Patent Publication Number: US-2006002061-A1

Title: Motherboard adapted to a notebook computer

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates to a motherboard adapted to a notebook computer, more particularly to a motherboard assembled in a notebook computer. The motherboard has a layout design for being rotated to different positions so as to be disposed on different kinds of notebook computer frames.  
      2. Description of the Prior Art  
      Industry constantly seeks to improve the efficiency of notebook computers, as well as to expand the functions thereof in response to consumer demands and needs. Two main considerations made by a customer when purchasing a notebook computer are the performance of the internal equipment and the external appearance thereof.  
      However, every new design for the external appearance of notebook computer requires that the motherboard be redesigned as well. The greatest limitation on assembly of different specifications of notebook computer manufacturers is that the same motherboard can&#39;t be used in different notebook computers.  
      Certainly, the inventor of the present invention recognizes that the above problem should be corrected and special effort is paid to research in this field. The present invention is presented with reasonable design and good effect to resolve the above problem.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The primary object of the present invention is to provide a motherboard adapted to a notebook computer, in which the motherboard has a layout design that can be rotated to different positions so as to be disposed on the different kinds of frames of the notebook computers, by locating alternately different classes of motherboards and frames of notebook computers to design the different specifications of the notebook computers.  
      For achieving the object above, a motherboard is adapted to a notebook computer and disposed on a frame of the notebook computer, the motherboard having an area equal to one half the area of the frame. The notebook computer further has a battery, a CD-ROM and a heat-dissipating module disposed in another area of the frame. The motherboard has a board and the board has a gap, a top surface, and a bottom surface. The top surface of the board defines a random access memory (RAM) disposed substantially in a middle of the motherboard, a central processing unit (CPU) disposed on an edge of the board, a read only memory (ROM), a power socket located near the CPU, a hard disc (HD) disposed detachably on the board, a plurality of external slots located on an edge of the board and facing toward a side edge of the frame, and a plurality of connectors. The bottom surface of the board has a north bridge chip disposed near the gap, a south bridge chip disposed on the back of the HD, and a plurality of connectors located substantially on the middle of the motherboard with the external slots exposed by the different side edges of the different kinds of notebook computers.  
      To provide a further understanding of the invention, the following detailed description illustrates embodiments and examples of the invention, this detailed description being provided only for illustration of the invention.  
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be more readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:  
       FIG. 1  is a perspective exploded bottom view of the notebook computer to the present invention;  
       FIG. 2  is a bottom view of the motherboard to the present invention;  
       FIG. 3  is a top view of the motherboard to the present invention;  
       FIG. 3A  is a side view of the motherboard to the present invention;  
       FIG. 4  is an assembly bottom view of the motherboard disposed on a frame of the present invention; and  
       FIG. 5  is an assembly bottom view of the motherboard disposed on another frame of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS  
      Reference is made to  FIG. 1 , which is a perspective exploded bottom view of the notebook computer  1  to the present invention. The notebook computer has a mimic panel  2  and a host  3 . The host  3  defining defines an upper case  31 , a lower case  32 , and a metal frame  34  located between the upper case  31  and the lower case  32 . A mimic panel  2  is connected pivotally to one side of the frame  34 .  
      The frame  34  is used to contain all kinds of electronic components and the frame at least includes a motherboard  5 , a heat-dissipating module  35  for dissipating the fever generated from the motherboard  5 , a CD-ROM  36  such as VCD or DVD for accessing the data, and a battery  37  for providing the power of the notebook computer. The frame  34  appears somewhat as a rectangle. One half of the area of the frame  34  is the area of the motherboard  5  and another half of the area of the frame  34  includes the battery  37 , the CD-ROM  36 , and the heat-dissipating module  35 .  
      The present invention redesigns an outline and a layout of the motherboard  5  to rotate the motherboard  5  to different positions so as to dispose the motherboard  5  on the different kinds of frames of the notebook computers. The motherboard  5  has a board body  50  defining a top surface  502  and a bottom surface  504 . A plurality of electronic components is disposed on the board  50  and a circuit is formed on the board  50 . The board  50  appears somewhat as a rectangle and the board  50  has a rectangular gap  508  for saving a space of the motherboard  5 .  
      Reference is made to  FIG. 2 , which is a bottom view of the motherboard  5  to the present invention. The motherboard  5  has a top surface  502  defining a random access memory (RAM)  510 , a central processing unit (CPU)  511 , a read only memory (ROM)  512 , a power socket  513  for connecting the plug of the AC transformer, a hard disc (HD)  514 , a plurality of external slots  53 , and a plurality of connector  55 .  
      The CPU  511  is disposed near the motherboard  5  for the suitable layout of the heat-dissipating module  35 . The RAM  510  is disposed substantially on the middle of the motherboard  5 . The HD  514  is located near the bottom edge of the motherboard  5  and disposed detachably on the motherboard. A plurality of external slots  53  is located alongside on the top edge of the motherboard  5  for connecting electrically with the external peripherals. The external slots  53  including a VGA port  531 , a 1394 terminal  532 , a RJ-45 Modem terminal  533 , a RJ-11 Ethernet terminal  534 , two USB ports  535 ,  536 , a microphone terminal  537 , and a earphone terminal  538 . A plurality of connectors  55  has a fan connector  551 , a battery connector  552 , a CD-ROM connector  553 , and a wireless module socket  554 . The connector  55  is disposed near the edge of the motherboard  5 .  
      The top surface  502  of the board  50  of the motherboard  5  further comprises a wireless module  516  and a modem module  518 . The wireless module  516  is disposed near the edge of the motherboard  5  for transmitting and receiving signals of the wireless communication.  
      Reference is made to  FIG. 3 , which is a top view of the motherboard  5  to according to the present invention. The back  504  of the motherboard  5  includes a north bridge chip  515 , a south bridge chip  517 , and a plurality of connectors  54 . The north bridge chip  515  is disposed near the gap  508  for contacting the high-speed peripherals such as, for example, a RAM  510 , a CPU  511 , and a display card. The north bridge chip  515  is disposed substantially to the back of the CPU  511  and the RAM  510 . The south bridge chip  517  is disposed in back of the HD  514  for contacting the low-speed peripherals such as the slot of the interface card and for contacting the connection interface of the saving devices such as HD  514 , and CD-ROM. A plurality of connectors  54  has a keyboard connector  541 , an indicator light connector  542 , a microphone connector  543 , a loudspeaker connector  544 ; a LVDS terminal  545 , a panel board  546 , a transformer rectifier  547 , a touch pad connector  548 , and a card reader connector  549 . a plurality of connectors  54  is disposed substantially on the middle of the motherboard  5  for electrically connecting with various electronic components. As a result of the layout of a plurality of connectors  54  disposed substantially on the middle of the back  504  of the motherboard  5  and exposed to the middle opening of the frame  34  (shown in  FIG. 1 ), maintenance of the motherboard  5  and various electronic components is convenient and easy.  
      Reference is made to  FIG. 3A , which is a side view of the motherboard  5  according to the present invention. A plurality of external slots  53  of the motherboard  5  is exposed to the longer side edge thereof. When the motherboard  5  rotates, the external slot  53  also rotates in different directions; the motherboard  5  is light extremely. A width of the motherboard  5  is nearly equal a width of the external slots  53  adds a width of the CPU  511 . The long side edge of the motherboard  5  is 230 mm, the short side edge of the motherboard  5  is 155 mm, and an area of the gap  508  is 60 mm×40 mm.  
      Reference is made to  FIG. 4 , which is an assembly bottom view of the motherboard disposed on a frame of the present invention. Viewing the proportion of the motherboard  5  to the frame  34  of the notebook computer  1 , half of the area of the frame  34  is the area of the motherboard  5  and another half of the area of the frame  34  includes a battery  37 , a CD-ROM  36 , and a heat-dissipating module  35  disposed on the top edge of the frame  34 . A length of the long side edge of the motherboard  5  is slightly shorter than a length of the short side edge of frame  34  and a length of the short side edge of the motherboard  5  is about half of a length of the long side edge of the frame  34 ; therefore, the motherboard  5  is disposed in other directions by rotating the direction of the frame  34 .  
      Reference is made to  FIG. 5 , which is an assembly bottom view of the motherboard disposed on another frame of the present invention. According to the proportion of the motherboard  5  to the frame  34  of the notebook computer  1  and the layout design of the motherboard  5 , the motherboard  5  is rotated in other directions with the same layout design for location on different frames  34   a . The external slots  53  of the motherboard  5  are disposed on the side edge of the notebook computer  1  to cause a difference in the appearance thereof. Therefore, the same type of motherboard  3  is suitable to different kinds of notebook computers to reduce effectively the storage space of the motherboard  5  and the cost of redesigning.  
      The motherboard  5  of the present invention is advantageous to production of notebook computers with different appearances and equipment. That is to say, slightly changing the CPU of different factories and other equipment results in at least the three types of motherboards with different classes. Furthermore, the two types of frames, horizontal frame and vertical frame, and a third type frame, rotate the external slots  53  to the right side of the notebook computer; that is to say, three types of frames and three types of motherboards with different classes result in nine types of appearance and equipment of the notebook computers.  
      Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the above description is only illustrative of specific embodiments and examples of the invention. The invention should therefore cover various modifications and variations made to the herein-described structure and operations of the invention, provided they fall within the scope of the invention as defined in the following appended claims.