HP and/or Seiko-Epson IC memory card patent(s)?

[Jonathan Busby]

I've been trying to find the patent(s) for the ESD protection mechanism used on official HP and also Seiko-Epson ( on which the HP memory cards are based ) IC RAM / memory cards. The ESD protection consists of a small, spring-loaded metal protector that retracts from the card-edge contacts when the memory card is inserted into the calculator ( 48SX/GX ). I've searched the web, used the USPTO's full text patent search with complex boolean searches, the same with Google Patents and the comp.sys.hp48 Usenet archives on groups.google.com and I've found nothing relevant. If someone could point me to where I can find the relevant patents I'd be very appreciative.

Thanks,
Jonathan

[cruff]

Is there a claim that that shutter was patented? It seems to me rather too simple to warrant a patent grant.

[Jonathan Busby]

(05-29-2022 11:21 PM)cruff Wrote:  Is there a claim that that shutter was patented? It seems to me rather too simple to warrant a patent grant.

I thought I remember reading either in one of the HP journal articles, or from some other source, such as Dave Arnett, that the official HP RAM card ESD protection mechanism was indeed patented. As for "too simple", if you browse the various HP calculator related patents, you'll be surprised how obvious some of them are -- I mean, the USPTO even granted a patent ( not related to HP calculators ) for swinging on a swing sideways ( see Austin Meyers' ( CEO of Laminar Research and the author of X-Plane ) "The Patent Scam" )

Regards,

Jonathan

[Steve Simpkin]

I looked at the HP Journal editions that covered the HP 48SX (June 1991) and HP 48G/GX (August 1994). While they did describe the memory card interface and other details, they did not mention any patent information that I could find. The closest I was able to find was a comment from compatible memory card manufacturer CMT regarding their use of "tranzorbs" for ESD protection instead of the "patented" shutter used by Epson.

"The transzorb is a high speed transient absorber that is used to help protect
the card's circuitry from transient voltage spikes. The shutter is patented by
EPSON (I believe) so we chose to use tranzorbs for protection against ESD."

The full text is available from:
https://www.hpcalc.org/hp48/docs/misc/cmtcards.txt

[Kiwi]

Hi Jonathan,

Attached you will find the US and EU patents for the Seiko Epson shutter mechanism.
I think the patent was (initially) for 20 years.

[Jonathan Busby]

(05-30-2022 08:00 PM)Kiwi Wrote:  Hi Jonathan,

Attached you will find the US and EU patents for the Seiko Epson shutter mechanism.
I think the patent was (initially) for 20 years.

Thanks so much! Just curious, but how did you find the above? In addition to the USPTO patent database, I used Google Patents but I failed to find anything relevant. I didn't think to search the Japanese and European Union patent databases, of which the attached patents seem to be a part, but one would have thought that Google Patents would have found what I was looking for.

Anyways, thanks again!

Regards,

Jonathan

[Kiwi]

Hi Jonathan,

A few years ago, I had the same question as you, so I looked up different patents databases and stumbled rather by accident on the right one. I don't remember which key words I used for that but at that time, I wrote down the patent number and luckily, I found it back. :-)

[Jonathan Busby]

(06-02-2022 01:40 PM)Kiwi Wrote:  Hi Jonathan,

A few years ago, I had the same question as you, so I looked up different patents databases and stumbled rather by accident on the right one. I don't remember which key words I used for that but at that time, I wrote down the patent number and luckily, I found it back. :-)

I happy you had such a fortuitous accident, and that you found the patent numbers

Thanks again!

Jonathan

[Jonas Sandstedt]

Hello,

I have not tried to search for the documents in this specific case, but in my personal experience Espacenet is the most efficient free patent data base:

https://worldwide.espacenet.com/?locale=en_EP

There is an "Advanced search" option that can be helpful.

best regards
Jonas

[Jonathan Busby]

(06-03-2022 07:23 AM)Jonas Sandstedt Wrote:  Hello,

I have not tried to search for the documents in this specific case, but in my personal experience Espacenet is the most efficient free patent data base:

https://worldwide.espacenet.com/?locale=en_EP

There is an "Advanced search" option that can be helpful.

best regards
Jonas

Thanks for the info!

Regards,

Jonathan