Method for producing a portable electronic object
View Patent ↗A method for producing a portable electronic object having contact pads arranged on a plane with a thickness which differs from the thickness of a standard smartcard. The object is electrically connected to data transfer station connectors, by delivering a data transfer station having an electric probe connector and submitting the object to the data transfer station in such a way that the contact pads thereof are accessible to the electric probes in a direction perpendicular to the plane. Objects obtainable include UBS keys or PCMCIA cards or readers.
1. Method of producing a portable electronic object that is electrically tested or personalized, said method comprising the following steps:
supplying an object having a thickness which differs from that of an ISO 7816 smart card, the object comprising electrical contacts that are configured to connect with a communication device by inserting the object into the communication device in an insertion direction of the object,
connecting the electrical contacts of the object with a station for electrically testing or personalizing the object, wherein the object or the station is configured such that the connecting is performed directly, without inserting the object, by following a connection direction of the object that is different from said insertion direction.
2. Method according to claim 1 , wherein the object is attached to a support card body by attachment means.
3. Method according to claim 2 , wherein it comprises a prior step in which the object is configured so that the electrical contacts open onto a surface through at least one window made in one face of the object.
4. Method according to claim 2 , wherein the support card body is in ISO smart-card format (54 mm×85 mm).
5. Method according to claim 1 , wherein the object is chosen from among a USB key, an MMC card, an auxiliary storage card, any card comprising electrical contacts on a surface and having a thickness of more than 1 mm.
6. Method according to claim 3 , wherein the object is a USB key comprising a handling body and a connector extending as an extension of the handling body, said connector comprising a band surrounding the electrical contacts, wherein:
at least one window is dimensioned in the band so that the electrical testing or personalizing can be performed through said window.
7. Method according to claim 6 , wherein the band comprises at least one window for accessing the electrical contacts, extending transversally across all the contacts.
8. Method according to claim 2 , wherein the attachment means comprise a pressure-sensitive adhesive fixed to the support card body.
9. Method according to claim 1 , wherein the attachment means comprise studs with notches extending perpendicularly to the surface of the support card body.
10. Method according to claim 1 , wherein the attachment means comprise strips for linking the object to the support card body.
11. Method according to claim 10 , wherein the object is attached to the strips so as to be entirely positioned above the support card body.
12. Method according to claim 1 , wherein an initial part of the object is attached to the support card body by attachment means and a production operation is performed while the initial part remains attached to the support card body, said operation being chosen from among an operation of assembling complementary parts of the object with the initial part, graphic printing, and packaging.
13. Method according to claim 12 , wherein the initial part of the object is produced at the same time as the support card body by injection moulding and the complementary parts are assembled, the initial part being detachable from the support card body.
14. Method according to claim 12 , wherein the initial part can be detached from the support card body by breaking the attachment means.
15. Method according to claim 12 , wherein the initial part is chosen from among a bottom shell, a top shell, an integrated-circuit support body or an integrated-circuit module of the object.