Portable case for an electronic smart card

• US 5,402,095 A
• Filed: 09/16/1992
• Issued: 03/28/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/1991
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Gemplus Electronics (Thales SA)
• Original Assignee: ITT Composants ET Instruments, Gemplus Electronics (Thales SA)
• Inventors: Janniere, Alain
• Primary Examiner(s): Willis, Davis L.
• Assistant Examiner(s): SIKORSKI, EDWARD
• Application Number:
  US07/946,991
• Time in Patent Office: 923 Days
• Field of Search: 235/441, 235/486, 235/492, 235/479, 200/292, 200/505, 200/512, 200/517, 206/39.4, 206/39.6, 206/449, 206/555, 220/306, 220/345, 220/346, 220/348, 361/737
• US Class Current: 235/441
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 13/0831 the ejection arrangement comprising a slide, carriage or drawer
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 17/0022 arrangements or provisious for transferring data to distant stations, e.g. from a sensing device "transfer between computer elements G06F13/00 "; data-transmission H04L
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/0021 for reading/sensing record carriers having surface contacts
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/006 the housing being a portable casing
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/0069 including means for detecting correct insertion of the card, e.g. end detection switches notifying that the card has been inserted completely and correctly
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/341 Active cards, i.e. cards including their own processing means, e.g. including an IC or chip
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 15/00 Arrangements or apparatus for collecting fares, tolls or entrance fees at one or more control points handling coins or valuable papers, e.g. banknotes, G07D; apparatus for vending or hiring articles or services activated by coins, credit cards, paper currency or the like G07F7/00, G07F17/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/0886 the card reader being portable for interacting with a POS or ECR in realizing a payment transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/1008 Active credit-cards provided with means to personalise their use, e.g. with PIN-introduction/comparison system

Abstract

The invention proposes a portable case for an electronic smart card (C), comprising, on one of its main faces, electrical contact bands connected to an integrated circuit containing the card memory, of the type in which provision is made for a compartment which receives the card (C) and connection means (72) for connecting the contact bands to an exploitation electronic circuit providing at least a function of reading the data contained in the card, characterized in that it comprises a casing (10, 12, 14) equipped with a window (22) permitting the insertion of the card (C), an electrical connector (72) whose electrical contact elements (73) interact with the said contact bands when the card is in the position of exploitation of the data, a device for emitting and receiving (112, 114) data towards and from an information-processing station, and a switch (120) for detecting the placing of the card (C) in an exploitation position in the casing (10).

Claims

1. A portable case for receiving an electronic smart card that lies substantially in a plane and that stores information, and for transmitting information to and/or from the card, wherein the case is thin and has a width and length of the same magnitude as that of the card, comprising:

a casing which has top and bottom walls lying in spaced substantially parallel planes, opposite sides, and forward and rearward ends;

a circuit board mounted in said casing between said top and bottom walls;

a card drawer lying in said casing between said circuit board and said top casing wall, said card drawer being slidable in a forward direction to receive a card and being slidable rearwardly to a position where substantially all of said drawer lies between said top and bottom casing walls;

said drawer has a front crosspiece and opposite side legs, but is substantially devoid of any wall portion that can position said card to orient it parallel to said top and bottom walls, so when said card lies in said drawer its top and bottom are closely sandwiched between said circuit board and said casing top wall, whereby to minimize the thickness of the portable case;

said casing bottom wall has an upstanding side wall at either side of said casing, and has a rearwardly elongated upstanding partition (90) slightly spaced inwardly from each sidewall, to leave a slideway (34,

     36) between each upstanding side wall and an adjacent partition;

each of said drawer side legs is free of attachment to the other at locations between said partitions, and each of said legs is closely slidably received in a corresponding one of said slideways;

each of said partitions has an indentation (27) extending in a direction along its length with the bottom of the indentation spaced from said casing bottom wall, and said circuit board has opposite side edges lying in said indentations to thereby space opposite edges of the bottom of said circuit board from said casing bottom wall to leave a space between them.

2. A portable case for receiving an electronic smart card that lies substantially in a plane and that stores information, and for transmitting information to and/or from the card, wherein the case is thin and has a width and length of the same magnitude as that of the card, comprising:

a casing which has top and bottom walls lying in spaced substantially parallel planes, opposite sides, and forward and rearward ends;

a circuit board mounted in said casing between said top and bottom walls;

a card drawer lying in said casing between said circuit board and said top casing wall, said card drawer being slidable in a forward direction to receive a card and being slidable rearwardly to a position where substantially all of said drawer lies between said top and bottom casing walls;

said drawer has a front crosspiece and opposite side legs, but is devoid of wall portions that can position said card to orient it parallel to said top and bottom walls, so when said card lies in said drawer its top and bottom are closely sandwiched between said circuit board and said casing top wall, whereby to minimize the thickness of the portable case;

said casing has an upstanding side wall at either side of said casing, and has a rearwardly-elongated upstanding partition (90) slightly spaced inwardly from each sidewall, to leave a slideway (34,

     36) between each upstanding side wall and an adjacent partition, with each partition forming a card guide which slidably guides said card in movement into said casing;

each of said drawer side legs is free of attachment to the other at locations between said partitions, and each of said legs is closely slidably received in a corresponding one of said slideways.