Electrical connectors – With coupling movement-actuating means or retaining means in... – Retaining means
Reexamination Certificate
2001-10-03
2004-12-21
Le, Thanh-Tam (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
With coupling movement-actuating means or retaining means in...
Retaining means
C200S043180, C361S801000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06832927
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an assembly for regulating hot plug removal of PCI cards from a computer system chassis. More particularly, it relates to an assembly adapted to dictate proper slot power conditions during a hot plug operation, and appropriately sized to fit within a computer system chassis affording limited space.
Most modem day computer systems, in particular computer system designed for server applications, include a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) system that interconnects one or more microprocessors with selected PCI cards. The PCI cards are each uniquely designed to support a variety of applications, and afford a user the ability to tailor the computer system for a desired end-use.
PCI-based computer systems are structurally configured to promote manually insertion/removal of the PCI cards. To this end, the computer system includes a chassis maintaining various other components, such as microprocessor(s), power supply unit(s), hard disk drive(s), cooling fan(s), etc. In addition, the chassis forms an I/O card bay defining slots sized to receive PCI cards. The card bay accurately positions and maintains individual PCI cards relative to a connector board (or “backplane”) for designated interface with the microprocessor(s), via appropriate PCI bus architecture. In addition, the card bay and/or backplane, to selectively supply power to individual PCI cards following insertion into a particular slot.
A distinct advantage of PCI-based computer systems is the ability to easily remove one or more of the PCI cards for subsequent servicing, exchange, upgrading, etc. As originally conceived, removal of a PCI card from the card bay entailed shutting off power to all of the card bay slots (and thus all of the inserted PCI cards). More recently, however, PCI-based computer systems are designed to allow removal of one or more PCI cards without an entire system shutdown. This feature is commonly referred to as “hot plug” or “hot swap”. For high-end applications, especially server applications, this hot plug attribute is essential.
A hot plug operation is relatively straightforward. As a starting point, to facilitate a stable connection to the card bay, as well as appropriate electrical pathways, a metal bracket or bulkhead is attached to at trailing end of the PCI card. Following insertion into the designated slot, the bulkhead is then mechanically secured to the card bay. In many instances, a machine screw is employed to fasten the bulkhead to the card bay frame. During a hot plug operation, then, the user unscrews the machine screw and then removes the PCI card. Prior to actual removal, however, it is preferred that power to the slot in question be shut off. Failure to do so may damage the PCI card being removed, a PCI card that is subsequently inserted into the now vacant slot, and/or other components of the computer system. In this regard, most hot pluggable computer system controllers are programmed to perform a “graceful” shutdown or power down of the slot when prompted by the user (normally via a separate console). As is know, the graceful shutdown preserves the integrity of the PCI card to be removed, as well as other processor functions associated with the slot in question. Less preferably, a “hard” power down operation can be performed by the controller in which power to the slot is shut off, but no sequencing efforts are made to preserve data.
Although proper slot power down is an important aspect of the hot plug procedure, users may inadvertently forget to perform this step. To better assist users in ensuring slot power down, efforts have been made to design and implement PCI card retention/actuator devices that automatically initiate the slot power down procedure when actuated by the user (thereby eliminating a need for user interface with a separate console). The retention device is mounted to the card bay in a manner that requires physical movement of a device component device in order to remove the PCI card in question. Due to the fairly recent conception of this technique, available hot plug PCI card retention devices have been designed for use with new server chassis designs. Thus, any “new” chassis spacing requirements related to implementation of a hot plug retention/actuator device have been addressed by simply sizing the chassis and/or card bay accordingly. As a result, the available hot plug PCI retention and control devices are relatively large and complex, such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,182,173.
While viable for new designs, available hot plug PCI card actuator devices are ill-suited for many existing chassis configurations. For example, a highly popular server configuration incorporates a chassis conforming to a “standard” 7U height. These highly compact servers are commonly employed in “racked” applications, whereby a number of server units are vertically aligned in an appropriately designed rack. A series of these loaded racks are then stored side-by-side in a centralized location. To allow PCI card removal, the chassis positions the card bay at a rear portion thereof, and includes a removable rear panel for accessing the card bay. Because a primary goal of these servers is to minimize, wherever possible, component spacing, only a limited amount of clearance is provided by the chassis between the card bay and the rear panel. As a point of reference, many existing server chassis, such as 7U server chassis, provide a card bay-rear panel spacing of approximately 0.5 inch. Even less space, and often times no space, is available between sides of the card bay and a chassis side panel and/or other internal components. As a result, available hot plug PCI card actuator devices cannot be used with many existing computer system chassis, and in particular 7U chassis.
Most recently available, high-end computer systems, and especially servers, are configured to include PCI card hot plug capabilities. A proper hot plug operation normally requires that the slot in question be powered down prior to card removal. In this regard, efforts have been made to provide an actuator device that ensures the slot power down operation occurs. Unfortunately, no efforts have been made to provide an actuator device that satisfies the spacing constraints of many available server chasses. Therefore, a need exists for a low-profile, PCI hot plug actuator device or assembly useful with both new and existing chasses designs.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
One aspect of the present invention relates to a low profile actuator assembly for controlling PCI card removal from the chassis card bay of a hot pluggable computer. The assembly includes a housing, switch and a latch body. The housing is adapted for mounting to the bay and defines a top, bottom, and a front. The switch is coupled to the housing bottom and is operable in a first state and a second state. In this regard, the first state is indicative of a power-on condition, whereas the second state is indicative of a power-off condition. The latch body is connected to the housing and is operatively associated with the switch. More particularly, the latch body is linearly slidably between a retention position and a release position. In the retention position, the latch body is extended relative to the housing front and causes the switch to operate in the first state. Conversely, in the release position, the latch body is retracted relative to the housing front and causes the switch to operate in the second state. In one preferred embodiment, the assembly further includes a push button coupled to the housing adjacent the latch body. The push button is assembled through an opening in the housing top and is adapted to prompt a powering down condition.
During use, the low profile actuator assembly is mounted to the computer chassis bay such that the latch body and the optical switch are associated with a slot formed by the bay. With the latch body in the release position, a PCI card is inserted into the slot. The latch body is then slid to the retention position, effectively “locking” the PCI
Malone Christopher G.
Wilson Jeremy I.
Wortman Michael L.
Hewlett--Packard Development Company, L.P.
Le Thanh-Tam
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