Abstract:
A remote access power (“RAP”) hub for kiosks and information booths with multiple peripherals. The RAP hub provides power at different levels to accommodate different electronic devices and peripherals. The RAP hub also acts as a powered USB hub for connecting multiple USB devices to the devices and peripherals. The RAP hub further has communications functionality so that signals can be transmitted through a network to the hub for controlling the devices and peripherals remotely. The RAP hub is an all-in-one power hub with various power outputs and remote access command. It is designed to support and manage a number of devices and peripherals while avoiding multiple power adapters. A connector block allows the routing of power within multifunction devices, thus eliminating the need for special-ordered wiring harness.

Description:
RELATED FIELD  
       [0001]     The present invention relates to power management for multiple electronic devices, and more particularly relates to power management hubs for managing multiple electronic devices, peripherals and appliances in an electronic kiosk setting.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     It has become quite common to find an electronic kiosk, or information center, in a public area such as a shopping mall or an amusement park. The stand-alone kiosk is designed to provide useful interactive information to the visitors and tourists. Other common types of kiosks are the automated teller machines (“ATM”), automated parking meters, vending machines and electronic airport ticketing stations at airport (“eTicket”). For the sake of simplicity, all such machines are referred to as the kiosk in the following description.  
         [0003]     An electronic kiosk is almost always equipped with a number of electronic devices and peripheral units. For example, a typical kiosk may support one or more monitors, keyboards, printers, audio-visual units, all of which require power to operate. However, not all the peripheral units operate at the same power level, e.g. 5 VDC, 9 V DC, 12 V DC or 24 V DC. As such, a central power cord is typically connected to the kiosk, which in turn provides various levels of power for the peripherals through their respective power adaptors. Such implementation tends to generate a lot of messy and disorganized cables, as well as numerous bulky adaptor units, making maintenance and repair inconvenient.  
         [0004]     Additionally, if any one of the peripherals crashes and hangs up during operation, it would require a reboot by turning it off and on. Rebooting the peripherals usually requires the act of a human operator. If no operator can get to the unit in time, the machine is out of commission and we will have a bunch of unhappy customers because they cannot use the kiosk for its intended purposes. A conventional power strip, such as the one made by Server Technology®, can only provide remote power access, without any efficient means of management. A conventional power strip such as the Server Technology provides only AC output with a single control, which is wholly inadequate for the complexity of modern power and control connection.  
         [0005]     Therefore, it would be desirable to streamline and simplify the cabling arrangement at the electronic kiosk.  
         [0006]     It would also be desirable to control the electronic kiosk remotely in the event of a crash, thus minimizing the need for human intervention.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0007]     A remote access power (“RAP”) hub apparatus is disclosed. The RAP hub of the present invention provides power at different levels to accommodate different electronic devices and peripherals. The RAP hub also acts as a powered USB hub for connecting multiple USB devices to the devices and peripherals. The RAP hub further has communications functionality so that signals can be transmitted through a network to the hub for controlling the devices and peripherals remotely. The RAP hub is an all-in-one power hub with various power outputs and remote access command. It is designed to support and manage a number of devices and peripherals while avoiding multiple power adapters. A connector block allows the routing of power within multifunction devices, thus eliminating the need for special-ordered wiring harness. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0008]      FIG. 1  ( a ) illustrates a simplified system diagram of an exemplary remote access power hub  10  in accordance with the present invention.  
         [0009]      FIG. 1  ( b ) illustrates a simplified block diagram for an exemplary remote access power hub in accordance with the present invention.  
         [0010]      FIG. 2  illustrates a simplified block diagram of an exemplary 12 VDC/24 VDC Power Supply in accordance with the present invention.  
         [0011]      FIG. 3  illustrates a simplified block diagram of an exemplary Relay Control Board in accordance with the present invention.  
         [0012]      FIG. 4  illustrates a simplified block diagram of an exemplary Power Distribution Board in accordance with the present invention.  
         [0013]      FIG. 5  illustrates a simplified block diagram of an exemplary Ethernet Control Board in accordance with the present invention.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0014]     A remote access power hub is disclosed. In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a full understanding of the present invention. It will be obvious, however, to one ordinarily skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without some of these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and techniques have not been shown in detail so as to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present invention.  
         [0015]     Reference is to  FIG. 1  ( a ), where a simplified system diagram of an exemplary remote access power hub  10  in accordance with the present invention is illustrated. The power hub  10  is preferably implemented with 24 VDC Power Supply  100 , 12 VDC Power Supply  105 , Power Distribution Board  110 , Relay Control Board  120  and Ethernet Hub/Modem  130 , the functionality of which will be described in the following paragraphs.  
         [0016]     At the front panel of the remote access power hub  10  (shown at the top of  FIG. 1  ( a )), AC Inlet  109  is connected to I/O Switch  108  for providing power to the remote access power hub  10  from the outside. I/O Switch  108  is connected to 12 VDC Power Supply  105  and Relay Control Board  120  for turning the remote access power hub  10  on and off. Fuse  107  is connected between I/O Switch  108  and AC Inlet  109  and Relay Control Board  120  for preventing current overage. Cooling Fan  106  provides cooling to the power hub  10 . AC Outlets  102 ,  104  are connected from Relay Control Board  120  to provide special AC voltage levels which are not provided for by Power Distribution Board  110  of the hub  10 .  
         [0017]     At the rear panel of the remote access power hub  10  (shown at the bottom of  FIG. 1  ( a )), RJ45 and/or RJ11 ports are provided for Ethernet or modem connection  131 . Currently, four RJ45 and one RJ11 ports are implemented, although it would be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that the number of ports is application-specific. From Power Distribution Board  110 , various voltage levels are provided for the devices connected to the remote access power hub  10 , e.g. 12 VDC (terminal P)  132 , 9/6 VDC (terminal O)  133 , 5 VDC (terminal N)  134 , USB+5 VDC (terminal M, L)  135 , USB data-only (terminal K)  138 , 24 VDC (terminal J)  136  and LED  137 .  
         [0018]     The operation of the remote access power hub  10  is now described as follows. By connecting the power hub&#39;s AC Inlet  109  to any 100V˜240 AC power outlet, it powers 12 VDC Power Supply  105  (through connection A) and Relay Control Board  120  (through connection B). Relay Control Board  120  then provides AC power to 24 VDC Power Supply  100  (through connection C). It also provides AC power to AC Outlets  102 ,  104  (through connections D &amp; E) located at the back panel of the power hub  10 , thus allowing AC Outlets  102 ,  104  to power other external devices.  
         [0019]     The 12 VDC and 24 VDC Power Supplies  105 ,  100  provide 12 VDC and 24 VDC powers to Relay Control Board  120  (through connection F &amp; G). Relay Control Board  120  then passes the 12 VDC and 24 VDC power to Power Distribution Board  110 .  
         [0020]     The 24 VDC power is passed to 24 VDC terminal block  136  (through connection J). This power may used for devices such as ticket/receipt (thermal) printers and coin dispenser. Through Power Distribution Board  110 , the 12 VDC power is allocated to four different DC outputs, which are 12 VDC, 9 VDC, 6 VDC, and 5 VDC. The 12 VDC power is passed to 12 VDC terminal block  132  (through connection P). This power may be used for devices such as motorized card readers, bill acceptors, and monitors. The 9 VDC and 6 VDC powers are passed to 9/6 VDC terminal block  133  (through connection  0 ). This power may be used for speaker units. The 5 VDC power is passed to 5 VDC terminal block  134  (through connection N) and USB ports  135  (through connection M). This 5 VDC terminal block may be used for devices such as touch-screen display units.  
         [0021]     USB output ports  135  pass the signals from/to a personal computer through terminals  135 ,  138  (through connections K &amp; L) and preferably also supply 5 VDC from the power hub (connection M), thus freeing the motherboard from having to supply 5 VDC. The motherboard (not shown) is typically connected to terminal  138  (through connection K). This advantageous feature reduces the load on the motherboard, making it more power efficient and reducing any damage that may occur when multiple USB devices are connected. The devices that may be connected to the USB include magnetic stripe readers, smart card readers, keyboards, track balls, touch pads, barcode readers, biometric readers, and other USB devices.  
         [0022]     Another advantageous feature of the remote access power hub  10  of the present invention is the remote management of power ON/OFF of all outputs. Located at the left side of the front panel is Ethernet or Modem input  131 . Either Ethernet or modem connections may be used to remotely manage the power hub  10 . After the power hub  10  is initially powered on, if a power-on reset is required due to a hung system, all that is needed to reboot the kiosk is to establish a connection via dial-up or Ethernet, and transmit the power ON/OFF reboot command (through connections H &amp; I). The power hub  10  will shut down, and then restore power to the outputs as shown.  
         [0023]     Reference is now turned to  FIG. 1  ( b ), where a simplified remote access power hub block diagram is illustrated. As shown, Relay Control Board  120  receives 12 VDC and 24 VDC currents from 12 VDC Power Supply  105  and 24 VDC Power Supply  100 , where the 12 VDC and 24 VDC currents are still available when the relay is triggering.  
         [0024]     AC currents are provided by Relay Control Board  120  to AC Outlets  102 ,  104 , but such AC currents are not available when the relay is triggering. The 12 VDC and/or 24 VDC currents are supplied by Relay Control Board  120  to Power Distribution Board  110 , except when the relay is triggering. The 12 VDC currents are supplied by the Relay Control Board  120  to Ethernet Hub/Modem  130 , and remain available even when the relay is triggering. AC currents are supplied by AC Inlet  109  to Relay Control Board  120  and 12 VDC Power Supply  105 , and remain available when the relay is triggering. The AC power to 12 VDC Power Supply  105 , to Rely Control Board  120 , to 24 VDC Power Supply  100  and DC power to Ethernet Hub/Modem  130  preferably remain available when the relay is triggering. This way, the power will be back on after the power shutdown. When the relay is triggering, only the “output power” is shut down, whereas the internal power is still working. Although AC is supplied to 24 VDC Power Supply  100  indirectly from AC Inlet  109  through Relay Control Board  120  in one embodiment, AC could be directly supplied by AC Inlet  109  to 24 VDC Power  100 . By going through Relay Control Board  120  as an intermediate connection, assembly is made easier.  
         [0025]     Power Distribution Board  110  supplies 24 VDC to 24 VDC Terminal Block  136 , 12 VDC to 12 VDC Terminal Block  132 , 6 VDC/9 VDC to 6 VDC/9 VDC Terminal Block  133 , and 5 VDC to 5 VDC Terminal Block/USB Hub  134 . All these currents are not available when the relay is triggering, thus allowing the power hub to reboot the terminal blocks  132 ,  133 ,  134 ,  136 , upon command.  
         [0026]     Reference is now turned to  FIG. 2 , where the 12 VDC/24 VDC Power Supply ( FIG. 1, 100 ,  105 ) is further illustrated in a simplified block diagram The AC-DC power supply  20  takes universal AC input from 110 VAC  205  to  220  VAC  200 . Such versatility makes it particularly suitable for both North American and European applications. It outputs either 12 VDC or 24 VDC  275  depending on the specific model number to customer kiosk peripherals. The 12 VDC power supply also supplies the power distribution board to generate +5 VDC, +6 VDC, and +9 VDC to kiosk peripherals.  
         [0027]     The AC-DC power supply  20  shown in  FIG. 2  operates as follows. The AC input (either 110 VAC or 220 VAC) comes from wall outlet and gets through a fuse  210  first. The fuse  210  protects the AC power line by disconnecting the power supply  20  from AC power line when a short or other event happens inside the power supply  20  and causes the AC input current to increase dramatically. When the power supply  20  presents a short to the AC power line, the fuse  210  will be burned out prior to any damage to power line.  
         [0028]     The AC input then goes through an inrush current limiter  215  after it passes through the fuse  210 . The inrush current limiter  215  is a kind of a resistor, whose resistance changes as the current flows through it. When applying an AC input to the power supply  20 , there will be an inrush current spike with very high magnitude. The inrush current limiter will show a high resistance to this current, and thus limit the inrush current to a safe level.  
         [0029]     Preferably after the inrush current limiter, there is a surge protector  220  to prevent the power supply  20  from damage when a lightning strike takes place. As it is known that when lightning occurs, the AC power line will generate a voltage spike with several thousand volts magnitude. That is called a surge. The surge protector  220  will clamp that voltage to a safe level (usually a few hundred volts) for the power supply  20 .  
         [0030]     After surge protector  220 , there is an EMI filter network  230 . The EMI filter  230  is used to filter out hazardous harmonic generated by the power supply  20  itself and transmitted back to the AC power line. Hazardous harmonic is pollution and noise to AC power line. The EMI filter  230  is in charge of preventing AC power line from electronic pollution generated by power supplies attached to AC power line.  
         [0031]     Till now the power is still in the AC format. After the bridge rectifier  240 , the power becomes pulsed DC and goes into PFC circuits  250 . The PFC stands for power factor correction and its major function is to correct the poor power factor due to partial conduction angle of bridge rectifier diodes. The AC power line will benefit from the PFC  250  because the PFC  250  increases the power utilization of power line and decreases the harmonic to the power line. Because of the nature of PFC circuit  250 , it outputs 380 VDC (shown as Bulk 380 VDC  252  and its reference of Primary ground) to the following DC-DC conversion stage.  
         [0032]     The 380 VDC output  252  from PFC circuits  250  applies to power MOSFET(power switch  260 ) via the switching mode transformer. The gate of MOSFET was controlled by a PWM (Pulse-Width-modulation) controller so the MOSFET works on on-off status with variable duty-cycle to charge and discharge the transformer  265 . Energy is therefore transmitted to the secondary side of transformer  265  by changing magnetic field.  
         [0033]     On the secondary side of transformer  265 , a rectification circuit  270  consists of diode and capacitor rectifies and smoothes the pulsed DC to generate stable DC output (12 VDC/24 VDC  275  and its reference of secondary ground). At the meanwhile, the output DC was sampled and feedback  280  to the primary side PWM controller  285  via an optic-coupler to adjust the output pulse width of PWM controller, thus adjusting the output DC itself to an ideal level and keeping itself stable when loading on 12 VDC changes dynamically.  
         [0034]     Reference is now turned to  FIG. 3 , where a simplified block diagram of an exemplary Relay Control Board  120  is further described. As previously described, Relay Control Board  120  provides AC power to 24 VDC Power Supply  100  and to two AC Outlets  102 ,  104 . Relay Control Board  120  also passes the 12 VDC and 24 VDC power to Power Distribution Board  110 . Relay Control Board  120  can receive control signals through Ethernet Hub or Modem  130  to manage power ON/OFF of all outputs. As shown in  FIG. 3 , control signals  300  are applied to control Relay  1  for 110/220 VAC Negative  305 , Relay  2  for 110/220 VAC line  310 , Relay  3  for 24 VDC  315  and Relay  4  for 12 VDC  320 . Relay  1   305  controls the 110/220 VAC negative In  330  and Out  335 . Relay  2   310  controls 110/220 VAC line In  340  and Out  345 . Relay  3   315  controls 24 VDC In  355  and Out  360 . Relay  4   320  controls 12 VDC In  370  and Out  375 .  
         [0035]     Reference is now turned to  FIG. 4 , where a simplified block diagram of Power Distribution Board  110  is further described. The 12 VDC input  400  (from Relay Control Board  120 ) is used to generate 12 VDC Output  132  (without any switching regulator), 5 VDC Output  134  (through switching regulator  402 ), 6 VDC Output  133   a  (through switching regulator  404 ), and 9 VDC Output  133   b  (through switching regular  406 ). The 24 VDC input  410  (from Relay Control Board  120 ) generate 24 VDC output  136 . The 5 VDC input  420  (from Relay Control Board  120 ) powers USB Hub Controller  435  and the Downstream USB ports  135   a - d  through Linear Regulator  425 . Data stream may be supplied from upstream USB port  430  to downstream USB ports by using the power provided from 5 VDC input  420 . By providing 5 VDC on the Power Distribution Board  110 , the motherboard of the host PC (connected to the RAP hub of the invention) is freed from having to supply 5 VDC, thus avoiding draining power from the motherboard.  
         [0036]     Reference is now turned to  FIG. 5 , where a simplified block diagram of an exemplary Ethernet Control Board  130  is further described. Ethernet Control Board  130  is the main logic control board which receives the remote command from the Host PC. The Host PC sends the command through a Wide Area Network (“WAN”) or Local Area Network (“LAN”) to reach the Ethernet Control Board  130  at RJ45 Port  131   a - d . It does not matter which RJ45 port is connected to the Net, through the RTL8091 chip  505  with proper IP address setup in the 32 KB SRAM  520  controlled by micro controller  510 , e.g. a Winbond® micro controller. Upon receipt, the command will pass through the TCP/IP protocol and convert to RS232 protocol for 8031 CPU (“central processing unit”)  525  to process.  
         [0037]     After the right command is received at the 8031 CPU  525 , the 8031 CPU  525  will compare the Serial Number and Password stored in the 128 KB Flash memory  530 . The 8031 CPU will then respond to the command. The command preferably has tow types, one for testing the communication and another for activating the FPGA IC  540  (“field-programmable gate array integrated circuit”) to trigger the relay to control the Power Off/On  545 .  
         [0038]     The response will be sent back to the host PC, which can be connected to any port of the RJ45 Ports  131   a - d , from the 8031 CPU&#39;s RS232 port, through Winbond® Micro Controller  510 . Its RS232 protocol is converted to TCP/IP by the RTL8019 chip  505 , which is then forwarded to Ethernet Switch  500 .  
         [0039]     The Relay command will be activated by the FPGA IC  540  and control the internal 12 VDC with maximum 1 A load Relay. The internal relay will connect to Relay Control Board  120  to control the relay, in order to prevent the surge to directly damage the Ethernet Control Board  130 .  
         [0040]     The optional Modem Board  535  may connect to the same Ethernet Control Board  130 , in addition to, or in place of, the Ethernet communication chip like the Micro Controller  510 , RTL 8091AS  505 , Ethernet Switch  500 , and RJ45 Ports  131 . Communication to the host PC will be using the LAN or WAN networks, via TCP/IP, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, public telephone line, or POTS connections, with dedicated or non-dedicated phone line. Host PC will dial the phone number to which the Modem board was connected. After the automatic connection by the Modem board  130 , the Host command will be sent through the phone line and directed into the 8031 CPU  525 , and then the CPU will process in the same manner as Ethernet Control Board  130 .  
         [0041]     An exemplar User&#39;s Manual for the Remote Access Power Hub in accordance with the present invention is appended to this application as Appendix A. Another exemplary RAPid™ Serve User&#39;s Manual for providing the configuration and communication utility for setting and managing the RAP device is also appended to this application as Appendix B. Both Appendices A and B are hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.  
         [0042]     Although the invention is described herein with reference to the preferred embodiment, one skilled in the art will readily appreciate that other applications may be substituted for those set forth herein without departing from the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the invention should only be limited by the claims included below.