Abstract:
A universal serial bus integrated device. The integrated device comprises a housing and an integrated circuit board. The integrated circuit board is disposed in the housing, comprising a plurality of universal serial bus slots thereon.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates to an integrated device, and in particular to a universal serial bus (USB) integrated device for enlarging the capacity of peripheral devices therein.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0004]     Personal and industrial computers usually require various peripheral devices. A conventional computer comprises not only a central processing device, but also other peripheral devices such as RAM, video card, sound card, hard disk drives, CD-ROM drives, floppy disk drives, each of which is connected to a motherboard via cable connectors or slot connectors of different interfaces such as IDE (integrated device electronics), PCI (peripheral component interconnect), and AGP (accelerated graphics port) slots, disposed either inside or outside the housing. Currently, the most widely used interface is the universal serial bus (USB) interface, which possesses relatively faster data transfer between a processor and peripheral devices. As shown in  FIG. 1 , a conventional computer  1  comprises at least two USB ports  2  in addition to traditional serial, parallel, and keyboard/mouse ports (not shown). A USB cable  3  has two ends, respectively having a different-shaped USB connector  31  or  32  for preventing improper connections between the USB ports  2  and the peripheral devices (USB interface devices)  4 . The USB interface typically provides a much faster transfer rate of 1.5 Mbps to 12 Mbps, than the speeds provided by a parallel or serial port. Thus, data transfer efficiency between the computer  1  and peripheral devices  4  is greatly improved via the USB cable  3 . Additionally, operating system such as Microsoft Windows 2000 or Windows XP supports the USB interface. Thus, computer  1  can be equipped with USB interface devices  4  such as USB network interface cards, hubs, keyboards, mouse, joysticks, CD-ROM drives, disk drives, printers, scanners, and digital cameras. A major advantage of USB is the ability to “hot swap” peripheral devices, that is, the host computer needs not to be turned off when a new device is connected thereto.  
         [0005]     As mentioned above, in the conventional computer, most peripheral devices are typically connected by cables or slot connectors with different interfaces. Cables, however, may become tangled in the limited space provided inside the computer housing. To increase the available space in the PC, some peripheral devices can be externally connected thereto via USB ports. This, however, brings the same problem of tangled and disorganized cables, outside the PC. The limited number of USB ports on each motherboard limits the numbers of peripheral devices that can be connected to the PC.  
         [0006]     Hence, it is desirable to provide an integrated device capable of integrating different interfaces, thereby minimizing the number of external cables and tangling thereof.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0007]     Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a USB integrated device, capable of integrating different peripheral devices in a housing with a compact profile, thereby minimizing the problems of disorganized cables.  
         [0008]     Another object of the invention is to provide a USB integrated device comprising an integrated circuit board with a plurality of USB interface slots thereon, thereby expanding peripheral connectivity.  
         [0009]     Another object of the invention is to provide a USB integrated device wherein any peripheral device is “hot swappable”, that is, devices can be added to or removed from the host without turning off the power.  
         [0010]     The present invention provides a USB integrated device comprising a housing and an integrated circuit board. The integrated circuit board with a plurality of USB interface slots thereon is disposed in the housing.  
         [0011]     The USB integrated device has a first peripheral device, detachably connected to one of the USB slots.  
         [0012]     The first peripheral device comprises a converter and a first USB connector. The first USB connector is inserted into the USB slot. The signal of the first peripheral device is converted to USB interface signal by the converter.  
         [0013]     The USB integrated device further comprises a central processing device, detachably connected to one of the USB slots.  
         [0014]     The central processing device also comprises a converter and a first USB connector. The first USB connector is inserted into the USB slot. The signal of the first peripheral device is converted to USB interface signal by the converter. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0015]      FIG. 1  (prior art) is a schematic diagram of a computer with peripheral devices connected thereto;  
         [0016]      FIG. 2  is a schematic cross section of a USB integrated device according to the present invention;  
         [0017]      FIG. 3  is a front view of an integrated circuit board according to the present invention;  
         [0018]      FIG. 4  is a rear view of the integrated circuit board according to the present invention;  
         [0019]      FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram showing a peripheral device disposed in the USB integrated device according to the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0020]      FIG. 2  is a schematic cross section of a USB integrated device according to the present invention. The USB integrated device of the invention, based essentially on the USB interface, comprises an integrated circuit board  12  for connecting various peripheral devices. Although the USB integrated device of the present invention modifies the connections between the motherboard and peripheral devices, the present invention still preserves features of conventional personal and industrial computers.  
         [0021]     As shown in  FIG. 2 , the USB integrated device  10  comprises a housing  11 , an integrated circuit board  12  (also called a backplane), and a first peripheral device  20 .  
         [0022]     The interconnection for the housing  11 , the integrated circuit board  12 , and the first peripheral device  20  is described as follows.  
         [0023]     The housing  11  is a hollow rectangular structure. The integrated circuit board  12  and the first peripheral device  20  are both disposed therein. The integrated circuit board  12  includes a plurality of USB slots  13 , respectively disposed thereon. In one embodiment, the first peripheral device  20  is shaped into a plate. When a central processing device is disposed in the housing  11 , the housing  11  with the central processing device acts as an ordinary computer. The first peripheral device  20  can be a RAM, a modem, a video card, a sound card, a hard disk, a CD-ROM drive, or a floppy disk drive. The present invention does not limit the size and shape of the housing  11  and peripheral devices. Any size or shape of peripheral device  20  can be inserted into the USB slots  13  of the integrated circuit board  12 .  
         [0024]     The front side of the integrated circuit board  12  is the side facing the first peripheral device  20 . The USB slots  13  or expansion slots are disposed on the front side of the integrated circuit board  12 . In this figure, only four USB slots  13  and the corresponding first peripheral devices  20  are shown. The top-most first peripheral device  20  in this figure is detached from the USB slot  13 . The other three first peripheral devices  20  are connected to the USB slots  13 . Each first peripheral device  20  includes a converter  15 , a first USB connector  16 , and a USB port  17 . Furthermore, the rear side of the integrated circuit board  12  has a plurality of second connectors  19  disposed thereon, for connecting other types of devices such as external peripheral devices.  
         [0025]     In addition, the housing  11  further has at least one opening  19 . When there is only one opening  19 , each first peripheral device  20  can be inserted or removed via the opening  19 . When the housing  11  has a plurality of openings  19 , each formed on one side of the housing  11  corresponding to each first peripheral device  20 , the size and shape of the openings  19  also correspond to those of the first peripheral device  20 . Since the USB interface provides a “hot swapping” feature, i.e., the computer needs not to be turned off when adding or removing a peripheral device, users may easily attach to or detach from a first peripheral device  20  through a corresponding opening  19  of the housing  11 . Thus, the present invention facilitates “hot swapping” of any peripheral device regardless of the interface type.  
         [0026]     The following illustrates benefits of connections between the integrated circuit board  12  and the first peripheral device  20 .  
         [0027]     As shown in  FIG. 3 , the front side of the integrated circuit board  12  is facing the first peripheral device  20  with a plurality of USB slots  13  provided on the front side. The invention can convert signals of the peripheral device  20  to USB signals by inserting the device  20  into the USB slots  13  of the integrated circuit board  12  without using any other type of interface slot. Thus, different types of peripheral devices can be disposed in the housing  11 , providing a compact profile and eliminating excess cables connected to the computer and further solving the problem of tangled cables.  
         [0028]      FIG. 4  is a rear view of the integrated circuit board  12  according to the present invention. The rear side of the integrated circuit board  12  has a plurality of second USB connectors  18 , exposed through the housing  11 . The second USB connector  18  can be used to connect to other computers as described in the following.  
         [0029]     In another embodiment, when the housing  11  does not include a central processing device, but peripheral devices  20 , the housing  11  with a plurality of peripheral devices  20  can be integrated into one peripheral device through the integrated circuit board  12  such that the entire device acts as an integrated adaptor. Although not shown in the figure, the housing  11  becomes an integrated device with the first peripheral devices  20 , and the integrated device  11  can be connected to another host computer by a USB cable via the second USB connector  18 . Thus, different peripheral devices are integrated into a single integrated device, eliminating the problem of tangled wires.  
         [0030]     As shown in  FIG. 5 , the first peripheral device  20  comprises a converter  15  and a first USB connector  16 . The first USB connector  16  is inserted into the USB slot  13  of the integrated circuit board  12 . Thus, as mentioned above, the signals of the peripheral device  20  can be converted to USB signals. For example, when the first peripheral device  20  is a hard disk drive, the converter  15  converts IDE interface signals to USB signals.  
         [0031]     The converter  15  of the present invention is not limited to converting IDE to USB. The main function of the converter  15  is to convert any type of interface to USB interface. Additionally, in other embodiments, when a plate-shaped central processing device is inserted into the USB slot  13 , as mentioned above, the housing  11  becomes an independent or a host computer, capable of connecting to other peripheral devices. Thus, the present invention eliminates the use of wires between the computer and the peripheral devices.  
         [0032]     Moreover, the first peripheral device  20  further has USB ports  17  provided thereon. The USB ports  17  are exposed through the housing  11 . The number of USB ports  17  is up to the available signals designated by the USB slots  13  on the integrated circuit board  12 . Consequently, the second peripheral device (not shown) such as a hub, a keyboard, a mouse, a printer, a scanner, a digital camera or other peripherals can be connected to the housing  11  via the unoccupied USB ports  17 . Thus, the USB integrated device  10  of the invention is capable not only of connecting a variety of peripheral devices, but also expand external USB connectivity.  
         [0033]     In conclusion, the USB integrated device  10  improves peripheral expandibility via the USB slots  13  of the integrated circuit board  12 , further eliminating the problems of tangled wires. Moreover, each peripheral device is “hot swappable”.  
         [0034]     While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of the preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. To the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements (as would be apparent to those skilled in the art). Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements.