Patent ID: 7953897

Claim:
A Kitchen Display System (KDS), which comprises: a workstation comprising a first Personal Computer (PC)-based controller capable of running an operating system; a fanless workstation comprising a controller having lower cost than the first PC-based controller; and an Ethernet network operatively coupling the controllers, at least one of the controllers comprising a rugged computing module comprising: a circuit board comprising an outer perimeter and traces associated therewith; an integrated circuit mounted on the circuit board; at least one interface connector, each of the at least one interface connector being mounted at an edge of the circuit board, the at least one interface connector being electrically coupled to the integrated circuit exclusively through the traces, thereby eliminating cable connections between points within the outer perimeter of the circuit board and points external to the circuit board; a housing enclosing the computing module such that there is no air flow to the inside of the computing module and convection is not relied on to cool the rugged computing module, the housing not comprising a display disposed thereon, thereby making the housing rugged; and a thermal transfer device thermally coupled to the integrated circuit, the thermal transfer device being adapted to transfer heat from the integrated circuit to the housing, the thermal transfer device comprising a heat pipe.