Patent Publication Number: US-2009235009-A1

Title: Video surveillance motherboard for host computer

Description:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 
     1. Field of Invention 
     This invention relates to a motherboard and more particularly to a video surveillance motherboard for host computer, which is integrated with a video capture controller to provide surveillance functionality. 
     2. Related Prior Art 
       FIG. 5  illustrates a schematic block diagram of a conventional motherboard  70 , such as an ATX standard motherboard, for a host computer. The motherboard  70  includes a core circuit  71  and an expansion circuit  72 . The core circuit  71  includes a CPU  73 , a main memory  74 , a chipset  75 , a bus  780  and other necessary components to perform basic operations on the host computer. The chipset  75  includes a north bridge  76  and a south bridge  77 . The south bridge  77  is integrated with a bus controller  78  to control data transfer on the bus  780 . On the other hand, the expansion circuit  72  includes a plurality of expansion slots  79  coupled to the bus  780 . The expansion slots  79  may be inserted with a video capture card to perform surveillance functionality on the host computer. 
     Since there is no surveillance component embedded in the motherboard  70  of the host computer, it is necessary to buy a video capture card designed to be plugged into the expansion slots in the motherboard in order to connect with other cameras for surveillance. It wastes time and extra money to buy extra video capture card and assembly it onto the motherboard. Moreover, the number of the expansion slots is limited and provided only for a certain number of cameras. 
     By the way, the conventional motherboard has been embedded with many other unnecessary components, such as irrelative expansion slots, parts and wires, and therefore provides extra functions which may not be needed or used in a video surveillance system of an apartment community. It causes resources wasted in the host computer. 
     SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
     Broadly stated, the present invention is directed to a video surveillance motherboard for a host computer. The video surveillance motherboard includes a core circuit and a surveillance circuit. The core circuit includes a processor, a main memory, a bus and a chipset. The chipset couples the processor to the main memory and includes a bus controller for controlling data transfer on the bus. The surveillance circuit includes a video connector, an audio connector, a plurality of video capture controllers and at least one bridge. The video connector includes a plurality of image signal input terminals. Each of the image signal input terminals is configured to connect with a camera via an image transmission line in order to receive an image signal from the camera. Likewise, the audio connector includes a plurality of audio signal input terminals. Each of the audio signal input terminals is configured to connect with the camera via an audio transmission line in order to receive an audio signal from the camera or microphone. The video capture controllers are respectively coupled to the image signal input terminals of the video connector and the audio signal input terminal of the audio connector. The bridge couples the video capture controllers to the bus, and is configured to enable the video capture controllers to transfer data through the bus. 
     According to above, the video surveillance motherboard enables cameras to be directly joined thereto without extra video capture cards needed. Furthermore, the video surveillance motherboard may be fully utilized without unnecessary parts or functions in order to connect with much more cameras. 
     The present invention and the advantages thereof will become more apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
       The invention is illustrated by the accompanying drawings in which corresponding parts are identified by the same numerals and in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a surveillance motherboard within a host computer according to one embodiment of the invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a plan view of the surveillance motherboard of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is another diagram of the surveillance motherboard of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a block diagram of a surveillance motherboard according to another embodiment of the invention; and 
         FIG. 5  is a block diagram of a prior art motherboard. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring now to  FIGS. 1-3 , a video surveillance motherboard  2  according to one embodiment of the present invention is disclosed. The surveillance motherboard  2  is incorporated within a host computer  1 . A plurality of cameras  3  are positioned at various locations and each is coupled to the host computer  1 . The video surveillance motherboard  2  mainly includes a core circuit  21  and a surveillance circuit  22 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , the core circuit  21  is configured to perform basic operations on the host computer  1 . For instance, the core circuit  21  may be the type constructed for a standard ATX, Micro ATX or other form factor motherboard. In this preferred embodiment, the core circuit  21  of the motherboard  2  includes a CPU or processor  210 , a main memory  211 , a chipset  212  and three buses  216 . The chipset  212  includes a north bridge  213  (or a memory controller hub, MCH) and a south bridge  214  (or an I/O controller hub, ICH). The north bridge  213  couples the CPU  210  to the main memory  211 . The south bridge  214  is embedded with a bus controller  215  and a SM bus controller (not shown). The bus controller  215  is provided to perform transmit/receive data transfer on the buses  216 . Preferably, the bus controller  215  together with the buses  216  is constructed in compliance with the PCI standard or PCI Express standard. As best shown in  FIG. 3 , the north bridge  213  may be coupled to a monitor (not shown) via a VGA interface. The south bridge  214  may be coupled to storage devices or peripheral devices (not shown) via an IDE port  81 , a SATA port  82  and a USB port  83 . These interfaces and ports are well-known to those of ordinary skill in the art and will not be discussed further herein. 
     Referring back to  FIG. 1 , the surveillance circuit  22  of the motherboard  2  is coupled to the core circuit  21  via the buses  216  and includes a video connector  30 , an audio connector  40 , a plurality of video capture controllers  50  and a plurality of bridges  60 . As best seen in  FIG. 3 , the surveillance circuit  22  of this embodiment includes sixteen video capture controllers  50  and three bridges  60  coupled to the three buses  216 . In particular, one of the bridges  60  is coupled with six video capture controllers  50  while the other two each coupled with five video capture controllers  50 . 
     Referring back to  FIG. 1  or  2 , the video connector  30  has a plurality of image signal input terminals  31  formed of pin or socket type electrical terminals. In this embodiment, two socket electrical terminals constitute a set of the image signal input terminal  31 . Another two constitute another set of the image signal input terminal  31  and so on. Each set of the image signal input terminals  31  is configured to connect with the respective camera  3  via an image transmission line in order to receive an image signal from the respective camera  3 . Likewise, the audio connector  40  has a plurality of audio signal input terminals  41  formed of pin or socket type electrical terminals. Two socket electrical terminals constitute a set of the audio signal input terminal  41 . Each set of the audio signal input terminals  41  is configured to connect with the respective camera  3  via an audio transmission line in order to receive an audio signal from the respective camera  3 . Each of the video capture controllers  50  is coupled to the respective image signal input terminal  31  of the video connector  30  and the respective audio signal input terminal  41  of the audio connector  40 . The bridges  60  are configured to control operations of the video capture controllers  50  and enable the video capture controllers  50  to transfer data through the buses  216 . By this way, each of the video capture controllers  50  can receive the image signal from the respective image signal input terminal  31  of the video connector  30  and the audio signal from the respective audio signal input terminal of the audio connector via the respective bridge  60  and bus  216 , process the image and audio signals, and transfer data via the respective bridge  60 . 
     Another exemplary embodiment of the invention eliminates the bridges  60  of  FIGS. 1-3  and directly couples the video capture controllers  50  to the core circuit  20  through a bus  216 . As shown in  FIG. 4 , the video surveillance motherboard  2  within a host computer  1  includes a core circuit  21  and a surveillance circuit  22 . The core circuit  21  includes a CPU or processor  210 , a main memory  211 , the bus  216  and a chipset  212 . The chipset  212  is coupled the processor  210  to the main memory  211  and includes a north bridge  213 , a south bridge  214  having a bus controller  215 . The bus controller  215  controls data transfer on the bus  216 . 
     Referring still to  FIG. 4 , the surveillance circuit  22  in this embodiment of the invention is coupled to the core circuit  20  via the bus  216  and includes a video connector  30 , an audio connector  40  and a plurality of video capture controllers  50 . The video connector  30  has a plurality of image signal input terminals  31  for connection with the respective camera  3  via an image transmission line in order to receive an image signal from the camera  3 . Likewise, the audio connector  40  has a plurality of audio signal input terminals  41  for connection with the respective camera  3  via an audio transmission line in order to receive an audio signal from the camera  3 . Each of the video capture controllers  50  is coupled to the respective image signal input terminal  31  of the video connector  30 , the respective audio signal input terminal  41  of the audio connector  40  and the bus  216 . Additionally, each of the video capture controllers  50  is configured to receive the image signal from the respective image signal input terminal  31 , receive the audio signal from the respective audio signal input terminal  41 , process the image and audio signals, and transfer data via the bus  216 . 
     From the forgoing description, the present invention is directed to the video surveillance motherboard which is tightened and focus on the surveillance functionality without a needless or irrelative components or functions. The surveillance motherboard is therefore fully utilized. Additionally, a plurality of video cameras may be directly connected to the video surveillance motherboard without needs of a video capture card. The cost is therefore reduced. 
     It will be appreciated that although a particular embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, modifications may be made. It is intended in the claims to cover such modifications which come within the spirit and scope of the invention.