Electricity: electrical systems and devices – Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical... – For electronic systems and devices
Reexamination Certificate
2001-03-20
2004-02-10
Martin, David (Department: 2841)
Electricity: electrical systems and devices
Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical...
For electronic systems and devices
C361S778000, C361S788000, C361S810000, C361S785000, C439S065000, C439S075000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06690584
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an information processing device and, more particularly, to a multiprocessor incorporated in a server.
Recently, as the Internet has rapidly become prevalent, the electronic commerce is undergoing a rapid expansion. In the electronic commerce, one has to exchange information with many and unspecified people or businesses, and has to process such information, necessitating a server capable of processing information at high speed. Such a server is required to be highly reliable, and further, to be as small as possible.
Such a server comprises a multiprocessor. Therefore, such a multiprocessor is required to be capable of processing information at high speed, to be highly reliable, and further, to be as small as possible.
One type of such a multiprocessor is an SMP (Symmetric Multiprocessor) wherein all of its CPUs share all of its memories and each of the CPUs accesses each of the memories at the same speed.
The SMP is further classified into a bus type and a crossbar-interconnect type. The bus type is a system wherein all of its CPUs share a single bus. The crossbar-interconnect type is a system wherein all of its CPUs are crossbar-connected to all of its memories, enabling a plurality of the CPUs to simultaneously access different memories. Thus, the crossbar-interconnect type has a better access property than the bus type.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1
is an illustration of a conventional multiprocessor
10
of the crossbar-interconnect type.
In general, a multiprocessor basically comprises: a backboard; a plurality of crossbar-boards connected to a backside thereof by connectors; and a plurality of motherboards plugged in and connected to a front of the backboard by the connectors. Since a backboard is limited in size due to reasons deriving from a manufacturing process thereof, the maximum number of motherboards connected to the backboard is eight, for example.
The above-mentioned multiprocessor
10
is capable of processing numerous information, and thus requires 16 motherboards, for example. Therefore, the multiprocessor
10
comprises two units
11
and
21
each having a backboard proper in size, the two units
11
and
21
being connected to each other by a multitude of cables
30
.
The unit
11
comprises: a backboard
12
; a plurality of crossbar-boards
13
connected to a backside thereof by connectors; and eight motherboards
14
plugged in and connected to a front of the backboard
12
by the connectors. The unit
21
, in the same manner as the unit
11
, comprises: a backboard
22
; a plurality of crossbar-boards
23
connected to a backside thereof by connectors; and eight motherboards
24
plugged in and connected to a front of the backboard
22
by the connectors. Each of the motherboards
14
and
24
comprises: a board; and a CPU
15
and a memory module
16
each mounted thereon. Each of the plurality of crossbar-boards
13
and
23
comprises a board and a switching circuit
17
mounted thereon.
The plurality of crossbar-boards
13
of the unit
11
and the plurality of crossbar-boards
23
of the unit
21
are connected by the multitude of cables
30
.
The CPUs
15
of the motherboards
14
of the unit
11
are connected to one another by wiring patterns on the crossbar-boards
13
. Therefore, a transmission distance of signals between any two of the motherboards
14
is short. However, the CPUs
15
of the motherboards
14
of the unit
11
are connected to the CPUs
15
of the motherboards
24
of the unit
21
by the wiring patterns on the crossbar-boards
13
, the cables
30
and wiring patterns on the crossbar-boards
23
. Therefore, a transmission distance of signals between any one of the motherboards
14
and any one of the motherboards
24
is long, increasing the likelihood of causing distortion of transmitting signals. The distortion of transmitting signals occurs as an error when raising a transfer rate of signals. Therefore, the transfer rate of signals could not be raised, rather has to be kept low to avoid causing the distortion of transmitting signals. In this way, the multiprocessor
10
has a hindering problem in processing information at high speed.
Additionally, as described above, the multiprocessor
10
comprises the two units
11
and
21
connected to each other by the multitude of cables
30
. Thus, manufacturing the multiprocessor
10
requires steps of connecting the multitude of cables
30
one by one. These steps of connecting are not only cumbersome but also prone to error. Further, when even a single cable of the multitude of cables
30
causes a poor connection, the multiprocessor
10
cannot operate normally. These respects arouse another problem in reliability.
Besides, as described above, the multiprocessor
10
comprises the two units
11
and
21
connected to each other by the cables
30
, the cables increasing the size of the multiprocessor
10
. This is a problem of inevitably increasing the size of a server comprising the multiprocessor
10
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is a general object of the present invention to provide an improved and useful information processing device in which device the above-mentioned problems are eliminated.
A more specific object of the present invention is to provide an information processing device which can process information at high speed, with a reduced size and increased reliability.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned objects, there is provided according to one aspect of the present invention an information-processing device comprising:
at least one crossbar-board having a switching element mounted thereon;
a plurality of back panels detachably connected electrically and mechanically to different sides of the crossbar-board; and
at least one motherboard detachably connected electrically and mechanically to each of the back panels, the motherboard having an information-processing semiconductor element mounted thereon.
Additionally, in the information-processing device according to the present invention, the crossbar-board may be arranged perpendicular to a surface of each of the back panels. Also, the motherboard may be arranged crosswise to the crossbar-board. Further, the back panels may be connected to the different sides of the crossbar-board by connectors. Likewise, the motherboard may be connected to each of the back panels by connectors.
According to the present invention, since the information-processing device does not comprise the cables, transmission distances of signals in the information-processing device become short by the length of the cables, reducing the likelihood of causing distortion of the transmitting signals. Thereby, a conventional limitation restricting a transfer rate of signals is eased, and accordingly, the transfer rate of the signals can be raised higher than a conventional information-processing device. In this way, the information-processing device according to the present invention can process information at a higher speed than a conventional information-processing device. Additionally, also since the information-processing device according to the present invention does not use the cables, the information-processing device can have a small structure in size. Further, since the information-processing device according to the present invention does not suffer a malfunction due to a poor connection of the cables, the information-processing device is more reliable than a conventional information-processing device.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned objects, there is provided according to another aspect of the present invention an information-processing device comprising:
a crossbar board-back panel assembly comprising a plurality of crossbar-boards each having a switching element mounted thereon, and a plurality of back panels detachably connected electrically and mechanically to different sides of each of the crossbar-boards; and
a plurality of motherboards detachably connected electrically and mechanically to each of the back panel
Hanada Koji
Masuda Yasushi
Morita Yoshihiro
Murakami Hajime
Uzuka Yoshinori
Bui Hung
Fujitsu Limited
Martin David
Staas & Halsey , LLP
LandOfFree
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