SIM Card Handle With Protrusion for Extraction
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Solution Overview
Problem
The extraction of SIM cards from mobile phone sockets is difficult due to their small size and smooth, slippery surfaces, especially in models without moving parts, making it hard for users to remove or transfer them.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating structural deviations such as recesses, protrusions, handles, or roughened surfaces on the SIM card enclosure to facilitate engagement with an appendage like a pencil, finger, or fingernail, allowing for easier extraction by applying a force through these features.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a SIM card socket without moving parts is used, then the device complexity is reduced and cost is lowered, but the ease of operation for extracting the SIM card deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The SIM card is segmented by adding a protrusion that separates the card into two functional parts: the main card body and the extraction protrusion. This allows the extraction mechanism to be independent from the socket structure, enabling simple sockets without moving parts while maintaining easy extraction through the protrusion feature.
Solution Approach 2:
The protrusion acts as an intermediary element between the user's finger and the SIM card body. Instead of directly gripping the smooth card surface, the user grips the protrusion which provides mechanical advantage and leverage for extraction, solving the problem of extracting cards from simple sockets without moving parts.
2Manufacturing precision
If the SIM card surface is kept smooth, then the manufacturing precision is improved and production is simplified, but the ease of operation for extraction deteriorates due to slippery surface
Solution Approach 1:
The SIM card transitions from having uniform smooth surface quality to having localized different qualities: the main card surface remains smooth for manufacturing simplicity and aesthetic purposes, while the protrusion feature provides localized roughness or geometric characteristics that enhance grip for extraction.
Solution Approach 2:
The card surface is segmented into two functional zones: the smooth main surface for manufacturing efficiency and the protrusion structure for extraction functionality. This segmentation allows each zone to optimize for its specific purpose without compromising the other.
3Ease of operation
If a SIM card with extraction facilitation features is added, then the ease of operation for extraction is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The extraction facilitation is achieved by segmenting the SIM card structure to include a separate protrusion feature rather than complicating the entire card design. This minimal structural addition provides extraction capability while maintaining the overall simplicity of the SIM card form factor.
Solution Approach 2:
The SIM card structure itself provides the extraction mechanism through its own protrusion feature, eliminating the need for external extraction tools or complex socket mechanisms. The card's own structure serves the dual purpose of data storage and extraction facilitation.
Data Source
AI summary
An improved smart card is provided, which is adapted for easy extraction from a smart card socket, or example, in a mobile telephone. Facilitating the easy extraction is a structural deviation in the plane of at least one of the sides of the smart card to enable an increase of an external force on the smart card to thereby cause the extraction of the smart card from a socket. The structural deviation may be a change in the thickness of the smart card or a roughened surface in the smart card's enclosure. The smart card may be a SIM card. Also provided is a method of extracting a smart card from a socket, which method may include the steps of engaging a structural deviation in the plane of at least one side of the smart card's enclosure and applying a force to the engaged structural deviation.