This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 97111847, filed on Apr. 1, 2008. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a server, and more particularly, to a server suitable for reducing deployment of transmission lines.
2. Description of Related Art
Servers are broadly used by various enterprises today, and the server incorporating the applications in Internet and communication industry has got significant development and is also penetrated into our daily lives, such as money market, financial business, Internet bank and Internet credit card transaction, where by means of the powerful computing capacity of the server, the data can be highly encrypted to prevent decoding. A server functions, as the term thereof indicates, that providing numerous processed information in LAN (local area network), Internet or other networks, delivering the information to the terminals of the server through a network and being output to any user needing the above-mentioned information.
Since the conventional server 100 requires a large number of transmission lines 172-175 to electrically connect the connectors 161-165 to the front board 120 and the back board 130; therefore, many transmission lines are distributed in the hardware space of the conventional server 100, which makes the interior space of the system appear not good with neat and nice look. Moreover, a large number of transmission lines 172-175 not only reduces the heat-dissipating mechanism of the conventional server 100, but also reduces the system stability thereof.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a server to reduce obstructing the heat-dissipating mechanism of a system caused by transmission lines.
The present invention is also directed to a server suitable to make the hardware space of the server appear better with neat and nice look.
The present invention provides a server, which includes a mother board, a back board and a bridge board. A plurality of first connection lines and a first slot are disposed on the mother board, wherein the first connection lines are electrically connected to the first slot for delivering a plurality of power signals and a plurality of control signals. In addition, the control signals respectively conform one of a plurality of data transfer interfaces.
A second slot is disposed on the back board. The bridge board has a first golden finger and a second golden finger, and a plurality of second connection lines is disposed on the bridge board to electrically connect the first golden finger to the second golden finger. The first golden finger and the second golden finger herein are respectively inserted into the first slot and the second slot, so that the control signals and the power signals both from the mother board are delivered to the back board through the second connection lines.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned data transfer interfaces includes a universal serial bus interface, a SATA interface, a floppy disk drive interface and an integrated drive electronics interface.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the server further includes a system chip and a plurality of expansion slots, wherein the system chip and the expansion slots are disposed on the mother board. Besides, the system chip is used to generate a part of the control signals from the mother board; the expansion slots are used to accept a plurality of expansion cards to be inserted therein, and the expansion cards generate a part of the control signals from the mother board as well.
The present invention also provides a server, which includes a front board, a back board, a mother board, a first bridge board and a second bridge board. The front board and the back board respectively have a first slot and a second slot. A plurality of first connection lines, a plurality of second connection lines, a third slot and a fourth slot are disposed on the mother board.
The first connection lines herein are electrically connected to the third slot for delivering a plurality of power signals and a plurality of first control signals conforming to the specification of a specific data transfer interface. In addition, the second connection lines are electrically connected to the fourth slot for delivering a plurality of second control signals conforming the specifications of a plurality of data transfer interfaces
The first bridge board has a first golden finger and a second golden finger, and a plurality of third connection lines is disposed on the first bridge board to electrically connect the first golden finger to the second golden finger. The first golden finger and the second golden finger herein are respectively inserted into the first slot and the third slot, so that the first control signals and the power signals both from the mother board are delivered to the front board through the third connection lines.
The second bridge board has a third golden finger and a fourth golden finger, and a plurality of fourth connection lines is disposed on the second bridge board to electrically connect the third golden finger to the fourth golden finger. The third golden finger and the fourth golden finger herein are respectively inserted into the second slot and the fourth slot, so that the second control signals from the mother board are delivered to the back board through the fourth connection lines.
Since the present invention uses the connection lines on the bridge board to substitute the transmission lines between the mother board and the front board or the back board. In this way, the server provided by the present invention is able to reduce obstructing the heat-dissipating mechanism of the system caused by the transmission lines and thereby to promote the stability of the internal system. Moreover, the hardware space of the server appears better with neat and nice look due to fewer transmission lines are disposed.
The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts.
The bridge board 230 further has two golden fingers 231 and 232. In addition, a plurality of connection lines, for example, connection lines 241-243 shown in
Note that the data transfer interfaces which the control signals from the mother board 210 must conform include a USB interface (universal serial bus interface), an SATA interface, a floppy disk drive interface and an IDE interface (integrated drive electronics interface).
Besides, in the present embodiment, the slots 261 and 262 can be implemented by using slots conforming to the PCI-X interface specification or the PCI-E interface specification. For example, corresponding to the back board 220 adopting parallel data-transferring mode, a slot conforming to the PCI-X interface specification is directly used; in contrast, corresponding to the back board 220 adopting serial data-transferring mode, a slot conforming to the PCI-E interface specification is directly used, and the above-mentioned configurations are well known for anyone skilled in the art. Furthermore, a serial-to-parallel converter or a parallel-to-serial converter can be respectively disposed on the mother board 210 and the back board 220 to optionally use the slot conforming to the PCI-X interface specification or the slot conforming to the PCI-E interface specification.
Particularly, compared to the prior art, the embodiment is able to use the connection lines disposed on the bridge board 230 to deliver signals to the front board and the back board; while the conventional server 100 (as shown in
Moreover, the server 200 further includes a system chip 240, a plurality of fans 271-274, a frame 280 and a plurality of expansion slots 291-293, wherein the system chip 240 is disposed on the mother board 210 for generating a part of the control signal delivered by the connection lines 251-254.
The expansion slots 291-293 are disposed on the mother board 210 for accepting a plurality of expansion cards to be inserted therein. The expansion cards inserted in the expansion slots 291-293 are able to generate a part of the control signals delivered by the connection lines 251-254 as well. In the embodiment, the expansion card includes a SATA expansion card, a SCSI expansion card and a SAS expansion card (serial attached SCSI expansion card). The expansion slots 291-293 conform to the specification of PCI interface or PCI-E interface.
The real related positions of the backboard 220, the mother board 210 and the bridge board 230 are shown in
Referring to
Continuing to
In more detail, in the second embodiment, the back board 220, the mother board 210 and the bridge board 530 and the disposition relationship between them are as shown in
Referring to
Referring to
Note that, similar to the first embodiment, the second embodiment is able to use the connection lines disposed on the bridge board 530 to deliver signals to the front board and the back board; while the conventional server 100 (as shown in
The connection lines 771-774 herein are used to deliver a plurality of power signals and a plurality of first control signals conforming to a specific data transfer interface specification. The slots 781 and 783 are respectively electrically connected to the golden finger 751 and 752 located on the bridge boards 750. Thus, the first control signals and the power signals from the mother board 710 are delivered to the front board 730 through the connection lines on the bridge boards 750. Note that the system chip 790 can generate a part of the first control signals delivered by the connection lines 771-774, and the specific data transfer interface with the specification the first control signals conform is a USB interface.
Continuing to
In terms of overall layout, the front board 730 and the mother board 710 are perpendicular to a direction in a side surface of the bridge board 750 and the golden fingers 751 and 752 are disposed on the side surface of the bridge board 750, but anyone skilled in the art can alter the relative positions of the front board 730, the mother board 710 and the bridge boards 750 referring to the longitudinal cross-section diagram of
Referring to
In terms of the overall operations, the connection lines 761-764 herein are used to deliver a plurality of second control signals conforming to the specifications of a plurality of data transfer interfaces. For example, the slots 782 and 784 are respectively electrically connected to the golden finger 741 and 742 located on the bridge boards 740. Thus, the second control signals from the mother board 710 are delivered to the back board 720 through the connection lines on the bridge boards 740.
Note that the system chip 790 is also used to generate a part of the second control signals delivered by the connection lines 761-764. In addition, the data transfer interfaces with the specifications the second control signals conform include a USB interface (universal serial bus interface), a SATA interface, a floppy disk drive interface and an IDE interface; the said slots 781-784 can be implemented by using slots conforming to the specification of PCI-X interface or PCI-E interface.
For example, when the back board 720 and the front board 730 adopt parallel data-transferring mode, anyone skilled in the art can directly employs a slot conforming the PCI-X interface specification; in contrast, when the back board 720 and the front board 730 adopt serial data-transferring mode, a slot conforming the PCI-E interface specification is directly used. Furthermore, a serial-to-parallel converter or a parallel-to-serial converter can be respectively disposed on the mother board 710, the back board 720 and the front board 730 to optionally use the slot conforming the PCI-X interface specification or the slot conforming the PCI-E interface specification.
Continuing to refer to
In terms of overall layout, the back board 720 and the mother board 710 are perpendicular to a direction in a side surface of the bridge board 740 and the golden fingers 741 and 742 are disposed on the side surface of the bridge board 740, but anyone skilled in the art can alter the relative positions of the back board 720, the mother board 710 and the bridge boards 750 referring to the longitudinal cross-section diagram of
Referring to
Referring to
In summary, since the present invention uses the connection lines on the bridge board to substitute the transmission lines between the mother board and the front board or the back board. In this way, the server provided by the present invention is able to reduce obstructing the heat-dissipating mechanism of the system caused by the transmission lines and thereby to promote the stability of the internal system. Moreover, the hardware space of the server appears better with neat and nice look due to fewer transmission lines are disposed.
The foregoing description of the preferred embodiment of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form or to exemplary embodiments disclosed. Accordingly, the foregoing description should be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive. Obviously, many modifications and variations will be apparent to practitioners skilled in this art. The embodiments are chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its best mode practical application, thereby to enable persons skilled in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use or implementation contemplated. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the claims appended hereto and their equivalents in which all terms are meant in their broadest reasonable sense unless otherwise indicated. Therefore, the term “the invention”, “the present invention” or the like is not necessary limited the claim scope to a specific embodiment, and the reference to particularly preferred exemplary embodiments of the invention does not imply a limitation on the invention, and no such limitation is to be inferred. The invention is limited only by the spirit and scope of the appended claims. The abstract of the disclosure is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract, which will allow a searcher to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure of any patent issued from this disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. Any advantages and benefits described may not apply to all embodiments of the invention. It should be appreciated that variations may be made in the embodiments described by persons skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims. Moreover, no element and component in the present disclosure is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether the element or component is explicitly recited in the following claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
97111847 | Apr 2008 | TW | national |