PERSONAL COMPUTER AND PERSONAL COMPUTER ADD-ON CARD

摘要

In a personal computer (9), an add-on card (13) is present to receive digital (TV) signals from a CATV system or from a broadcast satellite. Therefore the PC has an add-on card with an RF connector (6) and a slot (17) for accepting a smart-card for conditional access purposes. In the prior art PC, a credit card sized smart card (11) is used. Due to the dimensions of the smart card and the available height of the add-on card, the tuner (12) has to be placed behind the smart card reader (10). Consequently, a cable (8) between the connector (6) and the tuner (12) is needed. The use of this cable introduces higher manufacturing costs and additional signal loss. In the PC, according to the invention, a reduced size smart card (21) is used, enabling the tuner (12) to be placed directly behind the bracket (4), next to the reduced size smart card reader (20).