Electrical connectors – Preformed panel circuit arrangement – e.g. – pcb – icm – dip,... – With mating connector which receives panel circuit edge
Patent
1996-05-15
1998-07-28
Abrams, Neil
Electrical connectors
Preformed panel circuit arrangement, e.g., pcb, icm, dip,...
With mating connector which receives panel circuit edge
361686, H05K 114
Patent
active
057855331
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to an electronic control unit containing multiple printed circuit boards. More particularly, the present invention relates to an electronic control unit arrangement having multiple circuit boards and accessible connection plugs arranged in a rear face of the housing.
A known control unit of the aforesaid type is known as a so-called electronic box of the beetle cash register system from Siemens Nixdorf register systems! x/50 and x/60" dated September 1993, pp 4-1 and 4-2). The control unit is largely composed of PC components.
DE-U-91 01 940.0 discloses a mounting device which serves to arrange an additional printed circuit board with a frontplate according to the PC standard--referred to as a computer interface card in that application--in a notebook computer. A through-openingis provided in one side wall of the computer housing, through which connection plugs arranged on the frontplate of the additional printed circuit board are accessible. The through-opening is arranged parallel to a row of plugs which are assigned to a central processing unit.
Particularly in cash register systems' a larger number of peripheral units are frequently connected than in applications of personal computers in offices. In such cash register systems, the problem of insufficient space available on the backplane for connection plugs and externally accessible control elements repeatedly arises. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that, despite the integration of more and more functions into the electronic box, the physical size of the box is becoming smaller and smaller as development progresses.
The invention is therefore based on the object to provide additional plug and connection space without giving up the functional relationship, customary in PCs, between the printed circuit boards and the design of their termination panels.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention achieves the object by providing an electronic control unit with a motherboard and an additional circuit board, each having connectors accessible through apertures disposed in parallel rows in a rear housing wall. Between these rows is located an additional row of apertures for connectors which are associated with the motherboard, the additional circuit board or an auxiliary board which is mounted on either motherboard or the additional circuit board.
The invention is baased on the observation that, in PC-based electronic control units, all the electronic components required for the basic functions are arranged on a so-called mother board. These components are essentially the CPU, the working memory, the keyboard controller and various interface controllers. Modules which are used in different embodiments but count as part of the basic equipment, for example the screen controller, are plugged onto the mother board as daughter boards--so-called piggy-back boards. The connection of the daughter board to the exterior is made via a plug which is provided on the baseplate. Optional equipment levels are realized by adding additional printed circuit boards, preferably so-called AT boards. These can themselves receive daughter boards, for example network controllers, whose connection to the exterior is made via a plug in the frontplate of the additional printed circuit board. The connection plugs are therefore strictly assigned in rows to the individual printed circuit board levels, and the assignment is thus limited in terms of number and size by the space available for the respective level. Each of these levels is assigned rows of apertures in the backplane of the housing.
The aforementioned limitation can be overcome if a further row of apertures for possible plugs and/or cables is provided between the row which is determined by the mother board and the row which is defined by the frontplate of an additional printed circuit board adjacent to said mother board. This further row can then be reached by plugs of the mother board, of the additional printed circuit boards and of the daughter boards o
REFERENCES:
patent: 4496943 (1985-01-01), Greenblatt
patent: 5030128 (1991-07-01), Herron
patent: 5038308 (1991-08-01), Le et al.
patent: 5121295 (1992-06-01), Lam
patent: 5214567 (1993-05-01), Feightner et al.
patent: 5305182 (1994-04-01), Chen
patent: 5322447 (1994-06-01), Okada
IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, vol. 34, No. 2, Jul. 1991, pp. 198-199.
Service Manual for Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme "Kassensysteme Beetle x/50 und x/60", Sep. 1993, pp. 4-1 and 4-2.
Baitz Gunter
Kamin Hartmut
Abrams Neil
Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme Aktiengesellschaft
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