Motherboard and expansion board for providing such...

Details Motherboard and expansion board for providing such... Motherboard and expansion board for providing such...

2000-02-08

2003-10-28

Cuneo, Kamand (Department: 2827)

Electricity: electrical systems and devices

Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical...

For electronic systems and devices

C361S752000, C361S756000, C361S802000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06639806

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a motherboard and an expansion board for providing the motherboard with at least one slot and, more in particular, to a motherboard complying with a first industry standard specification and an expansion board detachably connected to an edge of the motherboard such that the motherboard and expansion board constitute a motherboard assembly complying with a second industry standard specification when the motherboard and expansion board connect together.
Related prior arts refer to as follows: the PCI-Riser standard specification of motherboard established by Sony Corp.; the NLX standard specification of motherboard established by Microsoft Corp.; and the ATX, MicroATX and FlexATX standard specifications of motherboard established by Intel Corp.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The current development for desktop computers gravitate towards the compact and light-weight in order to diminish manufacture cost and power consumption of the computers. Thereby, users can buy cheaper and more compact personal computers. Following the development trend of personal computers, the current development for specification of motherboard also gravitates towards the compact. For example, Intel Corp. early establishes the AXT standard specification, and later establishes the MicroATX and FlexATX standard specifications based on the consideration of position compatibility and dimension diminishing of motherboards of the AXT specification.
Referring to
FIG. 1
, the dimension difference between the motherboards respectively complying with the ATX, MicroATX and FlexATX specifications is shown. As shown in
FIG. 1
, the dimension of the motherboard complying with the FlexATX specification is the smallest (as the area marked FlexATX shown in FIG.
1
), the dimension of the motherboard complying with the MicroATX specification is the next largest (as the area including the area marked FlexATX and the area with oblique lines shown in FIG.
1
), and the dimension of the motherboard complying with the ATX specification is the largest (as the area including the area marked FlexATX, the area with oblique lines and area with cross lines).
Also shown in
FIG. 1
, the length L
ATX
and width W
ATX
of the motherboard of the ATX specification are the longest and the widest, respectively. The length L
Micro
of the motherboard of the MicroATX specification is shorter than that of the motherboard of the ATX specification, and the width of the motherboard of the MicroATX specification is the same as that of the motherboard of the ATX specification. The length L
Flex
of the motherboard of the FlexATX specification is shorter than that of the motherboard of the MicroATX specification, and the width W
Flex
of the motherboard of the FlexATX specification is more narrow than those of the motherboards of the ATX and MicroATX specifications. In particular, the dimension of the motherboard complying with the FlexATX specification is variable. That is the length of the motherboard of the FlexATX specification can be reduced more as desired, and the width of the motherboard of the FlexATX specification can be extended to be the same as that of the motherboard of the ATX specification.
In addition, the aforesaid motherboards also require the position of mounting holes on the motherboard, where the mounting holes of the motherboard are provided for mounting the motherboard on the inner wall of a matched case. As shown in
FIG. 1
, white circles denote the position of mounting holes formed on the motherboard complying with the ATX or MicroATX specifications, and black circles denote the position of mounting holes formed on the motherboard complying with the FlexATX specification. Thereby, the motherboard of the FlexATX specification can be mounted within a case matching the motherboard of the MircoATX or ATX specifications, and the motherboard of the MicroATX specification can be arranged within a case matching the motherboard of the ATX specification.
However, the trend of desktop computers towards the compact also brings about a negative effect, i.e., useable I/O slots provided by the compact motherboard are decreased relatively. When a user needs more slots than those provided by the compact motherboard to install expansion devices such as interface cards, he inevitably requires the assistance of an expansion apparatus for increasing the I/O slots of the compact motherboard. Prior arts regarding type, connecting manner and connecting position of an expansion apparatus for providing a motherboard with slots will be described as follows.
Referring to
FIG. 2
, according to Sony's PCI-Riser standard specification, a motherboard
21
and an expansion board
22
of a riser type is provided on the motherboard
21
to provide additional slots
222
. The connection relationship between the motherboard
21
and the expansion board
22
is also shown in FIG.
2
. The motherboard
21
of the PCI-Riser specification is a compact motherboard. Thus, only one slot
211
is provided on the motherboard
21
. According to the PCI-Riser specification, when the motherboard
21
requires additional slots, the expansion board
22
is inserted into the slot
211
initially provided on the motherboard
21
via a bus
221
of a golden-finger type to provide the motherboard
21
with the additional slots
222
. Obviously, when the motherboard
21
and the expansion board
22
are connected together, the slot
211
provided on the motherboard
21
is inevitably sacrificed so that the slot
211
cannot provide for the insertion of an interface card. Besides, note that the motherboard
21
and the expansion board
22
are disposed perpendicularly from each other when they connect together.
Similarly, according to Intel's FlexATX specification, when the motherboard of the FlexATX specification requires additional slots, an expansion board of a riser type can be inserted into a slot initially provided on the motherboard to provide the motherboard with the additional slots.
Referring to
FIG. 3
, according to Microsoft's NLX standard specification, an expansion board
32
is provided on the motherboard
31
to provide for additional slots
322
. The connection relationship between the motherboard
31
and the expansion board
32
is also shown in FIG.
3
. The motherboard
31
of the NLX specification is a compact motherboard. The motherboard
31
is provided with a bus
311
of a golden-finger type at an edge of itself. According to the NLX specification, when the motherboard
31
requires additional slots, the expansion board
32
is connected to the bus
311
via a connector
321
of itself. Note that the motherboard
31
and the expansion board
32
are disposed perpendicularly from each other when they connect together.
However, through the description of prior arts, it is obvious that, to date, no expansion board for providing a motherboard with slots is connected in parallel to an edge of the motherboard. That is, to date, no expansion board for providing a motherboard with slots is disposed in parallel with the motherboard when they connect together.
Accordingly, the invention is motivated towards providing an expansion board detachably connected in parallel to an edge of a motherboard. By the expansion board according to the invention, a motherboard with a little dimension can be extended to be a motherboard assembly with a large dimension such that the motherboard assembly can be arranged within a case matching a motherboard with a dimension the same as that of the motherboard assembly. This approach of the invention really manifests the advantage of compatibility between motherboards of various specifications. With the invention, if one user considers future expansibility of a computer at the time buying the computer, he can buy a case with a large dimension and a motherboard, according to the invention, with a little dimension to constitute the computer as desired. Further, the user can connect an expansion board according to the invention to an edge of such motherboard to mak

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