Patent Application
20070125856
(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to card readers, more particularly to a card reader with wireless transmission realized by including a wireless transmission control chip installed on a circuit board of the card reader, whereby a USB port can be saved.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
The wireless transmission control chips utilizing specifications including Bluetooth, UWB, ZigBee, Wi-Fi, NFC and even WiMAX (with a range over 50 kilometers) have become indispensable in the wireless communication market as the technology is evolving into wideband communication. Among them, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are the earliest.
A Bluetooth dongle using a USB computer port of the prior art is an external device connected to a computer through one of the computer's USB ports, whereby the computer not having the Bluetooth transmission capability will exchange data wirelessly with a surrounding Bluetooth device, for example, a keyboard, a mouse, a earphone and a PDA. It can relax the computer from restriction of wired data transmission and therefore enhance the convenience of a traditional computer.
The above mentioned Bluetooth dongle of the prior art adopts an external insertion means of using a USB port of a computer, which not only has a high production cost but also occupies a USB port (connected to the main board of the computer).
Further, the computer main board is enclosed within a metallic case, which will produce a shielding effect against the radio transmission of a control chip integrated on the main board. Therefore, the effect of wireless transmission will not be good, and the Bluetooth transmission using a computer is realized by an external Bluetooth dongle inserted in a USB port.
Accordingly, the primary objective of the present invention is to provide a card reader with wireless transmission wherein a wireless transmission control chip is integrated with a built-in or external circuit board. One side the circuit board includes a connector for a data transmission line. The free end of the transmission line is connected to a USB port of computer mother board. Thereby, the card reader can undergo wireless data transmission through the plastic case, and a conventional external wireless transmitter is not necessary, which reduces the operation cost.
The secondary objective of the present invention is to provide a card reader with wireless transmission wherein the wireless transmission control chip is shared by terminals of various memory cards. Thereby, the number of USB ports is reduced.
It is a further objective of the present invention that the wireless transmission control chip uses one of the known wireless transmission techniques selected from Bluetooth, Ultra Wide Bandwidth (UWB), ZigBee, Wi-Fi, NFC and long-distance WiMAX.
The various objects and advantages of the present invention will be more readily understood from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the appended drawings.
Referring to
According to the present invention, there is not limit on the form of the card reader 1; it can be an internal device within a computer or an external device. The card reader 1 can have a plurality of memory-card insertion slots 13, as shown in the figures. It can also be a card reader with a single memory-card insertion slot.
The wireless transmission control chip 2 is installed on a circuit board of the card reader 1, with its plastic case extending out of the computer surface. Thereby, the wireless data transmission will not be influenced by the computer case 5. Namely, radio signals can easily pass the portion on the outer wall where the plastic case of the card reader 1 extends, without being hindered by a shielding effect.
The above-mentioned wireless transmission control chip 2 can adopt any of the wireless communication specifications, Bluetooth, UWB, ZigBee, Wi-Fi, NFC and WiMAX (for long distance communication), except that it should match the circuit board 11.
As the card reader with wireless transmission of the present invention is installed in a computer, the built-in capability of wireless communication allows the usage of wireless peripheral device such as a wireless keyboard, a wireless computer, a wireless earphone, a cell phone and a PDA.
The present invention is thus described, and it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the present invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.
