Electricity: electrical systems and devices – Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical... – For electronic systems and devices
Reexamination Certificate
2002-11-26
2004-09-21
Schuberg, Darren (Department: 2835)
Electricity: electrical systems and devices
Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical...
For electronic systems and devices
C361S689000, C301S010100, C454S184000, C701S036000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06795308
ABSTRACT:
The invention relates to a mobile computer system, a method for operation and a use of such a computer system.
The term “computer system” used here especially comprises systems built of those computer components which are known from conventional personal computers (PCs) and operate according to commonly used standards. Merely as examples of such standard components or standards mention may be made of: central processing units in the form of a Pentium CPU (containing processor, co-processor, cache memory and cache controller on a single chip), bus systems in accordance with standards such as ISA, EISA, PCI, peripheral equipment such as hard disks, keyboards and displays with assigned controllers for connection to common bus systems or for connection via special adaptors (e.g. SCSI controllers) which in turn are to be connected to common bus systems, and interface devices connected via a bus (e.g. in accordance with the RS-232-C standard) etc.
Mobile computer systems are known, for example, as laptop computers or notebook computers. Although these computers can in principle be used in any location and especially in vehicles, these systems are in no way adapted to the conditions typical of vehicles, except for their handiness, so that their actual use in vehicles generally serves to deal with special tasks, for example, writing a text using a text processing program, sending a fax via a mobile telephone connected to the system or the operation of a GPS navigation system with the aid of a GPS receiver connected to the system. In such applications the mobile computer system is usually positioned on a passenger seat, for example, in the vehicle. Of the vehicle's own electrical or electronic components, usually only a power supply connection is used in this case. It is an object of the present invention to enlarge the usage and range of application of a mobile computer system in a vehicle and especially to facilitate or simplify the possibility of connecting the vehicle's own electrical or electronic components.
According to a first aspect of the invention, a mobile computer system having a casing is provided, which accommodates at least one central processing unit for processing digital data and a storage device for storing digital data, and having interface connections for input and/or output of digital data, wherein the casing has external dimensions such that the computer system is suitable for building into a cavity of a vehicle, provided for building in a car radio or the like. By this means the possibility is advantageously provided that the system can be built into a vehicle in a simple fashion and without special positioning expenditure. It should be noted here that the cavity provided for building in a car radio or the like is usually favourable both with respect to operation and also with respect to connection to the vehicle electrics or the vehicle electronics.
It is preferably provided that the casing is substantially rectangular and has external dimensions in the range of 170 mm to 190 mm in width, in the range of 40 mm to 60 mm in height and in the range of 160 mm to 180 mm in depth. With these dimensions, the system is especially well suited for installation in many types of vehicle, whether during the initial fitting or installed subsequently. In particular, it is advantageous if these dimensions are provided in conformance with DIN-ISO 7736.
A number of measures have proved especially advantageous for implementing such a small computer system nevertheless having a high capacity. For example, in order to save space inside the casing, it can be provided that a board substantially completely taking up the internal width and internal depth of the casing is provided in the casing near the upper side or the lower side of the casing. The terms “width”, “height”, “upper side”, “lower side” etc. used here merely serve to define a “coordinate system” inherently fixed in the system, to which reference is made during the description of the invention. Naturally, spatial directions thus defined can change their roles depending on the mounting position of the system in a vehicle. The space saving associated with the arrangement of the board near the upper side or the lower side is further increased if this board carries a large proportion of the computer system components and the components carried by the board are substantially only mounted on one side. In any case, the board is then “near” the side of the casing if the clearance between the board and the casing side is a maximum of 20% of the corresponding internal dimension of the casing.
In a preferred embodiment a further board is arranged near the opposite lower side or upper side of the casing, which takes up a substantially smaller area and only carries components of a power supply for the system. Advantageously, there is provided in this power supply a device for converting a typical on-board voltage into normal supply voltages for personal computers. This further board is also preferably equipped on one side so that the equipped flat sides of the boards are facing one another. A substantial advantage of this arrangement is the possibility of simply providing a stream of cooling air which cools the component of both boards at the same time. Furthermore, with this arrangement components especially far from the particular board can be arranged in a spatially nested fashion (intermeshing in a comb-like fashion). If the further board is equipped on both sides, it is preferable if at least the power electronics components (not digital electronics), that is the components which generate a large amount of heat, are arranged facing the former board.
In a further development of the invention, the interface connections at a rear side of the casing are arranged in several planes, namely a principal plane near the plane of the board which carries the central processing unit and other essential system components for operation of the computer system, and at least one secondary plane at some distance from this, wherein in the principal plane there are arranged principal interfaces selected from the group consisting of a network connection (e.g. for connection of a laptop or another system according to the invention), a FireWire connection, a USB connection, a PS/2 connection, a serial interface connection, sound card connections and a display connection (especially VGA or DVI connection), whereas in the secondary plane or planes there are arranged secondary interfaces selected from the group consisting of game port connections, parallel interface connections and connections for external floppy disk or hard disk drives.
In a preferred embodiment, the system comprises an interface device together with an interface connection for input and/or output of digital data to a vehicle's own bus using a so-called CAN (Controller Area network) standard.
It is further advantageous if the central processing unit is thermally connected to the inside of the casing section via a heat-dissipating plate for removal of heat, and air cooling means are provided to produce a heat-dissipating air flow past the central processing unit, wherein the air cooling means transfers the air flow which has passed the central processing unit, subsequently along to the outside of this casing section. In this case, the central processing unit which is usually especially sensitive with respect to the ambient temperature is cooled to a certain extent both passively (by heat conduction e.g. in a copper plate) and also actively (by convection in an air flow), wherein the cooling air flow is further used for cooling that section of the casing which forms the heat sink of the passive cooling. The heat-dissipating plate is preferably bent into an L-shape, wherein flat sides at both ends of the plate are thermally coupled to the processing unit or the inside of the casing section via a heat-conducting paste. In order to carry out the passive cooling especially efficiently, the central processing unit is preferably arranged near the relevant section of the casing, e
E.E.P.D. Electronic Equipment Produktion & Distribution GmbH
Edwards Anthony Q.
Pearne & Gordon LLP
Schuberg Darren
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