Electricity: electrical systems and devices – Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical... – For electronic systems and devices
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-18
2001-04-10
Picard, Leo P. (Department: 2835)
Electricity: electrical systems and devices
Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical...
For electronic systems and devices
C361S689000, C361S748000, 36
Reexamination Certificate
active
06215656
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of connecting modular devices in a computer, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for providing generic connector bays, and connector cables and modules that are capable of receiving a variety of hardware modules within the interior portion of a personal computer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Plug-in expansion boards enable manufacturers of computer systems and users to expand the capabilities of their computer systems as desired on a modular basis. An expansion board is a printed circuit card that slides into one of the expansion slots provided in the housing of a computer system. Expansion boards are often further distinguished by the standard followed by their interface or the connector at the bottom of the board. For example, an ISA expansion board follows the Industry Standard Architecture bus standard and a PCI expansion board follows the Peripheral Component Interconnect standard.
Typical expansion boards that may be placed within a computer include additional microprocessors, additional memory, fax/modem capability, network interface, television tuners, sound cards, global positioning system (GPS) receivers, and graphics cards. In portable computers, hardware components such as these are packaged in portable computer memory card international association (“PCMCIA”) cards and miniature peripheral component interface (mini-PCI) cards, both of which are small expansion modules each roughly the size and shape of a credit card. These cards allow the user to expand the processing or interfacing capabilities of a portable computer with the insertion of a single card into the computer and interfacing it with the motherboard or other circuit board, in the computer. PCMCIA cards have connectors built into them whereas mini-PCI cards do not. For this reason, PCMCIA cards arc more expensive and computer system manufacturers are migrating toward using mini-PCI cards instead of PCMCIA cards. It is therefore desirable to have an adaptable system of connectors and cables that may be used with a variety of miniPCI cards.
The expansion boards may be either installed during assembly of the computer system at the manufacturer, or a user may install one or more expansion boards at a later time. The circuit board interface may be designed to accommodate all the expansion boards to be included when they are installed during manufacture, however, a problem arises when a user wants to add a new expansion board that was not anticipated during manufacture, and there is not enough room on the circuit board to accommodate the expansion board.
In the prior art, an expansion board in the form of an expansion module is often insertable through an exterior housing side wall slot of the computer into an interior housing card chamber within which a PCMCIA frame or connector having an ejector mechanism associated therewith is positioned. The inner end of the inserted card is forcibly plugged into and electrically connected with a complementary pin connector portion of a PCMCIA connector that is in turn, directly and permanently electrically connected to the computer system motherboard. Alternatively, the expansion modules may be installed entirely within the interior of the computer and attached directly to the motherboard.
Many types of expansion boards have a built-in connector that is accessible by the user to connect an external data signal line. Examples include RJ11 connector to connect a modem card to a telephone line, an RJ45 connector to connect a network card to a network link, and an antenna or cable connector to connect a TV tuner card. A further problem may therefore arise when a user attempts to add an expansion board requiring an external connector, and the expansion board does not fit on the motherboard or cannot be positioned so that the connector is readily accessible to the user.
It is therefore desirable to provide a computer system capable of being upgraded with a new or additional expansion boards regardless of prior configurations, and to have access to any required external connector ports on the expansion boards installed in the computer system.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides an apparatus and method for installing and connecting one or more expansion boards in a computer system while the computer system is being manufactured as well as when a user upgrades or reconfigures the computer system. An expansion board bay for receiving the expansion board is located within the computer system, typically on a circuit board such as the motherboard. A connector module that is separate from the expansion board and the expansion board bay is positioned within the computer system. The connector module is positioned to provide easy external access to a contact portion of the connector module, thereby allowing a user to connect an external data signal line to the connector module. A connector cable operably connects the expansion board with the connector module to establish communication between the data processor and the external data line through the expansion board.
The cable is connected between the connector module and the expansion board in one of several alternate ways. One aspect of the structure for connecting the connector module and the expansion board together using a cable is that enough space is provided to allow use of the largest foreseeable number of contacts that connector modules and expansion boards may require for communication. This feature provides a user with a wide range of flexibility with regard to the type of expansion board and connector module that may be installed.
In one embodiment, the cable and connector module are soldered together to establish contact between electrical contacts in the connector module and electrical wires in the cable.
In another embodiment, the cable and the connector module are coupled by mating a first contact portion, such as one or more pins, on the connector module with a corresponding second contact portion, such as one or more sockets, on one end of the cable.
In another embodiment, the connector module includes a first contact portion that mates with one portion of a jumper block and the cable includes a second contact portion that mates with another portion of the jumper block. The contact portions may be a pin and socket arrangement such as sockets in the jumper block corresponding to pins on a connector at one end of the cable and in the bottom of the connector module.
The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention so that those skilled in the art may better understand the detailed description of the invention that follows.
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Liao Reynold L.
O'Neal Sean P.
White Mark A.
Bertani Mary Jo
Dell USA L.P.
Picard Leo P.
Skjerven Morrill & MacPherson LLP
Terrile Stephen A.
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