Patent Publication Number: US-8535086-B2

Title: Electronic devices using divided multi connector element differential bus connector

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a divisional of U.S. Ser. No. 11/955,798, filed Dec. 13, 2007 entitled “ELECTRONIC DEVICES USING DIVIDED MULTI-CONNECTOR ELEMENT DIFFERENTIAL BUS CONNECTOR”, having inventors James Hunkins et al., which is related to U.S. Ser. No. 12/941,157, filed on Nov. 8, 2010, entitled “ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR, CABLE AND APPARATUS UTILIZING SAME”, having inventor James Hunkins, which is a divisional of U.S. Ser. No. 11/955,760 (now U.S. Pat. No. 7,850,490), filed on Dec. 13, 2007, entitled “ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR, CABLE AND APPARATUS UTILIZING SAME”, having inventor James Hunkins; and U.S. Ser. No. 12/948,377, filed on Nov. 17, 2010, entitled “DISPLAY SYSTEM WITH FRAME REUSE USING DIVIDED MULTI-CONNECTOR ELEMENT DIFFERENTIAL BUS CONNECTOR”, having inventors James Hunkins et al., which is a divisional of U.S. Ser. No. 11/955,783 (now U.S. Pat. No. 7,861,013), filed Dec. 13, 2007, entitled “DISPLAY SYSTEM WITH FRAME REUSE USING DIVIDED MULTI-CONNECTOR ELEMENT DIFFERENTIAL BUS CONNECTOR”, having inventors James Hunkins et al., all owned by instant Assignee and are incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The disclosure relates to electronic devices, that employ connectors that communicate differential signals. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Electronic devices such as laptops, desktops, mobile phones and other devices may employ one or more graphics processing circuits such as a graphics processor (e.g. a graphics core co-located on a die with a host CPU, separate chip coupled to a mother board, or located on a plug-in card, a graphics core integrated with a memory bridge circuit, or any other suitable configuration) to provide graphics data and/or video information, video display data to one or more displays. 
     One type of communication interface design to provide the necessary high data rates and communication performance for graphics and/or video information between a graphics processor and CPU or any other devices is known as a PCI Express™ interface. This is a communication link that is a serial communications channel made up of sets of two differential wire pairs that provide for example 2.5 MBytes per second (Gen 1) or 5.0 MBytes per second (Gen 2) in each direction. Up to 32 of these “lanes” may be combined in times 2, times 4, times 8, times 16, times 32 configurations, creating a parallel interface of independently controlled serial links. However, any other suitable communication link may also be employed. Due to the ever increasing requirements of multimedia applications that require the generation of graphics information from drawing commands, or a suitable generation of video puts increasing demands on the graphics processing circuitry and system. This can require larger integrated graphics processing circuits which generate additional heat requiring cooling systems such as active cooling systems such as fans and associated ducting, or passive cooling systems in desktops, laptops or other devices. There are limits to the amount of heat that can be dissipated by a given electronic device. 
     It has been proposed to provide external graphics processing in a separate device from the laptop, desktop or mobile device to allow faster generation of graphics processing through parallel graphics processing operations or to provide output to multiple displays using external graphics devices. However, since devices are becoming smaller and smaller there is an ever increasing need to design connections, including connectors and cabling that allow proper consumer acceptance and suitable speed and cost advantages. Certain video games for example may require high bandwidth graphics processing which may not be available given the cost, integrated circuit size, heat dissipation, and other factors available on a mobile device or non-mobile device. 
     From an electrical connector standpoint, for years there have been attempts by various industries to design connectors that provide the requisite bandwidths such as the multiple gigabytes necessary to communicate video frame information and/or graphics information between devices. One proposal has been to provide an external cable and circuit board connector that uses for example a 16 lane configuration for PCI-e™. This proposal results in a printed circuit board footprint of approximately 40.3 mm×26.4 mm and a connector housing depth profile 40.3 mm×11.9 mm which includes the shell depth and housing of the connector. However, such large connectors have only been suitable for larger devices such as servers which can take up large spaces and can be many pounds in weight. For the consumer market such large connectors are too large and costly. A long felt need has existed for a suitable connector to accommodate multiple lanes of communication to provide the necessary bandwidth for graphics and video information. 
     Other connectors such as DisplayPort™ connectors are limited to only for example two lanes, although they have smaller footprints they cannot support the PCI-e™ cable specification features and have limited capabilities. Other proposals that allow for, for example a 16 lane PCI-e™ connection have even larger footprints and profiles and may employ for example 138 pin total stacked connector to accommodate 16 lanes (VHDCI). The size of the footprint and profile can be for example in excess of 42 millimeters by 19 millimeters for the footprint and in excess of 42 by 12 millimeters in terms of the PCI-e™ board profile that the connector takes up. Again, such connectors require the size of the mobile device or laptop device to be too large or can take up an unreasonable amount of real estate on the PC board or device housing to accommodate the size of such large connectors. In addition, such connectors also utilize large cabling which can be heavy and cumbersome in use with laptop devices. The costs can also be unreasonably high. In addition, motherboard space is at a premium and as such larger connectors are not practical. 
     From an electronic device perspective, providing external graphics processing capability in a separate device is also known. For example, docking stations are known that employ a PCI-e™ interface connector that includes a single lane to communicate with the CPU in for example a laptop computer that is plugged into the docking station. The docking station includes its own A/C connector and has additional display connector ports to allow external displays to be connected directly to the docking station. The laptop which may have for example its own LCD display and internal graphics processing circuitry in the form of an integrated graphics processing core or card, utilizes the laptop&#39;s CPU to send drawing commands via the single lane PCI-e™ connector to the external graphics processor located in the docking station. However, such configurations can be too slow and typically employ a low end graphics processor since there is only a single lane of communication capability provided. 
     Other external electronic units that employ graphics processing circuitry to enhance the graphics processing capabilities of a desktop, laptop or other device are also known that employ for example a signal repeater that increases the signal strength of graphics communications across a multilane PCI-e™ connector. However, the connector is a large pin connector with large space in between pins resulting in a connector having approximately 140 pins if 16 lanes are used. The layout requirements on the mother board as well as the size of the connectors are too large. As a result, actual devices typically employ for example a single lane (approximately 18 pin connector) connector including many control pins. As such, although manufacturers may describe wanting to accommodate multilane PCI-e™ communications, practical applications by the manufacturers typically result in a single lane configuration. This failure to be able to suitably design and manufacture a suitably sized connector has been a long standing problem. 
     Other external devices allow PCI-e™ graphics cards to be used in notebooks. Again these typically use a single lane PCI-e™ connector. Such devices may include a display panel that displays information such as a games current frame rate per second, clock speed and cooling fan speed which may be adjusted by for example a function knob or through software as desired. A grill may be provided for example on a rear or side panel so that the graphics card may be visible inside and may also provide ventilation. The internal graphics card may be over-clocked in real time by turning a control knob for example to attempt to increase performance of the external graphics processing capability. However, as noted, the communication link between the CPU and the laptop and the external electronic device with the graphics card typically has a single PCI-e™ lane limiting the capability of the graphics card. 
     Accordingly, a need exists for an improved connector and/or cable and/or electronic device that provides external graphics processing and/or interconnection of an external graphics processor with a portable device or non-portable device. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The invention will be more readily understood in view of the following description when accompanied by the below figures and wherein like reference numerals represent like elements, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view illustrating one example of an electrical connector in accordance with one example set forth in the disclosure; 
         FIG. 2  is a cross sectional view of the connector of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  illustrates one example of upper and lower rows of contacts used in the connector of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIGS. 4 and 5  diagrammatically illustrate signaling configurations provided by the connector of  FIG. 1  according to one example set forth in the disclosure; 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective view illustrating one example of a cable connector that mates with the connector of  FIG. 1  in accordance with one example set forth in the disclosure; 
         FIGS. 7-14  are diagrams illustrating signaling provided by the electrical connector of  FIG. 1  and cable connector of  FIG. 6  in an electronic device or system in accordance with one disclosure set forth; 
         FIGS. 15-18  are diagrams illustrating signaling provided by the electrical connector of  FIG. 1  and cable connector of  FIG. 6  in an electronic device or system in accordance with one disclosure set forth; 
         FIGS. 19-24  are diagrams illustrating signaling provided by the electrical connector of  FIG. 1  and cable connector of  FIG. 6  in an electronic device or system in accordance with one disclosure set forth; and 
         FIG. 25  diagrammatically illustrates a system employing the board connector of  FIG. 1  in accordance with one example set forth in the disclosure. 
         FIG. 26  illustrates one example of an electronic device that includes at least one electrical connector described herein and a plurality of electronic circuit substrates each containing graphics processors in accordance with one example; 
         FIG. 27  diagrammatically illustrates an electronic device that employs at least one of the connectors described herein and active cooling mechanism to cool graphics processing circuitry in accordance with one example described herein; 
         FIG. 28  diagrammatically illustrates the device of  FIGS. 17-20 ; 
         FIG. 29  is a block diagram illustrating one example of an electronic device that facilitates card plug-in of a plurality of plug-in cards in accordance with one embodiment described herein; and 
         FIG. 30  illustrates a block diagram of a system that employs a hub device in accordance with one example described herein. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Briefly, in one example an electronic device includes a housing that includes an A/C input or DC input, and at least one circuit substrate that includes electronic circuitry, such as graphics processing circuitry that receives power based on the A/C input or DC input. The electronic device also includes a divided multi-connector element differential bus connector that is coupled to the electronic circuitry. The divided multi-connector element differential bus connector includes a single housing that connects with the circuit substrate and the connector housing includes therein a divided electronic contact configuration comprised of a first group of electrical contacts divided from an adjacent second group of mirrored electrical contacts wherein each group of electrical connects includes a row of at least lower and upper contacts. In one example, the electronic device housing includes air flow passages, such as grills, adapted to provide air flow through the housing. The electronic device housing further includes a passive or active cooling mechanism such as a fan positioned to cool the circuitry during normal operation. In one example, the electronic device does not include a host processor and instead a host processor is in a separate electronic device that communicates with the graphics processing circuitry through the divided multi connector element differential bus connector. In another example, a CPU (or one or more CPUs) is also co-located on the circuit substrate with the circuitry to provide a type of parallel host processing capability with an external device. 
     In one example, the electronic circuitry communicates with a processor, such as a CPU, in another electronic device external to the housing of the electronic device and the graphics processing circuitry receives drawing commands from the external processor and communicates display data to a display that is coupled to the electronic device. In one example, the housing includes air ducting between the active cooling mechanism and the electronic circuitry. In one example, the divided multi-connector element differential bus connector provides drawing commands to the graphics processing circuitry from, for example, the processor located in the other electronic device. The divided multi connector element differential bus connector may be a unique 16 lane PCI Express™ type bus connector to provide high speed video and/or graphics information between electronic devices. 
     In one example, the electronic device includes power up control logic, such as a switch, that is operatively coupled to the divided multi connector element differential bus connector that waits to power up the graphics processing circuit until after the external device is powered up as detected from a signal from the divided multi connector element differential bus connector. 
     In another example, the electronic device includes a plurality of printed circuit boards each including graphics processing circuitry thereon and wherein each of the plurality of printed circuit boards is coupled to the divided multi connector element differential bus connector and wherein the graphics processing circuitry provide parallel or alternate graphics processing operations for a given display frame. 
     In another example, the circuit substrate includes electronic circuitry and a bus bridge circuit. A backplane is coupled to the bus bridge circuit that includes a plurality of card ports that are each configured to receive a plug-in card. 
     In another example, an electronic device does not utilize A/C power input but instead gets limited amounts of D/C power from another external device through a suitable connector. In one example, the electronic device includes a housing that includes a circuit substrate that includes a bus bridge circuit and a plurality of divided multi connector element differential bus connectors each coupled to the bus bridge circuit and each including a single connector housing with the divided electrical contact configuration. The bus bridge circuit is coupled to receive power from an external device connected to at least one of the plurality of bus connectors. 
     In one example, the divided multi-connector element differential bus connector includes a housing having therein a divided multi-connector element. The electrical connector is adapted to electrically connect with a substrate, such as a circuit board. The divided multi-connector element includes a divided electrical contact configuration that includes a first group or subassembly of electrical contacts physically separate from an adjacent and second group or subassembly of contacts. The first group of electrical contacts and second group of electrical contacts each include a row of lower contacts and upper contacts. The second group of electrical contacts has an identical but mirrored configuration (e.g., with respect to a vertical axis) as the first group of electrical contacts. 
     In one example, the electrical connector housing is sized to provide a substrate footprint of approximately 12 mm×53 mm and has a profile of approximately 53 mm×6 mm and includes 124 pins configured for a 16 lane differential bus. The 16 lanes are divided into two 8 lane pin groupings. Also in one example, the first and second group of contacts include an end grounding contact wherein a respective end grounding contact is positioned adjacent to another end grounding contact in the other group and are located substantially in the center of the connector housing. Also in one example, rows of upper contacts are surface mount pins and rows of lower contacts are through hole pins that pass through the substrate. 
     An electrical device is also disclosed that employs the above mentioned electrical connector and has an electronic circuit substrate coupled to the electrical connector and also includes electronic circuitry located on the electronic circuit substrate that is coupled to the first and second group of electrical contacts. The electronic circuitry provides a plurality of differential data pair signals on either side of a center portion of the connector and also provides differential clock signals in a center portion of the first group of electrical contacts. The first row of upper contacts are used to provide control signals associated with the differential pair signals. 
     The second group of contacts are coupled such that the second row of lower contacts includes a plurality of differential data signals that are provided on adjacent pins separated by differential ground. A cable is also disclosed that has same end connectors that mate with the electrical connectors. In one example, the cable assembly has a 16 lane connector on one end and an 8 lane connector on the other, adapted to electrically mate with only the first group of electrical contacts in the 16 lane connector and not the second group of electrical contacts thereby allowing a 16 lane board connector to be used to connect to an 8 lane unit. 
     One of the many advantages of the disclosed connector or cable or electronic device include the providing of a compact connector that provides high speed communication via a multilane differential signaling bus, such as a PCI Express™ compatible bus or interface. Additionally, an 8 lane connector may also be suitably connected with a 16 pin board connector via an 8 lane cabling system since a group of contacts and electronic circuitry provides the necessary data clock signal through a single grouping of contacts. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , one example of an electrical connector  100  that may be coupled to a circuit substrate, such as a printed circuit board, includes a substrate positioning or locating pin  102  and a shell or housing connection post  104 . The positioning pin  102  and housing connection post  104  are configured to pass through holes that have been drilled in the circuit substrate and facilitate the mounting of the electrical connector to the substrate. The electrical connector  100  includes a housing  106  that includes a divided multi-connector element  108  that is adapted to electrically connect with a circuit substrate, via for example separate subassemblies of contact pins. The divided multi-connector element  108  includes a divided electrical contact pin configuration that includes a first group or subassembly of electrical contacts  110  that are physically separate or disconnected from an adjacent and second group or subassembly of contacts  112 . 
     Referring also to  FIG. 3 , the first group of electrical contacts  110  includes a row of lower contacts  114  and a row of upper contacts  116 . Similarly, the second and separate group of electrical contacts  112  includes an identical but mirrored configuration as the first group of electrical contacts and as such, has identical and mirrored but separate corresponding rows of lower contacts  118  and upper row of contacts  120 . In this example, the first group of electrical contacts  110  form a complete 8 lane PCI Express™ communication interface when coupled to a PCI Express™ transceiver circuit, such transceiver circuits are known in the art. The rows of lower contacts  114  and  118  separate subassemblies and are through hole pins in this example. They are coupled in an electronic device to include and provide connection with differential receivers or transceivers (see for example,  FIGS. 7-14 ). The groups of top rows of contact pins  116  and  120  are surface mount pins which mount to a surface of the circuit substrate, and are coupled to an electronic circuit to provide differential transmission signals. In this example, a 16 lane PCI Express™ compatible connection can be facilitated in a small profile and relatively inexpensive connector design. Each separate groupings of contacts are electronically connected to each provide 8 lanes of differential signaling based communication resulting in the 16 lane communication bus. 
     Referring back to  FIG. 1 , the housing  106  may be made of any suitable material including insulating plastic or any suitable composite material as known in the art. The electrical contacts may also be made of any suitable material such as copper alloys with suitable plating such as gold plating over nickel or any other suitable material and finish as desired. The lower row of contacts  114  in the first group are fabricated as a separate set of lower row of pins and serves as a subassembly of the connector  100 . Lower row of contacts  118  are an identical and mirrored subassembly and separate from the lower row of contacts  114 . Similarly, the upper row of contacts  116  and  120  are configured as separate assemblies each identical and mirrored to one another. In this example, a total of four sets of pins are used to provide the two groupings of upper and lower contacts. Among other advantages, the separation of the lower and upper contacts into separate subassemblies can help reduce the number of pins required to provide the signaling required for a 16 lane or 8 lane PCI Express™ type bus. Other advantages will be recognized by those of ordinary skill in the art. 
     Also as shown in this example, the spacing between the surface mount pins may be, for example, 0.7 mm and the width of a surface mount pin may be, for example, 0.26 mm however any suitable spacing and width may be used. The through hole pins may have a spacing of, for example, 0.7 mm (and as shown in  FIGS. 4 and 5 ), may be offset. In addition, the width of the through hole pins may be, for example, 0.74 mm. However, any suitable sizing may be employed as desired. 
     With the 16 lane PCI Express™ compatible configuration, the housing  106  is sized to provide a substrate footprint of approximately 12 mm×53 mm such that the housing may have, for example, a 12.2 mm depth and a 53.25 mm width, or any other suitably sized dimensions. For example, the depth and width may be several millimeters larger or smaller as desired. Also in this example, the rows of lower and upper contacts for both the first and second group of electrical contacts include 124 pins configured for a 16 lane PCI Express™ interface (e.g., two 8 lane differential bus links). 
     The connector  100  as shown may include one or more friction tabs  116  that frictionally engage a cable connector that mates with the board connector  100 . Other known connector engagement features may also be employed such as openings  118  and  120  that receive protrusions that extend from a corresponding mating cable connector. 
     Referring again to  FIG. 2 , the connector  100  may include as part of the housing, insulation covering  202  and ground contacts and frictional locks  206  and  208  that frictionally engage with a mating cable connector using techniques known in the art. Supporting structures  210  are also employed to support pins in their appropriate positions within the connector using known techniques. The connector  100  includes a center support structure  212  over which the upper rows of surface mount pins  116  are supported and over which lower contacts  114  are also supported. The center support structure  212  supports the electrical contacts and in operation receives a mating connector whose contacts align with the upper and lower contacts  114  and  116  to make electrical contact. 
       FIGS. 4 and 5  diagrammatically illustrate a portion of a printed circuit substrate referred to as a substrate layout showing surface mount contacts  400  and through holes  402  that are positioned on a circuit substrate. The lower rows of contacts  114  and  118  are coupled to the through holes  402  to provide electrical contact and signal communication through the connector  100  to an electrical circuit or circuits on the printed circuit board. Traces or pins from an electrical circuit may be electrically coupled to the pads  400  to communication signals through the connector  100 . The figure shows a pinout of the bottom row contacts of connector  100  and the electronic signals designated as  406  and  408  corresponding to respective contacts in the connector  100 . 
     In this example, groupings of contacts form upper 8 lanes shown as  410  and a lower 8 lanes designated  412 . Electronic circuitry  414 , such as a PCI Express™ 16 lane interface circuit that may be integrated in a graphics processor core, CPU, bridge circuit such as a Northbridge, Southbridge, or any other suitable bridge circuit or any other suitable electronic circuit sends and receives signals identified as  406  and  408  via the connector  100 . Electronic circuitry  14  is located on the electronic circuit substrate and is coupled to the first group of electrical contacts and second group of electrical contacts (shown here are only the lower contacts). The electronic circuitry  414  provides differential clock signals labeled  416  and  418  that are located in a center portion of the first group of contacts  110 . The electronic circuitry also provides a plurality of differential data pair signals generally designated as  420  on either side of a center portion  421 . Corresponding differential ground signals  424  are provided between the differential signals  420 . Upper contacts  116  (not shown) provide control signals associated with the differential data pair signals  420 . In this example, the other group of contacts  112  does not include the differential clock signals  416  and  418 . The electronic circuitry provides all of the necessary PCI Express™ type control signaling, clock signaling and power to run an 8 lane bus via the first grouping of contacts  110 . 16 lanes may be accommodated by providing the signaling as shown. This incorporates utilizing the second group of contacts  112 . 
     As also shown, the first group of electrical contacts  110  and second group of electrical contacts  112  are divided by adjacent ground contacts designated  426  and  428 . The second group of contacts  112  are coupled such that the second row of lower contacts include a plurality of differential data signals  430  that are provided on adjacent pins separated by corresponding differential ground signals  432  and power is provided on an outer pin portion designated as  434  to a second row of lower contacts. Similarly, power is provided on an outer portion of the connector corresponding to the first group of contacts  114  shown as power signals  436 . In this example, the electronic circuitry  414  includes differential multilane bus transceivers that are PCI Express™ compliant, as known in the art. However, any suitable circuitry may be coupled to the connector  100  as desired. As also shown, the first and second group of contacts  110  and  112  each include the end grounding contact  426  and  428  that are positioned adjacent to each other and substantially in the center of the housing. 
     In addition, the first and second groups of electrical contacts include sensing contacts positioned at an outer end of a row of contacts to determine proper connector insertion on both ends of the cable. In addition, the connector also includes a power control pin that can be used in conjunction with the sensing contacts to control power sequencing and other functions between the two connected systems. 
       FIG. 6  illustrates one example of a cable having a cable end connector  500  that is configured to matingly engage with the connector  100 . The cable  502  includes an end connector on either end thereof (although not shown) that are identical to the end connector  500  and the connector end  500  is adapted to mate with the divided multi-connector element  108 . As such, the cable end connector  500  also includes a male portion  504  that engages with the contacts via center portion  212  of connector  100 . As known in the art, the end connector may be made of any suitable materials including plastic and metal to provide the necessary structural, shielding and grounding characteristics as desired. The male portion  504  is adapted to frictionally engage with the friction tabs  116  of the board connector  100 . The cable  502  may be made of two groups of wires each forming an 8 lane grouping. However, any suitable configuration may be used. 
       FIGS. 7-14  are diagrams illustrating electrical signals that are provided by the electrical circuitry  414  through connector  100  in one device and corresponding electrical circuitry that is in another device that is connected via the cable connector  502 . As such, a host device (referred to as host side), such as a laptop computer or any other suitable device is connected via a cable to a downstream device via a connector  100  and the downstream device also contains the connector  100 . As such, a simplified connector/cable pairing is suitably provided with high speed data communication capability. As illustrated, the connector  100  is operatively coupled to electronic circuitry to provide the signals on the pins as shown. As a point of reference, a portion of  FIGS. 4 and 5  showing the signals is duplicated in  FIGS. 7-14  shown by arrow  600 . The top row of contacts  116  and  120  are shown by the portion labeled  602 . As shown, the bottom rows of contacts  114  and  118  are primarily coupled between differential transmitters of for example a graphics processor (downstream device) and differential receivers of the host device whereas the top rows  116  and  120  of connector  100  are coupled between receivers of the graphics processor located in a downstream device and differential transmitters of a host device. 
     In the host device, the corresponding lower rows  114  and  118  shown as  604  are provided as shown. For example, a top row  116  and  120  on a host side device shown as signals  606  are provided by suitable electronic circuitry. In this example, the circuitry as noted above includes PCI Express™ compliant interface circuitry that provides in this example 16 lanes of information. The total number of pins used in this example is  124  pins. As such, this reflects a signal and pinout for a 16 lane to 16 lane connection. 
       FIGS. 15-18  illustrate instead, a signal and pinout configuration for an 8 lane to 8 lane connection using instead of a 16 lane sized connector, an 8 lane size connector. However, the identical signals are provided on the identical pins of the 8 pin connector as are provided on the first group of connectors  110  of the 16 lane connector. As such, an 8 lane connector may be employed that is similar in design to the connector shown in  100  except that half of the pins are used resulting in a housing that is sized to provide a footprint of approximately 12 mm×32 mm and a profile of approximately 32 mm×6 mm and includes a total of 68 pins configured in a row of lower contacts and upper contacts. As such,  FIGS. 15-18  illustrate a host side connector  702  that is connected with a downstream device connector  704  via an 8 lane cable  706 . 
       FIGS. 19-24  illustrate yet another configuration that employs pinout and signaling wherein a first device such as a host device employs an 8 lane connector with signaling shown as  702  with a cable that at another end includes the connector  100  with the pinout and signaling shown as  600  and  602 . As such, an 8-16 lane connector configuration may be used wherein only 8 lanes of the 16 lane connector are actually coupled to circuitry. In this manner, existing 16 lane connectors may be readily coupled to devices that employ 8 lane connectors if desired. 
       FIG. 25  illustrates one example of a system  900  that employs a first device  902 , such as a host device such as a laptop, desktop computer or any other suitable device and a second device  904  such as a device employing an electronic circuit that includes electronic circuitry  414  operatively mounted to substrate  908  such as a printed circuit board that contains connector  100 . The electronic circuitry  414  may be, for example, a graphics processor or any other suitable circuitry and in this example includes PCI Express™ compliant transceiver circuitry to communicate with the host device  902  via the cable and connector structure described herein. The device  904  which may include, for example, a housing that includes grates that serve as air passages  910  that provide air flow for cooling the electronic circuitry and may also include an active cooling mechanism such as a fan  913  although suitably controlled to provide cooling via air flow, as known in the art. The substrate  908  may include a power supply circuit  912  that provides a suitable power for all electronic circuitry and may receive alternating current (AC) from an outlet through plug  914 . The host device may include as known, one or more central processing units  920  and one or more graphics processors  922  in addition to suitable memory, operating system software and any other suitable components, software, firmware as known in the art. As such, in this example, the device  904  may receive drawing commands from the CPU  920  and/or GPU  922  via the differential signaling provided through the connectors  100  and cabling  502  to provide off device graphic processing enhancement through a suitable connector arrangement that is consumer friendly, relatively low cost and provides the data rates required for a high data rate video, audio and graphics processing. The electronic circuitry  414  as noted above may include graphics processing circuitry such as graphics processor core or cores, one or more CPUs, or any other suitable circuitry as desired. As shown, in the case that the electronic circuitry includes graphics processing circuitry, one or more frame buffers  930  are accessible by the graphics processing circuitry through one or more suitable buses  932  as known in the art. Also, in another embodiment, where a single circuit substrate  908  is used, the electronic circuitry  414  ma include a plurality of graphics processing circuitry such as a plurality of graphics processors  932  and  934  that are operatively coupled via a suitable bus  936  and may be connected with the divided multi-connector element differential bus connector  100  via a bus bridge circuit  938  such as a PCI bridge, or any other suitable bus bridge circuit. The bus bridge circuit provides information to and from the connector  100  and also switches communication paths between the connector  100  and each of the graphics processors  932  and  936  as known in the art. As such, in this example, a plurality of graphics processors, for example, can provide parallel or alternate graphics processing operations for the host device  902  or other suitable device. 
       FIG. 26  diagrammatically illustrates one example of the device  904  in a housing  1000  that includes air flow passages shown as  1002 ,  1004  and  1006 . In this example, the air flow passages are grills that provide air flow through the housing. The active air cooling mechanism  912  is shown as being a plurality of individual fans  1010  and  1012  that provide cooling for a plurality of printed circuit boards  908  and  1014  (e.g., cards) that may contain, for example, graphics processors, multimedia processors, CPUs, or any suitable electronic circuitry. Also referring to  FIG. 28 , in this example, each of the cards  908  and  1014  are connected by either separate standard PCI-E connectors  1220  and  1222  (or a board to board version of the divided multi-connector element differential bus connectors  400 ) on a backplane card  1224  which holds a PCI-E bridge which connectors the two cards to a separate divided multi connector element differential bus connector  100  (see for example,  FIGS. 4 and 5 ). 
     Graphics card brackets  1020  and  1022  hold connectors for external monitors. In this example, no CPU is employed in the device  904  and in this example the device is used as a type of external graphics enhancement device. Also in this example, ducting such as plastic passages designated as  1030  direct air flow over the elements to be cooled on the printed circuit boards or cards  908  and  1014 . In addition, the power supply may also include a separate fan designated  1032 . However, it will be recognized that any single fan for all cooling operations or multiple fans may be used as desired. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 19-28 , there may also be ducting to direct air flow from a grill to a fan as shown by ducting  1200 . As also shown, the cards  908  and  1014  are separated to provide thermal convection as desired. Also shown as part of the power supply is an on/off switch  1040 . The power supply may receive an A/C input such as an A/C signal from an outlet and convert the A/C to DC or may receive a DC input signal from a DC power source. In this example, the cards  908  and  1014  have in this example, PCI edge connectors at a bottom thereof  1220  and  1222  (see  FIG. 28 ) that connect with a backplane  1224  that, in this example, lies horizontally beneath the cards  908  and  1014 . The backplane includes connectors that mate with the card edge connector. The bus bridge circuit  938  acts as a switch to route information from the connector  100  to either or both of the cards  908  and  1014 . 
     It will be recognized that many usage scenarios are possible. For example, a circuit board with one or more graphics processors for example may be utilized to upgrade a remote host system, that may also have one or more graphics processors therein depending upon performance requirements. Each graphics processor may be individually coupled to a connector  100  or each graphics processor may use, for example, 8 lanes of a single connector as desired or share all 16 lanes through a PCI-E switch device. In addition, portable devices such as laptops may enhance their graphics processing or video processing capability or other processing capabilities, if desired, since thermal limits and power limits are reduced due to the separate electronic device. As such, as used herein, graphics processing circuitry can include video processing such as video coding and decoding circuits, high definition television image processing, or any other suitable video processing or multimedia processing operations as desired. It will be appreciated that external devices that may connect to the electronic device  904  for example may include set top boxes, televisions, game consoles, handheld devices, laptops, desktops, or any other suitable device as desired. In addition, one or more displays such as LCD displays may also be connected to the device  904 . DisplayPorts may be utilized so that separate displays may be plugged into the electronic device  904  so that the output from the graphics processors therein can be displayed on one or more display (see  FIG. 25 ). Alternatively, the graphics processor within the device  904  may send frame information or any other information back to the host device which may then use its own display capabilities to output the information on a different display. 
     Referring also to  FIGS. 7-14 , the CPWRON signal comes from the host device across the connector  100  indicating when, for example, the external device is powered up and active (a non-standby mode). The electronic circuitry in the device  904  then detects a CPWRON signal and powers up. The CPRSNT pins are used to detect full connection of the device  904  to an external device such as a host system to both help gate the power on of the device  904  and to notify the host system that the external device  904  is connected and powered. Two pins are used in one example to ensure that the connector  100  is fully seated before notifying the host system that it is available. In addition, a hot plug mechanism may also be utilized to detect when the device  904  is connected to another external device. 
       FIG. 29  illustrates another example of an electronic device  1300  that includes a circuit substrate  1302  that includes a bus bridge circuit  1304  that is coupled to the connector  100  and is coupled to bus slot ports  1306  and  1308 . The bus slot ports  1306  and  1308  need not be connector  100  but may be, for example, PCI Express™ slots that receive PCI Express™ cards  1310  and  1312  that may include any suitable electronic circuitry thereon. The bus slot ports  1306  and  1308  may be mounted on an active backplane  1311  for example. The active backplane may be an active backplane card to facilitate easy connection with the bus bridge circuit  1304 . The active backplane card includes the plurality of card ports  1306  and  1308  that are configured to receive a plug-in card  1310  and  1312 . The bus bridge circuit  1304  may be, for example, a Northbridge, Southbridge or other suitable bridge circuit that includes for example, the transceivers necessary to communicate via a PCI Express™ communication link, or any other suitable link. In this example, there is no graphics processing circuitry necessary since the graphics processor may be on one of the plug-in cards  1310  or  1312 . This can result in a smaller electronic device  1300  which still facilitates high speed video communication through the connector  100 . As such, standard PCI Express™ cards may be plugged into the slots  1306  and  1308  but a unique connector such as connector  100  is utilized to connect with another electronic device such as a device with a host CPU, for example. 
       FIG. 30  illustrates another electronic device  1400  that instead of utilizing standard bus slot connectors  1306  and  1308 , utilizes connectors  100  so that additional electronic devices such as that shown in  FIG. 25  (device  904 ) may be suitably connected to the hub device  1400 . Also in this example, there is no need for A/C connector since the power for the PCI bridge circuit  1304  would be provided by a downstream device through a power connection in parallel to the connector  100 . As also shown, a non-differential bus  1410  may also be employed between the electronic devices  1904  if desired to provide a direct communication link between the devices as opposed to going through the bus bridge circuit  1304 . With the multiple graphics processors in the electronic devices  1904 , parallel graphics processing or video processing may be employed if desired. 
     The device  1400  serves as an electronic hub device. It includes a plurality of divided multi connector element differential bus connectors  100  that are coupled to the bridge circuit  1304 . Each of the other electronic devices  1904  include an A/C input but also include divided multi connector element differential bus connectors  100 . Displays may also be coupled so that output from the electronic circuitry may be provided to corresponding displays. The bus connection  1410  between the graphics processing circuitry of each external electronic device is different than the bus through the divided multi connector element differential bus connector. The displays display frames generated by the graphics processing circuitry from one or both of the electronic devices  1904 . 
     The above detailed description of the invention and the examples described therein have been presented for the purposes of illustration and description only and not by limitation. It is therefore contemplated that the present invention cover any and all modifications, variations or equivalents that fall within the spirit and scope of the basic underlying principles disclosed above and claimed herein.