BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
We hope that you, the examiner, can further figure out the object, Figure, features, and performance of this invention, so we give embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and make a detailed description as follows.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating the structure of a conventional backplane;
FIG. 2 is a structural schematic view illustrating the circuit of a conventional half-sized PCI CPU card;
FIG. 3 is a schematic view illustrating a side of the conventional half-sized PCI CPU card;
FIG. 4 is a side view of a half-sized PCI CPU card according to this invention;
FIG. 5 is a top view of a backplane according to this invention;
FIG. 6 is a top view of the backplane in an embodiment of this invention; and
FIG. 7 is a top view of the backplane in the other embodiment of this invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Now, the present invention will be described more specifically with reference to the following embodiments. It is to be noted that the following descriptions of preferred embodiments of this invention are presented herein for purpose of illustration and description only; it is not intended to be exhaustive or to be limited to the precise form disclosed.
With reference to FIG. 3, a golden finger 31 meeting the standard of PCI bus is provided at an edge of a conventional half-sized PCI CPU card 30 so that the conventional half-sized PCI CPU card 30 may be inserted into a corresponding PCI slot on a backplane of a conventional IPC or server by means of the PCI golden finger 31. The PCI golden finger 31 are provided at the edge of conventional half-sized PCI CPU card 30 and a certain space 32 is further reserved. In this invention, such a space 32 is used on the half-sized PCI CPU card 30 for increasing the expandability of PCIe peripherals.
This invention relates to a half-sized PCI central processing unit card and a computer device having the capability of PCIe expansion. Again with reference to FIG. 3, the reserved space 32 provided at the side of the conventional half-sized PCI CPU card 30 is used. With reference to FIG. 4, at an edge of a printed circuit board of the half-sized PCI CPU card 40 according to this invention, a golden finger 41 meeting the standard of PCI bus and a golden finger 42 meeting the standard of PCIe bus are provided. Again with reference to FIG. 4, the half-sized PCI CPU card 40 further comprises a CPU 43, a North Bridge chip 44, and a South Bridge chip 45, on which, according to actual requirements, control components and interfaces required for normal operation of the computer are provided, in which the North Bridge chip 44 connects to the CPU 43 and the South Bridge chip 45, being connected to a memory and a video card (not shown) provided on the half-sized PCI CPU card 40 for high-speed signal transmission, while the South Bridge chip 45 is connected through circuits arranged on the half-sized PCI CPU card 40 to the PCI golden finger 41, the PCIe golden finger 42, and other devices (such as Real Time Clock, Power Management, and USB transmission interface USB, not shown) for signal transmission therebetween and communicates with the CPU 43 through the North Bridge chip 44 for communication among the CPU 43, the PCI golden finger 41, and the PCIe golden finger 42.
In this invention, the backplane 50 for insertion of the half-sized PCI CPU card 40, as shown in FIG. 5, is a printed circuit board on which a plurality of slots 51 meeting the standard of PCI bus and at least one slot 52 meeting the standard of PCIe bus are arranged in parallel. The pins of each of the PCI slots 51 are electrically connected through the circuits 53 arranged on the backplane 50. On the backplane 50, at least one expansion slot 54 meeting the standard of PCIe bus is further provided. The pins of the PCIe expansion slot 54 are electrically connected to the pins of the PCIe slot 52 through the expansion circuits 55 arranged on the backplane 50, in which, according to actual requirements, at least one PCIe slot 52 is aligned with one of the PCI slots 51 at the same side so that the PCI golden finger 41 and the PCIe golden finger 42 that are provided at an edge of the half-sized PCI CPU card 40 in FIG. 4 may be inserted into the corresponding PCI slot 51 and PCIe slot 52 that are provided on the backplane 50, respectively.
Thus, depending on requests, again with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, a user may insert the half-sized PCI CPU card 40 into the corresponding PCI slot 51 and PCIe slot 52 that are aligned at the same side on the backplane 50, and insert peripherals (not shown) meeting the standard of PCIe bus into the PCIe expansion slot 54 so that the half-sized PCI CPU card 40 may use the PCIe slot 52 to communicate with the peripherals inserted into the PCIe expansion slot 54 through the expansion circuits 55 for effective elevation of the expandability of half-sized PCI CPU card 40.
In the following embodiments of this invention, with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7, description of the design according to this invention is made in detail.
In one of the embodiments of this invention, with reference to FIG. 6, 4 slots 61, 62, 63, and 64 meeting the standard of PCI bus and at least a slot 65 meeting the standard of PCIe×4 are provided in parallel on the backplane 60. The pins of each of the PCI slots 61, 62, 63, and 64 are electrically connected through the circuits 66 arranged on the backplane 60. On the backplane 60, an expansion slot 67 meeting the standard of PCIe×4 is further provided. The pins of the PCIe×4 expansion slot 67 are electrically connected to the pins of the PCIe×4 slot 65 through the expansion circuits 68 arranged on the backplane 60, and the PCIe×4 slot 65 is aligned with the PCI slot 62 so that the PCI golden finger and the PCIe×4 golden finger that are provided on the half-sized PCI CPU card may be inserted into the corresponding PCI slot 62 and PCIe×4 slot 65 that are provided on the backplane 60, respectively. Thus, depending on requests, the user may insert peripherals (not shown) meeting the PCIe×4 bus standard into the PCIe×4 expansion slot 67 so that the half-sized PCI CPU card may use the PCIe×4 slot 65 to communicate with the peripherals inserted into the PCIe×4 expansion slot 67 through the expansion circuits 68.
In the other embodiment of this invention, again with reference to FIG. 7, 3 slots 71, 72, and 73 meeting the standard of PCI bus and a slot 74 meeting the standard of PCIe×4 are provided in parallel on the backplane 70. The pins of each of the PCI slots 71, 72, and 73 are electrically connected through the circuits 75 arranged on the backplane 70. On the backplane 70, two expansion slots 75 and 76 meeting the standard of PCIe×1 are further provided, in which the pins are electrically connected to the pins of the PCIe×4 slot 74 through the expansion circuits 77 arranged on the backplane, and the PCIe×4 slot 74 is aligned with the PCI slot 72 so that the PCI golden finger and the PCIe×4 golden finger that are provided on the half-sized PCI CPU card may be inserted into the corresponding PCI slot 72 and PCIe×4 slot 74 that are provided on the backplane 70, respectively. Thus, depending on requests, the user may optionally insert one or two peripherals (not shown) meeting the standard of PCIe×1 bus into the PCIe×1 expansion slots 75 and 76 so that the half-sized PCI CPU card 70 may use the PCIe×4 slot 74 to communicate with the peripherals inserted into the PCIe×1 expansion slots 75 and 76 through the expansion circuits 77 one after another.
However, in the description mentioned above, only the preferred embodiments according to this invention are provided without limitation to claims of this invention; all those skilled in the art without exception should include the equivalent changes and modifications as falling within the true scope and spirit of the present invention, the amount of modified PCI slots on the backplane, PCIe slots and PCIe expansion slots, PCIe transmission channels (namely 2, 4, 7, 16, or 32 transmission channels), and their permutation and combination; by means of the design, the half-sized PCI CPU card uses the PCIe slot arranged on the backplane to communicate with the peripherals inserted into the PCIe expansion slot through the expansion circuits.
While the invention has been described in terms of what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention needs not to be limited to the disclosed embodiment. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims which are to be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures.
Patent Application
20080059678
