IC card rear board support

A frameless IC card comprising:

• a circuit board (14) having front and rear ends (20, 24), said board having a small thickness, a larger laterally-extending width, and a still longer length extending in front and rear directions;
• front and rear board supports (22, 26) that each directly supports a corresponding end of said circuit board;
• a sheet metal cover (30) that includes upper and lower cover portions lying respectively above and below said circuit board and front and rear cover portions that are directly supported on said front and rear board supports, respectively;
• said rear board support having top and bottom flanges and a plurality of laterally-spaced vertical first ribs extending vertically between said flanges, with each of said first ribs having horizontally-aligned first grooves that each have a thickness about equal to the thickness of said board and with said circuit board rear end lying in said grooves.

An IC card system which includes at least two types of IC cards, wherein each type of card includes a circuit board having front and rear ends, front and rear board supports connected respectively to said board front and rear ends, and a sheet metal cover having upper and lower cover portions lying respectively over and under said circuit board and front and rear cover ends each coupled to one of said board supports, wherein:

• for each of said types of IC cards, said rear board support has a horizontal centerplane and laterally spaced opposite sides, said rear board support has first and second sets of vertical ribs, with said vertical ribs being laterally spaced, with each vertical rib of said first set having a first groove of about the same thickness as said circuit board and spaced a first distance from said centerplane, and with each vertical rib of said second set having a second groove of about the same thickness as said circuit board and spaced a second distance from said centerplane which is greater than said first distance;
• in a first type of IC card, the circuit board rear end has laterally-spaced slots that are wider than the ribs of said second set and that receive said ribs of said second set, while locations on said circuit board rear end are received in said first grooves;
• in a second type of IC card, the circuit board rear end has laterally-spaced slots that are wider than the ribs of said first set, while locations on said circuit board rear end are received in said second grooves.