Patent Application
20080046767
The audio input connector 32 is arranged on a first surface of the housing 31 and electrically connected to the motherboard 51 of a computer. The audio output connector 35 is arranged on a second surface of the housing 31. The AC to DC power conversion module 36 is arranged in the housing 31 for converting an AC power into a DC power for output. The audio power amplification module 37 is arranged in the housing 31, and electrically connected the audio input connector 32 and the audio output connector 35, respectively, for processing audio signal provided by the computer. The DC to DC power conversion module 38 is arranged in the housing 31, and electrically connected the AC to DC power conversion module 36 and the audio power amplification module 37, respectively, for converting the DC power provided by the AC to DC power conversion module 36 and supplying DC power to the audio power amplification module 37 for operation. The functions and the operations of the elements are further described in the following.
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The second surface 312 of the housing 31 is arranged with the AC power input connector 33, the at least one audio output connector 35, and a power switch 41. Because the second surface 312 faces to the outside of the computer 5, the AC power input connector 33 can be connected a power socket 59 via a power cord 58 to receive the utility power. The audio output connector 35 can be connected to a passive loudspeaker 21 which is at outside of the computer 5, and the user can manipulate the power switch 41 to turn on or turn off the power supply 3.
With the aforementioned power supply 3 with audio amplification mounted in the computer 5, the AC power input connector 33 receives the utility power via the power cord 58, and the DC power output cord 34 can be plugged into the power socket 52 of the motherboard 51 in the computer 5. The AC to DC power conversion module 36 is employed to convert AC power inputted by the AC power input connector 33 into DC power for supplying power to various electronic elements of the computer 5 via the DC power output cord 34. In addition, in the power supply 3 of this embodiment, the DC to DC power conversion module 38 is also electrically connected to the AC to DC power conversion module 36 for converting DC power provided by the AC to DC power conversion module 36 to supply power to the audio power amplification module 37 for operation.
The audio input connector 32 is connected to the audio output connector 53 on the motherboard 51 of the computer 5 via an audio wire 321, wherein the audio output connector 53 can be arranged on the motherboard 51 or sound card of the computer 5. Therefore, when the computer 5 executes an application program to play sound effect, the sound card or the sound chip arranged on the motherboard 51 will generate corresponding audio signals, which are transmitted to the audio input connector 32 via the audio output connector 53 and the audio wire 321. In this embodiment, the audio input connector 32 can be an S/PDIF (Sony/Philips digital interface) 321, a digital audio input 322, an inter-IC sound (I2S), or an audio analog line-in 323.
The audio power amplification module 37 is electrically connected to the audio input connector 32 and the audio output connector 35, respectively, for amplifying the audio signal received by the audio input connector 32 and outputting the amplified audio signal via the audio output connector 35. In this embodiment, the audio output connector 35 is an analog output for speaker.
The power amplification module 37 can be an A-class, a B-class, a C-class, an AB-class, a D-class, or a T-class amplifier. Since the power amplification module 37 is operated by the power converted from the utility power, it is possible to provide more than one watt of audio output for one to multiple channels, which is high enough to drive the passive loudspeaker 21 connected with the audio output connector 35. Further, the audio power amplification module 37 is arranged in the housing 10 which is typically made of metal, and thus high-power electromagnetic interference generated by the audio power amplification module 37 can be effectively blocked so as not to influence the operation of the electronic elements in the computer 5.
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The audio processing module 62 is powered by the DC to DC power conversion module 36 for processing the audio signal received by the audio input connector 32 based on the audio control received by the control connector 61, and outputting the processed audio signal to the audio power amplification module 37 for being amplified and outputted via the audio output connector 35. The audio processing module 62 is preferably a Digital Signal Processing (DSP) module, which processes the received audio signal based on the audio control, so as to perform an adjustment on the output audio signal, for example, volume adjustment, equalization adjustment and sound source selection.
In view of the foregoing, it is known that the power supply with audio amplification in accordance with the present invention is characterized in integrating the audio power amplification module and the audio processing module into the power supply thereby providing the computer with the functions of audio amplifier and audio adjustment, and this power supply with audio amplification can easily substitute the conventional amplifier. Therefore, when being installed with this power supply, the computer can be provide with the functions of integrated audio enhancement and audio amplifier. Further, this power supply is fully compatible with the existent computer architecture.
Although the present invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that many other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 095130421 | Aug 2006 | TW | national |
