Abstract:
The invention is to provide a motherboard expansion device that expands the possibility to use non-portable computers in different applied systems and allows them to operate with a plurality of external devices.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This is the first application filed for the present invention. 
       TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0002]    The present invention relates to the computer motherboard expansion systems and, in particular, to the means that extend functionality and performance of the multi-channel and multi-function input/output computer systems by using a special device that would be placed into the expansion bay inside a computer chassis. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    Today modern personal computers are widely used as a control part of different applied systems that incorporates a plurality of peripheral devices. These peripheral devices are connected to corresponding external plugs/sockets that are mounted on separate interface boards (cards) that are connected to the motherboard by corresponding high-speed interface connectors. 
         [0004]    The space that may be used for mounting interface connectors for connection to said peripheral devices is bounded by corresponding specifications and standards. 
         [0005]    The total amount of connected devices is defined by the quantity of said interface boards (cards) that can be connected to the motherboard simultaneously (quantity of sockets on the motherboard) and by the quantity of external interface connectors that it is possible to mount on said boards (cards) based on corresponding specification for said card. 
         [0006]    The development road map of modern personal computers (motherboards) demonstrates a direction to reduce the quantity of sockets for connection to various interfaces boards (cards) and at the same time to increase the bandwidth of each socket (by using higher speed interface for connection between said interface board (card) and motherboard) placed on the motherboard. 
         [0007]    Five years ago the most popular motherboards had five 32-bit PCI sockets(slots), allowing to connect up to five interface boards (cards), and today the modern motherboards usually have only four sockets: one x16 PCI express connector, two 32-bits PCI connectors and one x1 PCI express connector. The total bandwidth of the above mentioned sockets is equivalent to the bandwidth of nineteen 32-bit PCI connectors. Correspondingly, the bandwidth has increased significantly, but the quantity of mountable interface boards has been reduced. 
         [0008]    On the other hand, the plurality of the different peripheral devices and their increasing complexity is forcing designers to use additional dedicated equipment (expansion units and special purpose processors) to increase main computer performance by unloading the main processor on the motherboard. A plurality of powerful specialized chips for data processing (like FPGA, DSP etc) is available on the market, and they can be used for data processing in case of multiple data channels and multiple peripheral devices. 
         [0009]    So, as we can see the direction of developing new computers is bounded by the disbalance between bandwidth of the interfaces on the motherboard for plug-in interface boards (cards), availability of powerful specialized chips for data processing and low bandwidth (external bandwidth) of the external interface connectors on the interface boards (cards). 
         [0010]    A number of patents that are connected with this problem are known. 
         [0011]    In U.S. Pat. No. 5,666,267 authors Carter; Bill W. et al. propose an audio I/O extension card having a first audio I/O connector disposed at an inner edge of the audio I/O extension card for exchanging audio I/O signals with a conventional back portion, embedded circuitry for routing the audio I/O signals from the inner edge to the outer edge of the audio I/O extension card, a plurality of audio ports disposed at the outer edge of the audio I/O extension card for exchanging the audio I/O signals with external audio devices, and said audio I/O extension card being shaped and dimensioned to coexist with a hard drive in a hard drive bay without intruding into a conventional space of the hard drive bay. This patent concerns only routing said audio signals (not communication signals), and this simple routing is done without any data processing. 
         [0012]    In U.S. Pat. No. 6,215,656 authors O&#39;Neal; Sean P. at al propose a computer system comprising a circuit board on which an expansion board bay for receiving an expansion board is positioned and a connector module positionable independently of the expansion board. In this patent the term of “an expansion board bay” designates a socket and a unit of fastening for inserted expansion board. This patent describes the expansion board bay as positioned on the circuit board. In this case this bay can not be the mechanical (structural) part of computer housing. 
         [0013]    The U.S. Pat. No. 6,134,612 offers an external flexible bay for personal computer which includes an external flexible bay adapted to receive either a modular battery pack or a modular disk drive to facilitate use such device with a portable personal computer. The subject of this patent is an external bay that relates to the personal computer and requires additional space (additional external device to personal computer). 
       SUMMARY 
       [0014]    The first aspect of the present invention consists in that the proposed motherboard expansion device inserted into one of conventional bays of non-portable computer chassis and said bay, for example, can be the bay for installing hard drive, CD or DVD drive, floppy drive etc. and connected to the motherboard via high speed interface. 
         [0015]    The second aspect consists in that said motherboard expansion device allows to service a plurality of communication interfaces (lines) that are connected via cables to the expansion device with help of corresponding external connectors, placed on the motherboard expansion device. This allows to have almost unlimited number of external connectors for connection to the external peripheral devices in a system and at the same time placed those external connectors close to data processing unit. 
         [0016]    The third aspect of the present invention consists in that said motherboard expansion device includes a data processing unit made in the form of one or more chips, and said unit may implement one or more functions chosen from the following group including: transmission/reception signals, analog/digital and digital/analog conversion, signal compression and decompression, spectral and cepstral transforming and data processing, communication protocol processing and data/protocol analyzing and etc. 
         [0017]    The fourth aspect of the present invention consists in that said data processing unit implementation and the chosen set of said functions may be defined by concrete user requirements. 
         [0018]    The fifth aspect consists in that said motherboard expansion device comprises a connector group for said high speed interface for connection to the motherboard and for power cable that connects said expansion device to the system power source. 
         [0019]    The sixth aspect consists in necessity of placement of said external connectors for connection to communication interfaces (lines) in the immediate vicinity of said data processor circuits according to existing interface standards. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0020]      FIG. 1  shows a motherboard expansion device and a personal computer together. 
           [0021]      FIG. 2  illustrates the disposition of the motherboard expansion device bay inside of the computer chassis and the main cable connections. 
           [0022]      FIG. 3  shows an embodiment of PCB for the motherboard expansion device together with components disposed on this PCB. 
           [0023]      FIG. 4  shows a single-board embodiment of the motherboard expansion device and two variants of an additional external panel. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0024]      FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2   a  show a motherboard expansion device  15  and a personal computer together. This non-portable computer  10  has a computer housing  11 . Inside said computer housing a motherboard  12 , a power source  13  and other computer blocks  14  are placed. Said computer housing  11  includes a structural (mechanical) bay  111  ( FIG. 1 ). Said bay may be built as a conventional bay, used for inserting HD driver, CD driver etc, or as a special expansion bay. This bay includes a group of wall guides for received said motherboard expansion device. Such a bay may be used for placement of said motherboard expansion device  15  ( FIG. 2   a ). 
         [0025]    Inside said bay  111  a motherboard expansion device  15  is placed (it isn&#39;t marked in  FIG. 1 ) comprising: a data processing unit  151  consisted of one or more chips and other components (capacitors, resistors etc), connectors  1511  (for high speed interface cable) and  1512  (power cable), and a connector block  1513 . Said connectors  1511 ,  1512  and said connector block  1513  are connected to said data processing unit  151 . Said data processing unit  151 , said connectors  1511  and  1512  are placed for example on one or more printed circuit boards (PCBs), said connector block  1513  is placed on one or more printed circuit boards (PCBs) or on a special panel (it isn&#39;t shown). 
         [0026]    Said motherboard  12  is connected to other computer blocks  14  and comprises a socket  121  placed on said motherboard. This socket  121  is connected to connectors  1511  of said data processing unit  15  via a high speed interface cable  1211 . Said connectors  1511  may be connected to said motherboard  12  either directly via cable  1211  or through one or more adapters (it isn&#39;t shown). Said power source  13  is connected to the other computer blocks  14 , to the motherboard  12 , and to the connector  1512  of the data processing unit  151  via a power cable  1311  directly or via power adapters (it isn&#39;t shown). 
         [0027]    Two groups of Audio interfaces are known. One is the simple analog audio interfaces that include only analog signal information (no control, status or acknowledge information) like audio output for Speakers or Headphone, audio input from microphones etc. Second group includes audio communication interfaces that include besides signal information (analog or digital) additional control information, status information and/or acknowledge information. The object of current invention is only second group of Audio interfaces. 
         [0028]    Said connector block  1513  includes one or more connectors for connection to external devises via one or more communication interface cables  15131  correspondingly. These external communication (non-simple analog Audio, non-Video) interfaces may be chosen from the group including: DSNs family (DS1, DS2, DS3 etc), ENs family (E1,E2,E3 etc), J1, STS-Ns family (STS-1,STS-2 etc), OC-Ns family (OC-1,OC-2 etc), xDSL family, ISDN family, POTS (plain old telephone service) includes FXS (foreign exchange station) and FXO (foreign exchange office) interfaces, RS-Ns family (RS-232, RS-422, RS-423, RS-449, RS485 etc), V.35, HSSI, Gigabit Ethernet etc. 
         [0029]    These and other similar interfaces don&#39;t define particular connector types and correspondingly the signal transmission media that depends on the interface and connector type. Therefore, the signal media types have to be defined. These media types are represented by a flat cable, a twisted pair (uncovered or in the view of a cable), a non-twisted pair (uncovered or in the view of a cable), a coaxial cable, a fiber optic cable. 
         [0030]      FIG. 2   a  illustrates an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The computer  10  includes said computer housing  11 , the motherboard  12  and the power source  13  are fastened on said housing  11 . One part  20  of said housing  11  includes a group of conventional bays for inserting a hard disk drive, a CD drive, a floppy-drive etc. Usually this part  20  is separated by mechanical (constructive) horizontal elements  203 ,  204 ,  205 ,  206  etc. and this separation defines the bays. The motherboard expansion device  15  may be inserted into one such bay. Another embodiment of said motherboard expansion device may be placed into special bay built-in other part of said computer housing  11  (it isn&#39;t shown). The part  20  is closed by the front panel  21  consisting of separate sections, corresponding to the said devices and other equipment placed in the part  20 . 
         [0031]    The motherboard expansion device  15  is connected to said motherboard  12  by a high speed interface cable  1211  that is connected a socket  121  mounted on said motherboard  12  and the connectors  1511  mounted on the motherboard expansion device  15 . Said power source  13  connects by an electrical cable  1311  to the connector  1512  ( FIG. 1 ) placed on the motherboard expansion device  15 . 
         [0032]    The bay shown in  FIG. 2   b  and the one used for said motherboard expansion device  15  placement has shape and dimensions corresponding to existing standards. Said motherboard expansion device  15  is made so that its shape and dimensions allows it to be inserted in one of said bays. This bay is bounded from different sides by horizontal structural elements and by vertical structural elements. The bay front panel  212  is a part of a computer front panel  21  ( FIG. 2   b,  front view) together with other parts  211  etc. A plurality of openings  2121  are intended for insertion of external communication cables  15131  ( FIG. 1 ). 
         [0033]    The motherboard expansion device  15  may be used in the form of separate package comprising one or more printed circuit boards (PCBs) that aren&#39;t shown in  FIG. 2   a  or this package may be placed inside separate metal or plastic casing (it isn&#39;t shown). 
         [0034]    Said cable  1211  is the high-speed interface cable. Said high-speed interface can be chosen from the group, including: PCI, PCI-X, PCI-express, Gigabit Ethernet, Rapid I/O etc. Said cable  1211  may be connected to said motherboard directly or via an adapter card (it is not shown). 
         [0035]    One of said PCBs may comprise additional interface and power connectors (they aren&#39;t shown) allowing to connect at least one additional motherboard expansion device. The additional power connector may be mounted on said PCB or on said power source  13 . 
         [0036]      FIG. 3  shows said PCB  31 . The data processing unit  151  including chips  32 . Said connector block  1513  disposed on said PCB  31 . This connector block  1513  mounted on said PCB  31 . In  FIG. 3  said connector block  1513  may include a plurality of connectors  33 , for example, RJ-45, RJ-11, RJ-14, RJ-21x, SCSI, coax connectors, fiber optic connectors and etc. 
         [0037]    The data processing unit  151  ( FIG. 1 ) may include a multichannel adapter for communicating signals of a plurality of connectors  33 , and said data processing unit  151  is represented by chips  32  ( FIG. 3 ). The plurality of said connectors, matching resistors, capacitors and correspondingly a plurality of necessary contact points on said printed board and a plurality of communication lines (wired or printed) on said PCB (they aren&#39;t shown) require critical placement of said components even with the use of low speed interfaces. 
         [0038]    Said connector block  1513  may comprise various connectors  33  that correspond to various external communication interfaces. 
         [0039]    The types of said connectors  33  that are composed said connector block  1513  are in compliance with requirements that are set by standards imposed on said external communication interfaces. 
         [0040]    Each of said one or more chips  32  that are constituents of said data processing unit  151  comprises corresponding quantity of external pins (they aren&#39;t shown) that are connected to an electric circuit of said motherboard expansion device  15 . This electric circuit connects said connectors  33  of said connector block  1513 , said connectors  1511  of said high speed connector group, said connector  1512  and said data processing unit  151 . 
         [0041]    Said chips  32  together with their pins and said connectors  33  of said connector block  1513  are mounted in the vicinity of each other so that the parameters (length, form, impedance) of traces between corresponding pins and corresponding connectors are in compliance with said used interface standards or requirements of the design. 
         [0042]    Using high speed interfaces, for example, Gigabit Internet dictate the serious requirement concerning length, form, impedance of communication lines (printed or wired) between said data processing unit and corresponding external connectors. 
         [0043]    In the case when the number of external connectors exceeds the maximum number of external connectors that can be placed on said motherboard expansion device, it is possible to move part of said connectors and if necessary part of the chips to an additional external panel. 
         [0044]      FIG. 4   a  illustrates a sketch of an exemplary embodiment of said motherboard expansion device  40  consisting of one PCB  31  ( FIG. 3 ). This embodiment comprises a front panel  2111  ( FIG. 2   b ) that is fastened to said PCB  31  and two lateral walls  41  and  42  that are fastened to said PCB  31 . In  FIG. 4   a  it is shown said connector block  154  and a plurality of openings  2112  for said communication interfaces. Said lateral walls are useful for inserting said motherboard expansion device into corresponding bay as guides and include means for fixing said device inside said bay. It is shown said chips  32  and said high-speed interface connectors  1511 . 
         [0045]    In the case when said motherboard expansion device needs cooling then openings can be placed in the front panel for enabling air flow (not shown). 
         [0046]      FIG. 4   b  illustrates another embodiment of said motherboard expansion device  15  that is placed inside said bay bounded by top and bottom bay walls  43 ,  44  of said computer housing  11  and said front panel  421 . Said front panel  421  or its part may be placed at some distance (up to 10.0 cm approximately) from said computer housing surface. This distance is useful for cooling said motherboard expansion device by creating openings for air flow and allows placing necessary components and fans. 
         [0047]    Said front panel can be expended by external panel (not shown) in the different directions for placement at least a part of said connectors if said connector block isn&#39;t totally positioned on said PCBs.