Patent Grant
7271474
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an integrated circuit (IC) card and its manufacturing method, and more particularly, to a modular packing integrated circuit card and its manufacturing method.
2. Description of Related Art
Currently, the marketplace is full of products with a variety of interfaces, such as the Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface, Secure Digital (SD) interface, Multimedia Card (MMC) interface, Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) interface, and so on, wherein these interfaces are applied to different devices, including personal computers, digital cameras, movable drives, or the like. Take the memory card for example, the customer needs different kinds of memory cards for different devices, such as using the USB interface memory card for the computer, or using the SD interface memory card for the digital camera. Consequently, the manufacturers have to prepare various types of memory cards in advance in order to meet customer's requirement. However, since those interface cards are hard to be exchangeable with each other during the manufacturing process, it's difficult to control the inventory such that some memory cards are often out of stock while others are over manufactured. It's a huge burden and quite inconvenient to the manufacturers.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide an improved modular packing integrated circuit card and its manufacturing method to mitigate and/or obviate the aforementioned problems.
The modular packing integrated circuit card of the present invention comprises a shell, a composite chip unit, and a switch card with a specific interface format. The composite chip has a plurality of predetermined pins and at least one chip coupled to the predetermined pins. The above switch card is disposed in the shell, and includes an interface device for the specific interface format and a predetermined space for locating the composite chip unit. The switch card further has a plurality of predetermined lines for correspondingly connecting the interface device and the predetermined pins of the composite chip unit. Consequently, modular packing integrated circuit cards with different interface formats can be manufactured from the same composite chip unit by replacing switch cards with different specific interface format during the manufacturing process.
Further, the shell comprises a first cover and a second cover, and the aforementioned switch card with the specific interface format is fastened between the first cover and the second cover. The fastening method is selected from binding, locking, ultrasonic bonding, and any other equivalent fastening method.
In addition, the specific interface format can be a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface, a Secure Digital (SD) interface, a Multimedia Card (MMC) interface, a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) interface, or other interface formats for various electronic equipments. The switch card further comprises a switch circuit for switching electronic signals of the predetermined pins and the specific interface.
The present invention further provides a modular packing method for manufacturing an integrated circuit card comprising the following steps: (A) providing a composite chip unit including a plurality of predetermined pins and at least one chip coupled to the predetermined pins; (B) selecting a switch card with a specific interface format, the switch card having an interface device for the specific interface format, a predetermined space, and a plurality of predetermined lines for correspondingly connecting to the interface device; (C) locating the composite chip unit in the predetermined space of the switch card such that the plurality of predetermined pins of the composite chip unit are correspondingly connected to the predetermined lines of the switch card; and (D) fastening the switch card in a shell. Integrated circuit cards with different interface formats can be manufactured from the same composite chip unit by selecting switch cards with different interface formats in step (B). Such that the inconvenience of exchanging integrated circuit cards with different interface formats with each other can be improved.
Furthermore, step (D) comprises the steps of: (D1) associating the switch card with a second cover, and associating a first cover with the switch card; and (D2) jointing the first cover and the second cover by binding or ultrasonic bonding.
Other objects, advantages, and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Please refer to
The abovementioned shell 10 comprises a first cover 101 and a second cover 102. In this embodiment, the first cover 101 is an upper cover 103, and the second cover 102 is a lower cover 104. The switch card 12 with the specific interface format is fastened between the first cover 101 and the second cover 102.
With reference to
According to the description mentioned above, the present invention enables the composite chip unit 11 to be composed with switch cards 12 having different interface formats by modulizing the elements of an integrated circuit card. Therefore, the integrated circuit card manufacturer can select the switch card 12 with a specific interface format based on user's requirement so as to quickly manufacturing integrated circuit cards by merely composing the composite chip unit 11 in the selected switch card 12 thereby reducing the burden of over-manufactured inventory.
Although the present invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that many other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 93137403 A | Dec 2004 | TW | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20030235040 | Liu et al. | Dec 2003 | A1 |
| 20050279838 | Wang et al. | Dec 2005 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20060118930 A1 | Jun 2006 | US |
