Card reading terminal having protective shield for input port thereof
AssigneeKhyber Technologies Corporation
InventorRajendra Kumar
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An electronic terminal of the type employing a card reading device mounted within the interior thereof accessible through an input port formed in a wall of the terminal. A one-piece shield formed of an elastomeric material is mounted adjacent the input port of the card reader to prevent the entrance of debris into the interior of the terminal. The shield provides at least two opposing movable flaps extending over the card reader input port. The flaps are readily flexible to allow a card to slide therebetween, and to allow the flaps to flex back into a closed shielding position once the card is withdrawn from the input port. Surrounding portions of the shield form a more rigid body for securing the shield within the input port of the electronic terminal.
Claims12
An improved terminal of the type having card reading means incorporated therein accessible through an input port for detecting information stored on a preprogrammed card when said card is inserted through said input port and into communication with the card reading means, said improvement including:
- shield means mounted on the terminal adjacent the input port having a flexible closure movable between open and closed positions for blocking the entrance of debris through said input port and into the card reading means when in the closed position, and for automatically moving to the open position permitting the passage of a card therethrough when said card is inserted into said input port for communication with said card reading means;
- and wherein said flexible closure includes flexible resilient flap means extending over said input port and forming an entrance slit when said flap means is in the closed position.
An improved terminal of the type having card reading means incorporated therein accessible through an input port for detecting information stored on a preprogrammed card when said card is inserted through said input port and into communication with the card reading means, said improvement including:
- shield means mounted on the terminal adjacent the input port having a flexible closure movable between open and closed positions for blocking the entrance of debris through said input port and into the card reading means when in the closed position, and for automatically moving to the open position permitting the passage of a card therethrough when said card is inserted into said input port for communication with said card reading means;
- wherein said shield means includes a rigid body for mounting the shield means at the input port and the flexible closure includes a pair of opposing flexible flaps extending toward each other and over the input port and forming an entrance slit therebetween when said flexible flaps are in the closed position;
- and in which the shield means further includes a pair of opposed, spaced, arcuate recesses formed in the rigid body for facilitating grasping of the card when inserted almost entirely past the input port and into the terminal for communication with the card reading means located within a hollow interior of the terminal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.