Electricity: electrical systems and devices – Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical... – For electronic systems and devices
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-18
2004-08-24
Datskovsky, Michael (Department: 2835)
Electricity: electrical systems and devices
Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical...
For electronic systems and devices
C361S727000, C361S729000, C710S300000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06781822
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to a backplane of an industrial computer system, and particularly relates to a modular backplane comprising a plurality of backplane segments which are bridged together by a low-profile bridge module.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Conventionally, a computer system utilizes a bus as a pathway or channel for data communication among the components of the system. A popular bus architecture is the PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) bus architecture. The PCI bus standard (specification) is well suited to personal computers. There are, however, numerous limitations of the PCI bus specification that make the bus impractical for industrial computers.
In order to provide a standard form factor for industrial computers, the PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group (PICMG™) has prepared the Compact PCI Specification that employs mechanically robust connectors and has a bus that conforms to the PCI Specification. This Compact PCI bus architecture is an implementation of PCI technology designed for industrial and/or embedded applications. The Compact PCI standard also has limitations on certain design aspects, such as the number of slots on the bus. More specifically, the Compact PCI standard defines that the PCI compliant bus has a maximum of eight electrical loads. This means that the backplane of a computer system is limited to have a maximum of eight slots.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to be able to provide a backplane of an industrial computer with more than eight slots (electrical loads). Several attempts have been made for provision of more than eight slots on the backplanes of industrial computer systems.
One of the most recent attempts is illustrated in
FIGS. 1A
to
2
B, which is described in U.S. application Ser. No. 09/538,733 of Steven J. Mercer, et al., filed on Mar. 30, 2000. As shown in the figures, this approach relates to a modular backplane having two or more backplane segments, which are bridged by a bridge module and, respectively, include a PCI compliant bus, although the figures illustrate only two backplane segments for convenience of description. The modular backplane
10
comprises two backplane segments
20
and
40
bridged by a bridge module
60
, where the segment
40
acts as a primary or beginning segment and the segment
20
as a secondary or ending segment, which means that a system board is supposed to be inserted into the beginning segment
40
.
FIGS. 1A and 1B
show a configuration of the front side and back side of the segments. Each segment has a front side
22
(
44
) and a back side
24
(
44
) and the front sides
22
,
42
includes several slots (S
1
to S
7
), which are for the insertion of a system board and peripheral boards. Each of the slots consists of five connectors (J
1
to J
5
).
FIG. 2A
shows the back sides
24
,
44
of the backplane segments
20
,
40
bridged by the bridge module
60
, and
FIG. 2B
is a frontal elevation view of FIG.
2
A. As is shown in
FIGS. 1B and 2A
, the back sides
24
,
44
of the segments
20
,
40
also includes several slots (S
1
to S
7
respectively) of two different lengths, in which the long slot
46
,
48
in the primary segment
20
and
26
,
28
in the secondary segment
40
serve as bridge modular slots for the insertion of the bridge module
60
. More specifically, the connectors J
1
and J
2
of the slots
26
,
46
denote a bridge module primary slot, and the connectors J
1
and J
2
of the slot
28
,
48
denote a bridge module secondary slot. The remaining short slots may be utilized for other add-in cards such as a transition module.
As depicted in
FIGS. 2A and 2B
, the bridge module
60
comprises a circuit board
62
, a bridging IC
64
, and a pair of connectors
66
a
,
66
b
. The connector
66
a
is engaged with the bridge module primary slot
46
of the primary (or beginning) backplane segment
40
, while the connector
66
b
is engaged with the bridge module secondary slot
28
of the secondary (or ending) segment
20
, as is clearly depicted in FIG.
2
B. Therefore, a busing between the primary and secondary backplane segments
40
,
20
has been established. In the case shown in the figures, a system board may be inserted into the slot S
7
of the front side
42
of the primary backplane segment
40
, which is exactly opposite to the bridge module secondary slot
48
. By using another bridge module, another backplane segment may be connected to the right side of the secondary (ending) segment
20
in
FIG. 2A
, such that two or more backplane segments can be communicatively interconnected to each other by bridge modules, thereby providing more than eight slots (electrical loads) on the backplanes of industrial computers.
However, this approach embraces several disadvantages that must be solved. Firstly, it is inevitable that the back side bridge slot share its pins, in part, with the front side peripheral board slot, backwardly opposite to the bridge module slot. Therefore, the type of the board to be inserted into the front side peripheral board slot is limited. Also, the signaling of the bridge module is limited by that of the peripheral board inserted into the front side slot, and vice versa. Secondly, as is shown in
FIG. 2B
, it is also unavoidable that the bridge module, when engaged, protrude excessively over the height of the back side bridge slot. This implementation does not meet the governing standard (IEEE 1101.11), which allows for components of the backplane to protrude no more than 19.94 mm, measured from the front surface of the backplane. The bridge module of this technology protrudes around 24 mm from the front surface of the backplane. Furthermore, the protrusion of the bridge interferes potentially with the insertion of add-in cards, such as transition modules, into the back side slots.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a modular backplane for an industrial computer, in which the modular backplane comprises a first modular backplane segment, a second modular backplane segment and a bridge module. The first modular backplane segment includes a first front side and a first back side, in which the first front side has a plurality of slots, and the first back side has a first dedicated connector. The second modular backplane segment includes a second front side and a second back side, in which the second front side has a plurality of slots, and the second back side has a second dedicated connector. The first and second dedicated connectors are provided in an area where no slot is formed. The bridge module includes a pair of connectors. One of the bridge connectors is engaged with the first dedicated connector and the other is engaged with the second dedicated connector, such that the first and second modular backplane segments are connected to each other communicatively.
The slots provided in the first front side may provide for the insertion of a system slot board and a plurality of peripheral boards and all of the slots in the second front side may provide for the insertion of a plurality of peripheral boards, and vice versa. The first back side and the second back side each may further include a plurality of slots, which may provide for the insertion of add-in cards such as a transition module.
Preferably, the modular bridge is of a low-profile, such that the height of the bridge module is less than 16 mm, the width less than 12 HP, and the length less than 94 mm. The first and second dedicated connectors are formed in an area where no slot is formed.
In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a modular backplane for an industrial computer, in which the modular backplane comprises a plurality of modular backplane segments and a plurality of bridge modules. Each modular backplane segment includes a front side and a back side, in which the front side has a plurality of slots, and the back side has a primary dedicated connector and a secondary dedicated connector. The primary and secondar
Heidebrecht Rudolf
Mercer Steven James
Mesesan Ovidiu-Mihai
Robitaille Ben
Datskovsky Michael
Kaparel Corporation
Kerins John C.
Miles & Stockbridge P.C.
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