Patent Document

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 89207906, filed on May 11, 2000. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a layout of slot pinholes on a circuit board. More particularly, the present invention relates to a slot pinhole dual layout on a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) capable of mounting two kinds of different interface slots. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     An ISA (Industrial Standard Architecture) slot is one kind of slot specification and has been used for years in personal computers. However, due to the fact that the access speed through an ISA interface is quite slow, it is becoming less common. Instead, PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) slots and other kinds of interface card slots are more popular. Since the overwhelming development of communication and multimedia products, a renovated CNR (Communication and Networking Riser) interface supporting functions such as audio, modem and LAN (Local Area Network) is gradually becoming indispensable. Though the quantity of PCI slots user requests is uncertain, the using of PCI slots still exists as a necessity in conventional extended equipment, which requires that the vendors of motherboards do a lot of research and development on manufacturing numerous different extension slots. 
     In other words, the quantity of extension slots used by consumers is not always the same; thus, the vendors of motherboards have to provide the motherboards with both PCI and CNR slots. Therefore, the vendors must develop at least two different products during research and store at least two different products in their stock. Hence, the amount of time consumed and the costs incurred during the research and development and the management of stored materials causes a lot of inconvenience. 
     FIG. 1 illustrates a portion of a commonly seen motherboard layout for extension slots in the present-day industry, wherein the motherboard  100  includes a six PCI slot pinhole layout  10   a ˜ 10   f  and one CNR slot pinhole layout  12   a.  FIG. 2 illustrates a portion of the motherboard layout with a five PCI slot pinhole layout  10   a ˜ 10   e  and a two CNR slot pinhole layout  12   a,    12   b.  In order to meet market demands, the conventional method of manufacturing motherboards is to design two sets of motherboards with different quantities of PCI and CNR slots; since the proportion of motherboards using CNR slots is gradually increasing, the conventional design replaces the PCI slot  10   f  (and changes the placement of pinholes and circuits) with the CNR slots  12   b  as illustrated in FIG.  2 . Therefore, there must be at least two lines of motherboard production for two different circuit placements. 
     From the above description, the disadvantages of slot pinhole layout on traditional circuit boards are listed as following: 
     1. Since the quantity and variety of slots on main boards is fixed, if the user needs to use at least two CNR slots, one must reconsider updating the motherboard, thus causing slow selling of the single CNR slot motherboards and increasing of the cost of storage. 
     2. Since the cost and time spent on developing transitional products are too much, it may be difficult for the products to enter the market. 
     The best solution to fit diverse requests on the quantity of slots on motherboards is to place every kind of slot onto the motherboards, and to be guided by the market-demand. If the demand for CNR increases, a PCI slot should be directly changed into a CNR slot under the principle wherein no circuit modification is required. However, since the size of a motherboard is fixed, and considering the problems of fitting the interface cards onto slots with the computer chassis, the space for placement of slots on a motherboard is really limited. Therefore, it would be impossible to unrestrictedly extend the size of a motherboard. One solution is to have two different kinds of slot pinhole layout and non-interfering circuits co-function on the same slot pinhole positions. When PCI or CNR slots require placement, the required pinhole layout is chosen, and the problems incurred in the course of R&amp;D or during storage would naturally improve. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to choose either PCI or CNR slots based on market demands by having two different pinhole layouts co-functions at the same slot positions. 
     In order to achieve these and other objectives, a slot pinhole layout is provided according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention. A first and second pinhole layout are included, wherein the first pinhole layout is formed of 4 pinhole rows including the first and the second pinhole rows. The second layout is formed of 4 pinhole rows, and therein includes the third and the fourth pinhole rows. The third and the fourth pinhole rows included in the second pinhole layout are moved a suitable distance and are staggered with the first and the second pinhole rows that are included in the first pinhole layout, and are placed on the same slot positions of the motherboard. The slot device can be chosen according to the market demand, and thus, can accelerate the development of diverse products, and increase product compatibility on the motherboard (including those in the mainstream and the transitional products) to lower the cost of stock as well as to promote the competitiveness of products. 
     For the reason of being better understood in the above description, objects, features and advantages of the present invention, a preferred embodiment will be provided in the following text and accompanying drawings will have a detailed description as well: 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional motherboard layout with extension slot pinholes. 
     FIG. 2 illustrates another conventional layout of a motherboard with extension slot pinholes. 
     FIG. 3 illustrates the conventional conflicts that incur from adopting a slot pinhole dual layout motherboard with extension. 
     FIG. 4 is a magnified view of a portioned area illustrating the conflicts caused by adopting a motherboard layout with extension slot pinholes. 
     FIG. 5 illustrates the slot pinhole dual layout in a first preferred embodiment according to the present invention. 
     FIG. 6 illustrates the slot pinhole dual layout in a second preferred embodiment according to the present invention. 
     FIG. 7 illustrates the slot pinhole dual layout in a third preferred embodiment according to the present invention. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring to the FIG. 3, the motherboard  100  includes a six PCI slot pinhole layout  10   a ˜ 10   f  and a two CNR slot pinhole layout  12   a  and  12   b.  However, since the size of the motherboard is fixed and also in light of the corresponding problems between the interface cards on the slots and motherboards, the positioning of slot placement is limited. Since there are only 7 slots available for placement (excluding the AGP slot), therefore, the number of slots used on the motherboard cannot be extended limitlessly. When forcing the PCI slot pinhole layout  10   f  and the CNR slot pinhole layout  12   b  to co-function in the same slot position, an electrical shortage would thus result due to the overlap and connection between pinholes. 
     FIG. 4 is a magnified view illustrating a portion  400  of motherboard  100 , from which we can see the conflicts or connections between the pinhole rows  121 ,  122  of CNR slot pinhole layout  12   b  and the pinhole rows  101 ,  102  of PCI slot pinhole layout  10   f.  Hence, circuit boards having different slots are unable to co-function, and accordingly, diverse products corresponding to different extension slots are produced. 
     FIG. 5 illustrates the slot pinhole dual layout according to a first preferred embodiment in present invention. In the present invention, a dual pinhole layout  50  for slots is located at a portion  500  of a circuit board  100 , and includes a first pinhole layout  51  and a second pinhole layout  52 . There is another pinhole layout  12   a  beside the first pinhole layout  51  that continues to use the same slot on the slot pinhole layout  52 , and can be used by the ever-present CNR slots. Moreover, there is yet another pinhole layout  10   e  beside the second pinhole layout  52  that continues to use the second pinhole layout on the same slot of the first pinhole layout  51 , and can be used by the PCI slots. 
     In order for the first pinhole layout  51 , the second pinhole layout  52 , and two pinhole layouts  10   e  and  12   a  to co-function in the limited space of the circuit board, the first pinhole layout  51  and the second pinhole layout  52  are closely aligned together so that the dual layout  50  are on a single slot. Thus, depending on what is required, the user can easily select either the PCI or CNR slot on the slot pinhole dual layout  50 . 
     The first pinhole layout  51  includes the pinhole rows  511 ,  512 ,  513 ,  514 ; the second pinhole layout  52  includes the pinhole rows  521 ,  522 ,  523 ,  524 . Each pinhole row is made up of a plurality of pinholes  530 , the pinhole rows  511 ,  512  on the first pinhole layout  51  and the pinhole rows  521 ,  522  on the second pinhole layout  52  can be aligned closely together without an overlap or connection between the pinholes  530 . Therefore, the pinhole rows  521 ,  522  on the second pinhole layout  52  are moved an appropriate distance, such as moving downward  55 , thereby widening the distance between the pinhole rows  511  and pinhole rows  512  on the first pinhole layout  51 . This also means that a certain distance is kept between the pinholes  530  of the pinhole rows  511 ,  512  on the first pinholes layout  51  and those of pinhole rows  521 ,  522  on the second pinhole layout  52   m,  and are staggered orderly without causing overlap or connection between the pinholes  530 . 
     When assembling the motherboard, as the use of CNR slots gradually increases as per the market demand, different PCBs would not need to be produced when applying the preferred embodiment of the present invention. Rather, only custom-made slots need alterations, wherein the CNR slots are electrically connected to the second pinhole layout  52  of the slot pinhole dual layout  50  in the present invention. As the market demand for PCI slots gradually increases, the PCI slots merely need to be electrically connected to the first pinhole layout  51  of the slot pinhole dual layout  50  in the present invention without having to produce custom-made motherboards. Even though custom-made pin header slots must be used when using the CNR slots, the required settings of the custom-made pin-headers and a new connector model slot for changing the pinhole position can be made to fit the pinhole layout. However, the production cost spent on the custom-made pin header slot and slot pinhole is much cheaper than that of producing two different circuit boards. Therefore, in application, the present invention can greatly reduce production costs. 
     In the present embodiment, since the number of pinholes on any of the pinhole rows on the second pinhole layout  52  is less than that of the first pinhole layout  51 , the pinhole rows  521 ,  522  are moved onto the second pinhole layout to an appropriate distance, such as moving upward  55 . The pinhole rows  511 ,  512  on the first pinhole layout  51  can also be moved in order to achieve the same result. 
     FIG. 6 illustrates the slot pinhole dual layout in the second preferred embodiment according to the present invention. The slot pinhole dual layout  60  is located at a portion  600  of a motherboard or circuit board  100 , and includes a first pinhole layout  61  and a second pinhole layout  62 ; the first pinhole layout  61  is made up of four pinhole rows and is suitable for continued use of the PCI slot  66 , wherein each pinhole row is made up of a plurality of pinholes. The second pinhole layout  62  is also made up of four pinhole rows suitable for continued use of the CNR slot  68 , wherein each pinhole row also contains a plurality of pinholes. 
     Next, the slot pinhole dual layout  60 , merely needs to minimize the distance between the pinholes on the first pinhole layout  61  and those on the second pinhole layout  62 . Thus, by keeping the first pinhole layout  61  and the second pinhole layout  62  close enough but not overlapped, over and above such advantages as the above-mentioned of continued use of the PCI slot  66  and the co-functioning of the CNR slot  68 , it can also be easily color-coded, for example, the PCI slot  66  is white, and the CNR slot  68  is cyan. 
     FIG. 7 illustrates the slot pinhole dual layout in the third preferred embodiment according to the present invention. The slot pinhole dual layout  70  is located at a portion  700  of a motherboard or circuit board  100  and the slot pinhole dual layout  70  includes a first pinhole layout  71  and a second pinhole layout  72 . The first pinhole layout  71  is made up of  4  pinhole rows and is suitable for continued use of the PCI slot  76 . Each pinhole row is made up of a plurality of pinholes; the second pinhole layout  72  also has  4  pinhole rows and is suitable for continued use of the PCI slot  78 , wherein each pinhole row is formed of a plurality of pinholes. The distance between the pinhole rows of the first pinhole layout  71  and those of the second pinhole layout  72  can be minimized to an appropriate value so that the first pinhole layout  71  and the second pinhole layout  72  are close enough but do not overlap for continued use of the complex slot  75 . 
     In addition, a complex slot  75  using both the PCI slot  76  and the CNR slot  78  has the advantages of choosing from the PCI slot and the CNR slot, simultaneously keeping two different slots. 
     Nowadays, in the market for motherboards, customer demands for quantity and a combination of diverse extension slots are different, and there are conflicts between PCI slots and CNR slots on the same slot layout. In order to satisfy the demands of different customers without spending too much time and money on producing two or more different products, so that every type of product can enter the market, it can be achieved by either moving the pin headers on the slots or making a new design. Moreover, it achieves the usage of the same slot, which can provide two different interfaces after having the dual design slot layout. 
     From the preferred embodiment described in the above, there are some advantages from applying the present invention, listed as following: 
     1. The dual layout in the present invention can solve the problems of the limited size of motherboard; and can also provide different slot styles to be chosen depending on market demand. 
     2. The dual layout in the present invention can solve the problems between different generations of interface devices, and also the customers&#39; diverse demands on the mainstream product and the transitional products. 
     3. The application of the slot pinhole dual layout in the present invention can increase the usage of the same printing circuit board to facilitate the management of inventory stock and also serves to lower the cost of inventory stock. 
     The present invention has been disclosed using an exemplary preferred embodiment. However, it is to be understood that the scope and the sprit of the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments; on the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements. The scope of the claims, therefore, should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements.

Technology Category: 5