other in a stacked relationship.

2. The multipurpose card of claim 1, wherein the solid state memory device includes flash memory.

3. The multipurpose card of claim 2, wherein the flash memory is embedded in the multimedia card portion.

4. The multipurpose card of claim 2, wherein the flash memory is enclosed in a memory card selected from the group consisting of a COMPACTFLASH®

card, SmartMedia card, MultiMediaCard, Secure Digital card, MEMORY STICK®

card, and xD card.

5. The multipurpose card of claim 1, wherein the solid state memory device is within a memory card, the memory card being releasably connected with the multimedia card portion.

6. The multipurpose card of claim 5, further comprising a docking bay within the multimedia card portion, the docking bay adapted to accept the memory card.

7. The multipurpose card of claim 6, wherein the docking bay is adapted to enclose the memory card on five sides while the memory card is docked in the docking bay.

8. The multipurpose card of claim 1, wherein the second means to connect the multimedia card portion to the second card portion includes a plurality of protrusions extending perpendicularly from a face of the multimedia card portion.

9. The multipurpose card of claim 8, wherein the protrusions are located substantially near corners of the multimedia card portion.

10. The multipurpose card of claim 8, wherein the protrusions are asymmetrically located about the multimedia card portion.

11. The multipurpose card of claim 1, wherein the first means to connect includes a plurality of openings and the second means to connect includes a plurality of protrusions adapted to extend into second card portion openings to releasably interconnect the multimedia card portion with the second card portion.

12. The multipurpose card of claim 1, wherein the multimedia card portion includes an elongate hole through the multimedia card, the elongate hole having a size and shape that allows a finger to press against an exposed area of the second card portion to release the card portions from one another.

13. The multipurpose card of claim 12, wherein the elongate hole is centered in the multimedia card portion.

14. The multipurpose card of claim 1, further comprising at least one wing extending from at least one side of the multimedia card portion, the at least one wing extending beyond a planform of the second card portion when the card portions are connected in a stacked relationship, wherein the wings enable a user to grip the at least one wing with a thumb and a finger of a same hand as the thumb without the thumb and finger touching the second card portion.

15. The multipurpose card of claim 14, wherein the at least one wing extends from at least one long side of the multimedia card portion.

16. The multipurpose card of claim 14, wherein the at least one wing has a curved shape, the curved shape extending smoothly from the at least one side of the multimedia card portion.

17. The multipurpose card of claim 14, wherein the at least one wing has a curved shape with a constant radius.

18. The multipurpose card of claim 1, wherein the second card portion is a thickness of a bank card.

19. The multipurpose card of claim 1, wherein the multimedia card portion includes a physical connection interface adapted for electronically accessing the solid state memory device.

20. The multipurpose card of claim 19, wherein the physical connection interface includes a plug.

21. The multipurpose card of claim 19, wherein the physical connection interface includes a connector selected from the group consisting of an FIREWIRE®

connector and a Universal Serial Bus (USB) connector.

22. The multipurpose card of claim 1, wherein the multimedia card portion includes a wireless connection interface adapted for electronically accessing the solid state memory device.

23. The multipurpose card of claim 1, wherein the solid state multimedia memory device is adapted to be accessible by a multimedia processor when the card portions are not connected to each other.

24. A multipurpose card, comprising:

a multimedia card portion having a plurality of protrusions extending perpendicularly from a face of the multimedia card portion, the multimedia card portion adapted to receive a solid state multimedia memory storage device;

a substantially flat second card portion having a plurality of apertures, each aperture adapted to releasably mate with a protrusion of the plurality of protrusions such that the card portions releasably connect with each other in a stacked relationship,

wherein the solid state multimedia memory storage device is adapted to be operatively accessible by an off-board computer processor.