Electrostatically protected IC card

- ITT Corporation

A system is provided wherein an IC memory card (10, FIG. 2) is inserted into a slot (12) of an electronic device (14), which discharges any static electric charge on the card. The card includes a frame that comprises a body having opposite side beams and top and bottom conductive covers mounted on the side beams, to enclose a circuit board. The circuit board has a ground plane, and a first of the side beams has an electrically conductive surface portion directly engaged with a peripheral portion of the ground plane and with one of the covers, to connect the cover to the side beam conductive portion. The body can be constructed of molded electrically conductive material.

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Claims

1. An IC card which includes a frame having opposite sides, forward and rearward ends, and top and bottom.Iadd.electrically conductive.Iaddend.cover regions, said card including a circuit board assembly which lies in said frame and which includes a circuit board having a ground plane and at least one circuit component mounted in said circuit board, said card being constructed to be inserted into a slot of an electronic device until card contacts at the front end of the card mate with device contacts in the device, characterized by:

at least said opposite sides of said frame are formed of molded electrically conductive plastic material having an electrical resistivity which is a plurality of times greater than that of copper, and said opposite sides of said frame are electrically connected to said ground plane of said circuit board.

3. The IC card described in claim 1 wherein:

said frame includes a molded body of said electrically conductive plastic material, said body having opposite side edges forming at least part of said frame sides, and said frame also includes top and bottom covers mounted over said body and forming said top and bottom cover regions;
said circuit board has opposite faces and opposite edges, with a first of said circuit board edges lying adjacent to a first of said body edges, and said ground plane of said circuit board includes a portion lying on one of said circuit board faces adjacent to said first board edge;
a first of said covers has a primarily horizontally-extending face and has an edge portion bent to extend largely vertically, said edge portion having an extreme edge bearing against said ground plane portion on said circuit board.

4. An IC card comprising:

a frame having opposite sides and front and rear ends and having top and bottom conductive cover regions;
a circuit board assembly which includes a board and at least one circuit component mounted on said board, said board having a ground plane;
a connector which is mounted on said front end of said frame and which has a plurality of contacts;
said frame including a body extending at least along said opposite sides, said body being constructed of molded electrically conductive primarily polymeric material molded into the shape of said body and connected to said ground plane of said board.
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Patent History
Patent number: RE35832
Type: Grant
Filed: Nov 13, 1995
Date of Patent: Jun 30, 1998
Assignee: ITT Corporation (New York, NY)
Inventor: Carl C. Perkins (Irvine, CA)
Primary Examiner: Fritz Fleming
Law Firm: Freilich Hornbaker Rosen
Application Number: 8/558,285
Classifications
Current U.S. Class: Specific Conduction Means Or Dissipator (361/220); With Housing (361/730)
International Classification: H05F 300; H05K 504;