Patent Abstract:
A computer system includes a first module including a first housing, and a main board installed inside the first housing. A central processing unit is installed on the main board for processing programs and data of the computer system. The first module further includes a power supply module installed inside the first housing for providing electric power of the computer system. The computer system further includes a second module including a second housing, a display device installed inside the second housing, and a power switch installed on the second housing for generating a power switch signal for switching on or switching off the power supply. The computer system further includes a cable electrically connected to the first module and the second module including a power switch signal wire for transmitting the power switch signal generated by the power switch to the power supply module.

Full Description:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The invention relates to a computer system, and more particularly, to a computer system of combining user interface and a display device.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Prior Art  
         [0004]     In today&#39;s information society, computer systems have become essential information devices. No matter whether they are desktop personal computers, laptops, or servers, they have higher and higher operating clock rates and are utilized in more and more applications.  
         [0005]     Generally speaking, a desktop computer can be divided into two types. The first type is a traditional computer structure of a separated host and display. The second type is an all-in-one computer structure. Please refer to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 .  FIG. 1  is a front-view diagram of the traditional computer  10  of a separated host and display.  FIG. 2  is a back-view diagram of the traditional computer  10 . The computer  10  comprises a display  12 , a host  14 , a keyboard  16 , a mouse  18 , and a speaker  20 . The host  14  comprises a housing  22  for protecting computer devices (for example, a motherboard) inside the housing  22 . Furthermore, the housing  22  can be utilized to prevent the computer  10  from radiating electromagnetic interference (EMI) to the environment. The host  14  further comprises an optical disk drive  24 , a floppy disk drive  26 , and a power switch  27  for enabling users to turn on or turn off the computer  10 . In addition, the keyboard  16  and the mouse  18  are respectively connected to PS/2 slots  32 ,  34  on the housing  22  through transmission lines  28 ,  30  respectively. The display  12  is connected to a display card  38  of the host  14  through a transmission line  36  to transfer image signals. Furthermore, the display  12  is connected to a power slot  42  of the host  14  through another transmission line  40  to receive power transferred by the power supplying device  44  of the host  14 . The speaker  20  is connected to a sound card  48  in the back of the housing  22  through a transmission line  46  to transfer audio signals.  
         [0006]     But the computer  10  has a disadvantage. Because the computer  10  comprises a separated host  14  and a display  12 , the host  14  and the display  12  are placed in different locations. For example, the display  12  is placed on a table, but the host  14  is placed under the table. Therefore, the user is inconvenienced when utilizing the optical disk drive  24  or the floppy disk drive  26 , or switching the power switch  27 . Furthermore, because there are a multitude of transmission lines between the host  14  and display  12 , it is difficult for users to organize these transmission lines.  
         [0007]     Please refer to  FIG. 3 , which is a diagram of an all-in-one computer  60  according to the prior art. The computer  60  comprises a housing  62 , a keyboard  64 , and a mouse  66 . Furthermore, almost all other computer devices (for example, motherboard, display, or other components) are installed inside the housing  62 . In other words, the computer  60  is designed by integrating the display  12  and the host  14  of the computer  10  shown in  FIG. 1  in the same housing (the housing  62 ). The computer  60  further comprises a power transmission line  68  for receiving power provided by an external power source, a printing transmission line  70  connected to an external printer, a network transmission line  72  for transferring external network data, and an image signal transmission line  74  for receiving image information provided from the outside circuit.  
         [0008]     Although the all-in-one computer  60  can solve the above-mentioned problems of bad accessibility of the traditional computer  10 , the all-in-one computer  60  still has many transmission lines connected to peripheral devices, making it still difficult for users to organize the transmission lines. Furthermore, in contrast to the traditional computer  10 , the all-in-one computer device  60  has bad hardware expandability, is complex to produce and hard to maintain, and the cost of the computer  60  is more than that of the traditional computer  10 . In addition, because the all-in-one computer  60  is placed on the table, the all-in-one computer  60  generates a lot of noise during operation, which can disturb the users more than in the traditional computer  10 &#39;s operation.  
         [0009]     To sum up, inventing a computer having good accessibility, good transmission line arrangement, convenience of production and maintenance, low cost, and low noise is a goal in today&#39;s computer industry.  
       SUMMARY OF INVENTION  
       [0010]     The present invention provides a computer system of combining user interface and a display device, to solve the above-mentioned problem.  
         [0011]     According to an exemplary embodiment of the claimed invention, a computer system is disclosed. The computer system comprises: a first module; a second module; and a cable electrically connected to the first module and the second module. The first module comprises: a first housing; a motherboard installed inside the first housing, the motherboard comprising a central processing unit for processing programs and data of the computer system; and a power supplying device installed inside the first housing for providing power to the computer system. The second module comprises: a second housing; a display device installed inside the second housing; and a power switch installed inside the second housing for generating a power switching signal to control to turn on or turn off the power supplying device. The cable comprises a power switching signal transmission line for transferring the power switching signal generated by the power switch to the power supplying device.  
         [0012]     These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
       [0013]      FIG. 1  is a front-view diagram of the traditional computer of a separated host and a display according to the prior art.  
         [0014]      FIG. 2  is a back-view diagram of the traditional computer shown in  FIG. 1 .  
         [0015]      FIG. 3  is a diagram of an all-in-one computer according to the prior art.  
         [0016]      FIG. 4  is a front-view diagram of a computer system according to the present invention.  
         [0017]      FIG. 5  is a back-view diagram of the computer system shown in  FIG. 4 .  
         [0018]      FIG. 6  is a block diagram of the computer system shown in  FIG. 4 .  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0019]     Please refer to  FIG. 4  and  FIG. 5 .  FIG. 4  is a front-view diagram of a computer system  80  according to the present invention.  FIG. 5  is a back-view diagram of the computer system  80 . The computer system comprises a first module  82 , which is the host of the computer system  80 . The first module  82  comprises a first housing  84  for protecting computer components (for example, the motherboard) installed inside the first housing  84 . Furthermore, the first housing  84  can also be utilized to prevent inner components of the first module  82  radiating electromagnetic interference to the environment. The first module  82  further comprises a power supplying device  86  installed inside the first housing  84  for providing needed power to the computer system  80 , and a first connecting port  88  installed on the first housing  84 . The computer system  80  further comprises a second module  90 , which is the display and the user interface of the computer system  80 . The second module  90  comprises a second housing  92 , and a display device  94  installed inside the second housing  92 . Here, the display device  94  can be an LCD display. In addition, the second module  90  further comprises a power switch  96  installed on the second housing  92  for generating a power switching signal to control to turn on or turn off the power supplying device  86 , a second connecting port  97  installed on the second housing  92 , an audio outputting end  98  for outputting audio signals, an audio inputting end  100  for receiving audio signals, a wireless transmission device  102  for transferring data wirelessly, an optical disk drive  104 , a card reader  106 , a webcam  108 , and a plurality of USB connectors  110  for providing the user to connect peripheral devices to the computer system  80 , wherein the wireless transmission device  102  can utilize the bluetooth WLAN protocol to transfer data or utilize infrared rays to transfer data. In addition, the computer system  80  further comprises a cable  112  electrically connected to the first connecting port  88  of the first module  82  and the second connecting port  97  of the second module  90 .  
         [0020]     Please refer to  FIG. 6 , which is a block diagram of the computer system  80  shown in  FIG. 1 . The first module  82  of the computer system  80  further comprises a motherboard  114  installed inside the first housing  84 , wherein the motherboard  114  has a CPU  116 , a north-bridge circuit  118 , a south-bridge circuit  120 , a memory  122 , a display driving circuit  124 , and an audio encoder/decoder  126 . The first module  82  further comprises a hard disk  128  installed in the first housing  84  and coupled to the south-bridge circuit  120  for storing data. The CPU  116  is utilized for processing the programs and data of the computer system  80  to control the operation of the computer system  80 . The north-bridge circuit  118  is utilized for controlling signal transmission between the high-speed devices (for example, the display driving circuit  124  and the memory  122 ) and the CPU  116 . The south-bridge circuit  120  is utilized for controlling signal transmission between low-speed devices (for example, the hard disk  128  and the optical disk drive) and the north-bridge circuit  118 . The display driving circuit  124  is utilized for processing a 2-D graphic calculation or a 3-D graphic calculation to transform the image data into image signals in order to drive the display device  94  to display corresponding images. The audio encoder/decoder  126  is utilized for transforming audio signals into digital audio files or transforming the digital audio files into audio signals. Furthermore, the south-bridge circuit  120  has a first interface controller  130  for controlling data transmission on the first interface bus. Here, the first interface controller  130  can be a USB host controller for controlling data transmission on a USB bus.  
         [0021]     The cable  112  of the computer system  80  comprises a power switching signal transmission line  132 , a power transmission line  134 , a first interface signal transmission line  136 , an audio signal transmission line  138 , and an image signal transmission line  140 . In this embodiment, the power switching signal transmission line  132  is coupled to the power supplying device  86  and the power switch  96  for transferring power switching signals generated by the power switch  96  to control to turn on or turn off the power supplying device  86 . This achieves the function of turning on/off the computer system  80 . The power transmission line  134  is coupled to the power supplying device  86  and a transformer  142  of the second module  90  for transferring power generated by the power supplying device  86  to the transformer  142 . The first interface signal transmission line  136  is coupled to the first connecting port  88  and second connecting port  97  for transferring signals between the first connecting port  88  and the second connecting port  97 . The audio signal transmission line  138  is coupled to the audio encoder/decoder  126 , the audio outputting end, and the audio inputting end  100  for transferring audio signals generated by the audio encoder/decoder  126  to the audio outputting end  98  and for transferring audio signals received by the audio inputting end to the audio encoder/decoder  126 . The audio signal transmission line  140  is coupled to the display driving circuit  124  and the display device  94  for transferring the image signals generated by the display driving circuit  124  to the display device  94 . The cable  112  can physically be a cable covered with an isolation layer. Furthermore, inside the isolation layer, the cable  112  comprises the power switching signal transmission line  132 , the power transmission line  134 , the first interface signal transmission line  136 , the audio signal transmission line  138 , and the image signal transmission line  140 . When viewed from outside, however, only the isolation layer can be seen. In other words, only the cable  112  is seen instead of the power switching signal transmission line  132 , the power transmission line  134 , the first interface signal transmission line  136 , the audio signal transmission line  138 , and the image signal transmission line  140 .  
         [0022]     The second module  90  of the computer system  80  further comprises a first interface hub  144  installed in the second housing  92  and coupled to the second connecting port  97 , the wireless transmission device  102 , the optical disk drive  104 , the card reader  106 , the webcam  108 , and the USB connector  110 . In addition, the first interface hub  144  can distribute the transmission bandwidth of the above-mentioned devices. Therefore, the number of the first interface hub  144  is not limited to one. In other words, a plurality of first interface hubs  144  can be connected to the above-mentioned first interface hub  144 . The number of first interface hubs  144  is determined according to the number of the devices and the transmission bandwidth arrangement. After the transformer  142  receives the power transferred by the power supplying device  86  of the first module  82  through the power transmission line  134  of the cable  112 , the transformer  142  can transform the voltage of the received power into the working voltages of the inner devices of the second module  92  and transfer the working voltages to the above-mentioned inner devices. Furthermore, the user can utilize the power switch  96  to generate a power on signal or a power off signal, and the power switch  96  transfers the power on signal or the power off signal to the power supplying device  86  through the power switching signal transmission line  132  of the cable  112  in order to control to turn on or turn off the power supplying device  86 . Therefore, the function of turning on and turning off the computer system  80  is achieved. In addition, the second connecting port  97  and the first connecting port  88  of the first module  84  can transfer data to each other through the first interface signal transmission line  136 , and the first interface controller  130  can control the data transmission between the first connecting port  88  and the second connecting port  97  through the first interface bus. If the first interface is the USB interface (for example, USB 1.0, USB 2.0, or USB OTG interface), the first connecting port  88  and the second connecting port  97  are both USB connecting ports (for example, USB 1.0, USB 2.0, or USB OTG connecting ports), the first interface controller  130  is a USB interface controller, and the first interface hub  144  of the second module  92  is a USB hub. In other words, the wireless transmission device  102 , the optical disk drive  104 , the card reader  106 , and the webcam  108  all utilize the USB interface to transfer data. Furthermore, the data transmission bandwidth among the wireless transmission device  102 , the optical disk drive  104 , the card reader  106 , the webcam  108 , peripheral devices connected to the USB connector  110  through the second connecting port  97 , the first interface signal transmission line  136 , the first connecting port  88 , and the first interface controller  130  can be arranged by the first interface hub  144 . The audio outputting end  98  can be an earphone jack or a speaker. The audio inputting end  100  can be a microphone. Furthermore, audio signals generated by the audio encoder/decoder  126  can be transferred to the audio outputting end  98  through the audio signal transmission line  138  of the cable  112 , or audio signals received by the audio inputting end  100  can be transferred to the audio encoder/decoder  126  through the audio signal transmission line  138  of the cable  112 . Furthermore, the display device  94  can receive image signals generated by the display driving circuit  124  through the image signal transmission line  140  of the cable and display corresponding images.  
         [0023]     To sum up, the present invention computer system  80  can be divided into two parts, the first module  82  and the second module  90 . The devices or interfaces (for example, the audio inputting end  100  for the user to input audio information, the data storage device such as the optical disk drive  104  or the card reader  106  for the user to access data of the computer system  80 , the webcam  108  for catching images, the bus connector  110  for the user to connect an external peripheral device, and wireless transmission device  102  for transferring data to other devices), which are often utilized by the user, are installed in the second module  90 . In addition, the devices, which the user does not often utilize, are installed in the first module  82 . Basically, the devices installed in the first module  82  are the main components for maintaining the operation of the computer system  80 . Therefore, the devices of the first module  82  can control the corresponding devices of the second module  90 , and the control command and data transmission are transferred through transmission lines of the cable  112 . So in contrast to the prior art traditional computer, the present invention computer system  80  can only utilize one cable  112  to connect the first module  82  to the second module  90 . Therefore, the second module  90  can be placed on the table so that the accessibility is raised, and the first module  82  can be placed under the table. Furthermore, because the first module  82  is connected to the second module  90  through only one cable  112 , the number of transmission lines is reduced, allowing the user to clean the table and arrange the cable  112  easily.  
         [0024]     In contrast to the prior art, the present invention computer system utilizes only one cable to connect two modules. One of the modules is often utilized and contacted by the user, and the other module is not. The more frequently contacted module can be placed on the table and the less frequently contacted module can be placed under the table. The present invention computer system combines the display device and the user interface so that the accessibility is raised. Furthermore, because only one cable is utilized to connect the two modules, the complex transmission lines problem of the prior art is removed. In addition, the present invention computer still has good hardware expandability, so it is easier to produce and maintain the present invention computer system than the prior art all-in-one computer. The cost of the present invention computer system is lower than the prior art all-in-one computer. Furthermore, because the host (first module) of the present invention computer system is still separated from the user interface and the display device (the second module), the noise when the computer is operating is much lower than the prior art all-in-one computer. To sum up, the present invention computer system has the advantages of good accessibility, transmission line arrangement convenience, low cost, ease of production and maintenance, and low noise.  
         [0025]     Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.

Technology Classification (CPC): 6