Card grounding apparatus

Claim 2

An IC card which includes a frame comprising a molded body of plastic material having opposite sides and forward and rearward ends, and a top and bottom, with the distance between said opposite sides being a plurality of times greater than the distance between said top and bottom, and a circuit board assembly which lies in said frame and which includes a board having a ground plane and a plurality of circuit components mounted in said board, said card being constructed to be inserted into a slot of an electronic device until card contacts that lie at the front end of the card mate with device contacts in the device, characterized by: said frame includes a sheet metal clip of material which has a higher bulk conductivity than said plastic material of said body, said clip having a first portion connected to said ground plane and having a second portion extending from said first portion and fixed to a first of said body sides and exposed at said first of said body sides, whereby to enable early static discharge of said ground plane.

Claim 3

The IC card described in claim 1 including: an electronic device having a card-receiving slot with opposite sides, with a rear end for initially receiving said card, and with a front end, said device having a plurality of contacts at said front end, said device having a first grounding terminal positioned to engage said conductive clip and discharge any static charge on said card before any of said card contacts come within one-quarter inch of said device contacts, said slot being deed enough, as measured between said front and rear ends of said slot, to receive more than half of the length of said card, and said first grounding terminal lies closer to said rear end than to said front end to thereby assure early discharge of any static change.

Claim 4

The improvement described in claim 1 wherein: said body is constructed of molded plastic material which is electrically conductive, with an electrical resistivity less than 10 5 times that of copper, but has an electrical resistivity that is more than twice the electrical resistivity of the material of said clip, and said clip is spaced from the front end of said body.

Claim 5

The IC card described in claim 1 wherein: said body has a pair of side beams that each forms one of said sides; said clip extends at least partially around a first of said side beams; said circuit board has opposite faces and edges, with a first of said circuit board edges lying adjacent to a first of said body side beams, and said ground plane of said circuit board includes a portion lying on one of said board faces and against a portion of said clip which lies against said body side beam.

Claim 6

The IC card described in claim 1 wherein: said body has a pair of side beams, with a first of said side beams having upper and lower projections and having a slot; said sheet metal clip has upper and lower parts bent about said upper and lower projections, and said clip has a tab that forms said clip first portion and that extends through said slot and that has a bent part that lies against said ground plane of said circuit board.

Claim 7

An IC card comprising: a frame comprising a body having opposite sides and front and rear ends and having top and bottom covers that each have a peripheral portion, with distance between said opposite sides being a plurality of times greater than the distance between said top and bottom covers; a circuit board assembly mounted in said body, said circuit board assembly including a board and at least one circuit component mounted on said board, said board having a ground plane; a connector on said front end of said body, said connector having a plurality of contacts; at least one sheet metal clip mounted in a stationary position on said body and connected to said ground plane, said clip having a first clip portion lying at and exposed at one of said sides of said frame, and having a second clip portion, which is engaged with one of cover peripheral portions.

Claim 8

An IC card comprising: a frame comprising a body having opposite sides and front and rear ends and having top and bottom covers that each have a peripheral portion, with distance between said opposite sides being a plurality of times greater than the distance between said top and bottom covers; a circuit board assembly mounted in said body, said circuit board assembly including a board and at least one circuit component mounted on said board, said board having a ground plane; a connector on said front end of said body, said connector having a plurality of contacts; at least one sheet metal clip mounted in a stationary position on said body and connected to said ground plane, said clip having a first clip portion lying at and exposed at one of said sides of said frame, and having a second clip portion, which is engaged with one of cover peripheral portions.

Claim 9

The card described in claim 6 wherein: said body includes portions extending along at least said opposite sides and constructed of molded electrically conductive material, with said clip formed of material of higher conductivity than material of said body, said body being electrically connected to said board ground plane, said body including a portion lying at said one of said frame sides and having a portion extending forward of said clip.

Claim 10

A combination of an electronic device having walls forming a card-receiving slot, and an IC card which can be inserted and withdrawn from said slot with said card including a circuit board assembly with a ground plane, wherein said slot has a rear end into which said card is initially inserted and a front end and said device has a plurality of device contacts arranged in a plurality of rows lying at said slot front end, and said card has a front end with a connector having a plurality of forwardly extending card contacts that are arranged in a corresponding number of rows and that mate with said device contacts when said card is in a fully inserted position, the improvement wherein: said card has a frame with a stationary electrically conductive region spaced from said rows of contacts and connected to said ground plane, and said device has at least a first grounding terminal lying substantially at the walls of said slot and positioned to engage said conductive region and discharge any static charge on said card while said card lies at least one-quarter inch rearward of a position at which any of said card and device contacts mate.

Claim 11

A combination of an electronic device having walls forming a card-receiving slot, and an IC card which can be inserted and withdrawn from said slot with said card including a circuit board assembly with a ground plane, wherein said slot has a rear end into which said card is initially inserted and a front end and said device has a plurality of device contacts arranged in a plurality of rows lying at said slot front end, and said card has a front end with a connector having a plurality of forwardly extending card contacts that are arranged in a corresponding number of rows and that mate with said device contacts when said card is in a fully inserted position, the improvement wherein: said card has a frame with a stationary electrically conductive region spaced from said rows of contacts and connected to said ground plane, and said device has at least a first grounding terminal lying substantially at the walls of said slot and positioned to engage said conductive region and discharge any static charge on said card while said card lies at least one-quarter inch rearward of a position at which any of said card and device contacts mate.

Claim 12

The combination described in claim 8 wherein: said card frame has opposite side beams and has a sheet metal clip that extends around a first of said side beams to hold to said first side beam, said clip having a portion exposed at an outside surface of said first beam, and said clip having an inwardly extending portion that engages said ground plane of said circuit board assembly.

Claim 13

The combination of components which when assembled forms the housing of an IC card that is adapted to support a circuit board that has opposite sides and a ground plane, said combination comprising: a molded plastic body that has opposite body sides and a top and bottom, said body having opposite body side edges facing substantially away from each other, said opposite body sides being constructed to support the opposite sides of a circuit board, the distance between said opposite sides being a plurality of times greater than the distance between said top and bottom; a sheet metal clip which is mounted in a stationary position on a first of said body sides, said clip having an outer side portion covering part of the side edge of said body first side, and said clip having a second portion which extends inwardly from said outer portion to direct electrically connect to the ground plane of a circuit board which is supported on said body sides.

Claim 14

The combination of components which when assembled forms the housing of an IC card that is adapted to support a circuit board that has opposite sides and a ground plane, said combination comprising: a molded plastic body that has opposite body sides and a top and bottom, said body having opposite body side edges facing substantially away from each other, said opposite body sides being constructed to support the opposite sides of a circuit board, the distance between said opposite sides being a plurality of times greater than the distance between said top and bottom; a sheet metal clip which is mounted in a stationary position on a first of said body sides, said clip having an outer side portion covering part of the side edge of said body first side, and said clip having a second portion which extends inwardly from said outer portion to direct electrically connect to the ground plane of a circuit board which is supported on said body sides.

Claim 15

The combination described in claim 10 wherein: said body has first and second opposite side beams that form said body sides and said side edges; said clip substantially surrounds said first beam in close contact therewith to hold itself in place thereon.

Claim 16

The combination described in claim 10 wherein: said body side has a slot and said sheet metal clip has an inwardly projecting contact tab that projects through said slot to contact the ground plane of a circuit board which is supported on said body sides.

Claim 17

The combination described in claim 12 including: a circuit board assembly that includes a circuit board, said circuit board having opposite board side portions, with said ground plane including a ground plane portion lying at a first of said board side portions and in direct contact with said clip second portion.