Abstract:
The present invention discloses a PCI-Express multimode expansion card comprising a PCI-Express interface port for insertion into a PCI-Express slot of a motherboard, a PCI-Express expansion port, a USB expansion port, and a jumper circuit connecting the PCI-Express interface port and the two expansion ports. The PCI-Express expansion port provides expandability by allowing the attachment of a PCI-Express interfaced peripheral device, and the USB expansion port provides expandability by allowing the attachment of a USB-interfaced peripheral device. As such, a single PCI-Express multimode expansion card inserted into a PCI-Express slot configured on the motherboard can be used to attach two peripheral devices with different interface, thereby achieving the function of multimode expansion.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The present invention relates to a PCI-Express multimode expansion card and communication device having the same, more particularly a PCI-Express multimode expansion card and communication device having the same that can be inserted into the PCI-Express slot of a motherboard and allow a PCI-Express interfaced peripheral device and a USB-interfaced peripheral device to be attached to the PCI-Express slot. 
         [0003]    2. Description of the Prior Art 
         [0004]    Personal computers used to use peripheral component interface (PCI), such as VGA (video graphics array) display card, sound card, network card, data card, video capture card, TV card, SCSI card, and 1394 adaptor card as the transmission interface to connect to devices of different functions. Because PCI peripheral devices share the use of PCI bandwidth, the more peripheral devices are connected to the computer, the less bandwidth is allocated to each device, thereby slowing down the transmission speed of the device. 
         [0005]    Nowadays with the computing speed of personal computers and the amount of data transmitted by the peripheral devices increase dramatically, computers need faster bandwidth to deal with the transmission load. The inadequate bandwidth of PCI becomes a bottleneck in the internal data transmission of computer. Thus Intel embarked on the development of a new-generation of PCI-Express transmission interface, which offers faster bandwidth to allow peripheral devices to transmit data between them more rapidly and efficiently. For example, the 3D graphics processing in games requires faster central processor as well as faster bandwidth to transmit the computing results to the display card. Other peripheral devices, such as gigabyte Ethernet, ultra wideband (UWB) wireless network, high definition content-related hardware, and RAID controller, all require greater bandwidth and consistent connection performance. Only PCI-Express transmission interface specification can meet the demands. 
         [0006]    Currently in personal computers, the motherboard is typically disposed with one or two PCI-Express slots in consideration of manufacturing costs and the space available inside the computer, hence limiting the number of external PCI-Express interfaced peripheral devices that may be connected to the computer. 
       SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
       [0007]    The primary object of the present invention is to provide a PCI-Express multimode expansion card insertable into a PCI-Express lot of a motherboard and providing multimode expansion function by allowing the attachment of a PCI-Express interfaced peripheral device and an USB-interfaced peripheral device to the PCI-Express slot. 
         [0008]    Another object of the present invention is to provide a communication device having a PCI-Express multimode expansion card. The communication device is an ultra wideband (UWB) wireless networking device, which can be connected to a PCI-Express slot of a motherboard via the PCI-Express multimode expansion card. 
         [0009]    To achieve the aforesaid objects, the PCI-Express multimode expansion card in one embodiment of the invention comprises a PCI-Express interface port, a first expansion port, a second expansion port, and a jumper circuit. The PCI-Express interface port is configured on one side of the PCI-Express multimode expansion card and consists of at least: a plurality of USB-interface pins and a plurality of PCI-Express interface pins. The first expansion port is an interface port compliant with PCI-Express specification, and the second expansion port is an interface port compliant with USB specification. The jumper circuit is connected between the PCI-Express interface port and the first expansion port, and between the PCI-Express interface port and the second expansion port. The first expansion port is connected at least to the PCI-Express interface pins via the jumper circuit, and the second expansion port is connected at least to the USB interface pins via the jumper circuit. As such, a first peripheral device that supports PCI-Express interface can be attached to the first expansion port, and a second peripheral device that supports USB interface can be attached to the second expansion port. 
         [0010]    In a preferred embodiment, either the first expansion port or the second expansion port is attached with an ultra wideband (UWB) wireless networking device. The UWB wireless networking device further consists of: a connector interface port insertable into one of the expansion ports of the PCI-Express multimode expansion card for transmission of data signals of communication protocol supported by said expansion port, an antenna for sending/receiving UWB wireless signals, a UWB front-end unit coupled to the antenna, a UWB controller coupled to the UWB front-end unit for signal modulation, and a signal conversion module connected between the UWB controller and the connector interface port to perform conversion of signals between the expansion port-supported communication protocol and the UWB communication protocol. Such design achieves the effect of indirectly connecting the UWB wireless networking device to the PCI-Express slot of the motherboard. At the same time, the other expansion port of the PCI-Express multimode expansion card can be used to connect other peripheral devices (including but not limited to a wireless local area network (WLAN) device). 
     
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0011]    The details of the present invention will be more readily understood from a detailed description of the preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the following figures. 
           [0012]      FIG. 1  is a structural diagram showing connection between the PCI-Express multimode expansion card of the invention and a terminal on motherboard. 
           [0013]      FIG. 2  is the circuit diagram of the PCI-Express multimode expansion card and a block diagram showing its connection to an external device. 
           [0014]      FIG. 3  is a diagram showing the standard function definitions of the PCI-Express pins on the PCI-Express multimode expansion card of the invention. 
           [0015]      FIG. 4  is a diagram showing the PCI-Express multimode expansion card of the invention connecting simultaneously to two wireless transceivers (i.e. peripheral devices) with different communication interface. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0016]    The main technical feature of the PCI-Express multimode expansion card of the invention is to make use of the pins on the connector interface specified by the PCI-Express protocol for transmission of PCI-Express signals and the additional USB2.0 connecting pins already built-in. Thus via a jumper circuit, the PCI-Express multimode expansion card of the invention is configured with an expansion port compatible with the PCI-Express pins, and another expansion port extended from the USB2.0 pins on the PCI-Express interface. As such, the PCI-Express multimode expansion card of the invention allows the attachment of two peripheral devices (one using PCI-Express communication protocol and the other using USB2.0 communication protocol) to a single PCI-Express slot on the motherboard to achieve the function of multimode expansion. 
         [0017]      FIGS. 1 ,  2  and  3  are respectively a structural diagram showing the connection between the PCI-Express multimode expansion card of the invention and a terminal on motherboard, the circuit diagram of the PCI-Express multimode expansion card and a block diagram showing its connection to an external device, and a diagram showing the standard function definitions of the PCI-Express pins on the PCI-Express multimode expansion card of the invention. 
         [0018]    As shown in  FIG. 1 , the PCI-Express multimode expansion card  3  is inserted into the PCI-Express slot  21  on the motherboard  2  of computer  1 , and PCI-Express multimode expansion card  3  and motherboard  2  are connected and communicate with each other through slot pins and communication protocol compliant with PCI-Express specification. The computer  1  can be a desktop computer as shown in  FIG. 1 , or a laptop computer, a mini-barebone system, or a server system. The computer  1  can be disposed with other components and devices in addition to the aforementioned motherboard  2  and PCI-Express lot  21 , including but not limited to central processor, a plurality of PCI slots, DRAM, hard drive, and power supply. Those components are prior art and not a technical feature of the invention, and therefore will not be elaborated here. 
         [0019]    Referring to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 , the PCI-Express multimode expansion card  3  further comprises: a PCI-Express interface port  31 , a first expansion port  32 , a second expansion port  33 , and a jumper circuit  34 . The PCI-Express interface port  31  has a so-called gold finger structure which consists of a plurality of metal pins. In addition, the size and configuration of PCI-Express interface port  31  are compatible with the PCI-Express slot pins, so the PCI-Express multimode expansion card can be directly inserted into the PCI-Express slot  21  of motherboard  2  and become electrically connected to the motherboard  2 . 
         [0020]    In the preferred embodiment of the PCI-Express multimode expansion card  3  as shown in  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 , the PCI-Express interface port  31  is disposed on one side of the PCI-Express multimode expansion card  3  for insertion into the PCI-Express slot  21  of motherboard  2 . The first expansion port  32  and the second expansion port  33  are arranged in the vicinity of the other side of PCI-Express multimode expansion card  3  for the attachment of a first peripheral device  41  and a second peripheral device  42 . A jumper circuit  34  is used to connect the PCI-Express interface port  31  with the two expansion ports  32 ,  33 . 
         [0021]    As shown in  FIG. 3 , the PCI-Express interface port  31  of the PCI-Express multimode expansion card  3  conforms to the standard PCI-Express specification and has 52 pins, of which, pins No.  21 ,  23 ,  25 ,  27 ,  29 ,  31 ,  33  and  35  are pins used for transmitting PCI-Express signal; pins No.  9 ,  11 ,  13 , and  15  are pins for transmitting reference clock signal; pins  34 ,  36 ,  38  and  40  are built-in USB2.0 interface pins  311  supported by standard PCI-Express specification; pins No.  42 ,  44  and  46  are three sets of LED pins  312 . The LED pins  312  are connected to a plurality of LED indicators (not shown in the figure) configured on the PCI-Express multimode expansion card  3  to relay the status of the card to user through the display of LED indicator. 
         [0022]    In this embodiment as shown in  FIGS. 1 ,  2  and  3 , the first expansion port  32  is an interface slot complaint with mini PCI-Express specification. The pins of the first expansion port  32  are connected to the pins on PCI-Express interface port  31  for transmitting PCI-Express signals via the jumper circuit  34  (i.e. pins # 21 ,  23 ,  25 ,  27 ,  29 ,  31 ,  33 , and  35  shown in  FIG. 3 ). In another embodiment, the first expansion port  32  is a standard 52-pin PCI-Express slot. In such event, all 52 pins of the PCI-Express interface port  31  are connected to the first expansion port  32  via the jumper circuit  34 . As such, the first peripheral device  41  attached to the first expansion port  32  can communicate with the motherboard  2  via the PCI-Express interface and communication protocol. 
         [0023]    The second expansion port  33  is a USB2.0 interface port. The pins of second expansion port  33  are connected to the pins on PCI-Express interface port  31  used to transmit USB2.0 signals via the jumper circuit  34  (i.e. pins # 34 ,  36 ,  38 , and  40  shown in  FIG. 3 ). As such, the second peripheral device  42  attached to the second expansion port  32  can communicate with the motherboard  2  via the USB2.0 interface and communication protocol. 
         [0024]    Because the PCI-Express multimode expansion card  3  only needs a jumper circuit  34  to connect the PCI-Express interface port  31  to the two expansion ports  32 ,  33  without using additionally a driver IC or signal conversion circuit for the conversion of signals or communication protocols, the circuit complexity and design cost of PCI-Express multimode expansion card  3  are both low. In addition, it allows two peripheral devices  41 ,  42  with different interface specification to be attached to the PCI-Express slot  21  of motherboard  2  to achieve the function of multimode expansion. 
         [0025]    In this embodiment, the first peripheral device  41  is a device compliant with PCI-Express or mini PCI-Express specification, including but not limited to: PCI-E display card, RAID expansion card, WLAN, UWB wireless networking device, or gigabyte Ethernet. The second peripheral device  42  is a USB or USB2.0 compliant peripheral device, including but not limited to USB hub, USB WLAN, bluetooth USB transmitter, USB UWB wireless networking device, USB Ethernet LAN, or USB input device. 
         [0026]      FIG. 4  is a diagram showing the PCI-Express multimode expansion card  3  of the invention connecting simultaneously to two wireless transceivers  43 ,  44  (i.e. peripheral devices) with different communication protocols. Wireless transceiver  43  is a UWB wireless transceiver  43  that supports PCI-Express interface specification and further comprises: an antenna  431 , a UWB front-end unit  432 , a UWB controller  433 , a signal conversion module  434 , and a PCI-Express connector interface port  435 . 
         [0027]    The antenna  431  is for enhancing the receiving/sending of UWB signals. The UWB front-end unit  432  is electrically connected to antenna  431  to reduce the signal noise or enhance the signals received/sent by antenna  431  to facilitate the transmission of signals. The UWB controller  433  is coupled to the UWB front-end unit  432  to modulate the data signal to be sent into UWB wireless signals or modulate the UWB signals received into data signals. The signal conversion module  434  is coupled to the UWB controller  433  to convert data signals between UWB communication protocol and PCI-Express communication protocol. The PCI-Express connector interface port  435  is coupled to the signal conversion module  434 , compliant with PCI-Express interface specification and insertable into the first expansion port  32  of PCI-Express multimode expansion card  3  for the transmission of data signals compliant with PCI-Express communication protocol. 
         [0028]    The other wireless transceiver  44  is a WLAN wireless transceiver  44  that supports USB interface specification and further comprises: an antenna  441 , a wireless network front-end unit  442 , a wireless network controller  443 , a signal conversion module  444 , and a USB connector interface port  445 . 
         [0029]    The antenna  441  is for enhancing the receiving/sending of wireless signals. The wireless network front-end unit  442  is electrically connected to antenna  441  to reduce the signal noise or enhance the signals received/sent. The wireless network controller  443  is coupled to the wireless network front-end unit  442  to modulate the data signal to be sent into WLAN wireless signals or modulate the WLAN signals received into data signals. The signal conversion module  444  is coupled to the wireless network controller  443  to convert data signals between USB communication protocol and WLAN communication protocol. The USB connector interface port  445  is coupled to the signal conversion module  444 , compliant with USB2.0 interface specification and insertable into the second expansion port  33  of PCI-Express multimode expansion card  3  for the transmission of data signals compliant with USB or USB2.0 communication protocol. 
         [0030]    In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 4 , the PCI-Express multimode expansion card  3  of the invention can connect to a UWB wireless transceiver  43  and a WLAN wireless transceiver  44  simultaneously, where the UWB wireless transceiver  43  communicates and transmits signals with the motherboard of the connected computer (not shown in the figure) using PCI-Express communication protocol, and the WLAN wireless transceiver  44  transmits data signals using USB communication protocol. Such design allows the computer to support simultaneously two wireless transceivers  43 ,  44  with different communication modes, while using only one PCI-Express slot, which completely addresses the drawback of prior arts. 
         [0031]    Yet in another embodiment, it is easy to come up with the idea of changing the design of the aforementioned UWB wireless transceiver  43  into a USB2.0 interfaced device that is attached to the second expansion port  33 , while changing the design of the aforementioned WLAN wireless transceiver  44  into a PCI-Express interfaced device that is attached to the first expansion port  32 . Or the PCI-Express multimode expansion card  3  has only one expansion port attached with a wireless transceiver, while the other expansion port is attached with other peripheral devices instead of a wireless transceiver. In other words, the embodiments cited above should not be construed as limitation to the scope of application. Technical spirits and modifications defined based on the claims of the invention fall under the protected scope of the invention. That is, all modifications and alterations without departing from the spirits of the invention and appended claims shall be construed as further embodiments of the invention. 
         [0032]    While the invention has been described by way of examples and in terms of the preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. To the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements and procedures, and the scope of the appended claims therefore should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements and procedures. Accordingly, that above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.