Device for the exchange of information with an electronic memory card, and car radio provided with such a device

• US 5,926,365 A
• Filed: 03/08/1995
• Issued: 07/20/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/1994
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Mannesmann VDO AG (Continental AG)
• Original Assignee: US Philips Corporation (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Roelofs, Henricus H., Verhoeven, Jacobus M. C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Picard, Leo P.
• Assistant Examiner(s): FEILD, LYNN DIANA
• Application Number:
  US08/401,061
• Time in Patent Office: 1,595 Days
• Field of Search: 361/684, 361/685, 361/686, 361/724-26, 361/737, 361/610, 439/630, 439/629, 439/260, 439/267
• US Class Current: 235/375
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 13/0831 the ejection arrangement comprising a slide, carriage or drawer
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07743 External electrical contacts
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 12/721 cooperating directly with the edge of the rigid printed circuits

Abstract

A device for the exchange of information with an electronic memory card which can be placed into a read position in the device through an insertion opening along an insertion track, in which position electrical contacts of the memory card are in contact with electrical contacts of the device provided on a carrier which is displaceable transversely to the insertion track. In the absence of the memory card, the contacts are situated in the insertion track under the influence of a pretensioning force. The carrier has an abutment surface which extends obliquely relative to the insertion track so that the carrier can be displaced out of the insertion track by the memory card against the pretensioning force during the passage of the memory card. In the read position of the memory card, accordingly, the carrier is in a position which is adapted to the thickness of the memory card, so that the device is suitable for cooperating with memory cards of various thicknesses. The device may be used, for example, in a car radio for cooperating with a safety card protecting against theft of the car radio. In a special embodiment, the device is fastened to a printed circuit board of the car radio, the carrier being arranged in an opening in an upper plate of the device and in an adjoining further opening in the printed circuit board, so that the compartment space required by the device in the car radio is negligibly small.

Claims

1. A device for the exchange of information with an electronic memory card, said device comprising:

a housing which contains a space for the insertion of the memory card along an insertion track into a read position; and

a carrier which is displaceable transversely to the insertion track, said carrier comprises electrical contacts for cooperation with electrical contacts present on the memory card, the contacts of the carrier being in contact with the contacts of the memory card when the memory card is in the read position, wherein the carrier is in an extreme position under the influence of a pretensioning force in the absence of the memory card, the contacts of the carrier being in the insertion track then, while the carrier is displaced out of the insertion track against the pretensioning force by sliding contact with the memory card during the passage of the memory card along the insertion track to the read position.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the carrier has an abutment surface which extends obliquely relative to the insertion track, the carrier being displaceable by the memory card through cooperation of the memory card with said abutment surface during the passage of the memory card.

3. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the pretensioning force is exerted by a mechanical spring.

4. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the carrier is guided into two parallel slots in the housing, which slots extend transversely to the insertion track, by means of two pins provided opposite one another on either side of the carrier.

5. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the carrier is positioned in an opening in a main wall of the housing, which wall extends parallel to the insertion track.

6. A device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the mechanical spring is a blade spring which extends substantially parallel to the insertion track and which is fastened to said main wall.

7. A device as claimed in claim 1 further comprising:

a car radio operably connected to the carrier; and

a printed circuit board connected to the car radio with electrical components wherein a main wall of the housing of the device extending parallel to the insertion track extends parallel to and is fastened to the printed circuit board.

8. A device as claimed in claim 5 further comprising:

a car radio operably connected to the carrier; and

a printed circuit board connected to the car radio with electrical components wherein said main wall of the device extends parallel to and is fastened to the circuit board, the opening in the main wall adjoining a further opening in the circuit board, while the carrier is positioned in both openings.

9. A device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the printed circuit board is arranged adjacent and substantially parallel to a wall of a housing of the car radio, the device being positioned between said wall and the printed circuit board.