Traffic light control device, traffic light control method, and server therefor

Abstract

A lamp control device, a lamp control method and a server thereof are disclosed. The lamp control device includes a first controller and a second controller. The first controller is disposed on a first circuit substrate. The first controller is coupled to a selected one of a plurality of signal sources to re-encode a received control signal and transmit the encoded control signal through a transmission interface. The second controller is disposed on a second circuit substrate. The second controller decodes the encoded control signal to generate a plurality of drive signals. The drive signals are respectively used to drive and control the light emitting states of light emitting elements.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to a light signal control device, control method, and server thereof, and particularly to a light signal control device, control method, and server thereof that can reduce the resource requirements of the motherboard controller. Background Technology

[0002] In modern servers, to ensure system diversity and flexibility, there are storage devices from various sources. Therefore, in terms of the storage device indicator control mechanism, the server must decode control signals and control the indicator status of storage devices according to different configurations.

[0003] When system space is limited, the selection of controllers and connectors on the server becomes restrictive. This is especially true in multi-node server architectures, where the impact includes: extensive use of controller and connector pin configurations; heavy consumption of controller processing resources; and congestion of circuit board signal lines due to signals from various storage devices. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The present invention provides a server and its signal control device, which can reduce the resource occupation of the controller on the backplane and reduce the complexity of the microcontroller circuit layout on the backplane.

[0005] An embodiment of the present invention provides a light signal control device, including a first controller and a second controller. The first controller is disposed on a first circuit board. The first controller is coupled to one of a plurality of signal sources to select a signal source to re-encode the received control signal and transmit the encoded control signal through a transmission interface. The second controller is disposed on a second circuit board and is coupled to the first controller through a transmission interface. The second controller is coupled to a plurality of light-emitting elements to decode the encoded control signal and generate a plurality of driving signals. The driving signals drive and control the light-emitting state of the light-emitting elements respectively.

[0006] An embodiment of the present invention provides a light control method, comprising: setting a first controller on a first circuit board, causing the first controller to receive and re-encode a control signal by selecting a signal source to generate an encoded control signal; transmitting the encoded control signal to a second circuit board through a transmission interface; setting a second controller on the second circuit board, causing the second controller to decode the encoded control signal to generate multiple driving signals corresponding to multiple light-emitting elements; and driving and controlling the light-emitting state of the light-emitting elements according to the driving signals.

[0007] An embodiment of the present invention provides a server, including at least one storage device, multiple light-emitting elements, and a light signal control device. The light signal control device includes a first controller and a second controller. The first controller is disposed on a first circuit board. The first controller is coupled to one of a plurality of signal sources to select a signal source to re-encode the received control signal and transmit the encoded control signal through a transmission interface. The second controller is disposed on a second circuit board and coupled to the first controller through a transmission interface. The second controller is coupled to at least one storage device and multiple light-emitting elements to decode the encoded control signal and generate corresponding multiple drive signals. The drive signals respectively drive and control the light-emitting state of the light-emitting elements.

[0008] Based on the above, the light control device of the present invention decodes the encoded control signal transmitted by the first controller through a second controller on a second circuit board, and thereby generates a drive signal to drive and control the light-emitting state of the light-emitting element. In this way, the resource usage of the second controller on the second circuit board can be reduced, and the complexity of the circuit layout on the second circuit board can be reduced. Attached Figure Description

[0009] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of a server according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0010] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of a server according to another embodiment of the present invention;

[0011] Figure 3A as well as Figure 3B This is a flowchart of the server's light control action according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0012] Figure 4 This is a flowchart of a light control method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0013] Symbol Explanation

[0014] 10, 20: Light control device

[0015] 100, 200: Server

[0016] 110, 210: First circuit board

[0017] 111, 211: First controller

[0018] 112~114: Signal source

[0019] 115, 216, 2151, 122, 222: Input / output interfaces

[0020] 212: Platform Path Controller

[0021] 213: Fault-tolerant disk array controller

[0022] 214: Central Processing Unit

[0023] 215: Baseboard Management Controller

[0024] 120, 220: Second circuit board

[0025] 121, 221: Second controller

[0026] CB: Main cable

[0027] CS, CTR1, CTR2: Control signals

[0028] DVS1, DVS2: Drive signals

[0029] ECS: Encoded Control Signal

[0030] HDD1~HDDN: Storage devices

[0031] LD1, LD2: Light-emitting elements

[0032] TI: Transmission Interface

[0033] S310~S3110, S410~S440: Light control procedures Detailed Implementation

[0034] Please refer to Figure 1 , Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a server according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown. The server 100 includes storage devices HDD1-HDDN, light-emitting elements LD1 and LD2, and a signal control device 10. The server 100 can be a rack server, a tower server, or a multi-node server. The signal control device 10 includes a first controller 111 and a second controller 121. The first controller 111 is disposed on a first circuit board 110, and the second controller 121 is disposed on a second circuit board 120. Multiple signal sources 112-114 can be disposed on the first circuit board 110. The input / output interface 115 of the first controller 111 can be coupled to one of the signal sources 112-114 (e.g., signal source 113) via a main cable CB.

[0035] The first controller 111 is coupled to the second controller 121 via a transmission interface TI. The second controller 121 is further coupled to light-emitting elements LD1, LD2 and one or more storage devices HDD1 to HDDN. The storage devices HDD1 to HDDN can be any type of disk drive, such as embedded non-volatile memory (NVM-e) disk drives, Serial Connected Small Computer System Interface (SAS) disk drives, or Serial High Technology Configuration (SATA) disk drives.

[0036] In terms of operational details, signal source 113 transmits control signal CS to first controller 111 via main cable CB. First controller 111 can re-encode control signal CS to generate encoded control signal ECS. Specifically, first controller 111 can demodulate control signal CS, and then re-encode the demodulated control signal CS to generate encoded control signal ECS. First controller 111 then transmits the encoded control signal ECS to second controller 121 via transmission interface TI. In one embodiment, transmission interface TI can be an inner integrated circuit (I-ICB). 2 C) Transmission interface.

[0037] The second controller 121 can decode the received encoded control signal ECS and thereby generate multiple drive signals DVS1 and DVS2. The second controller 121 can drive the light-emitting elements LD1 and LD2 respectively through the drive signals DVS1 and DVS2, and control the light-emitting state of each of the light-emitting elements LD1 and LD2.

[0038] In one embodiment, the second controller 121 transmits and receives control signals CTR1 and CTR2 with the storage devices HDD1 to HDDN. The second controller 121 can determine the type of the storage devices HDD1 to HDDN through the initialization of its input / output interface 122 (e.g., a General Purpose Input Output (GPIO) interface).

[0039] In one embodiment, the first circuit board 110 can be a motherboard, and the second circuit board 120 can be a backplane. The light control actions of the light-emitting elements LD1 and LD2 can be controlled by the second controller 121 of the second circuit board 120, which can reduce the resource requirements of the first controller 111. In addition, in one embodiment, the first controller 111 is connected to the selected signal source through the main cable CB, and then the encoded control signal ECS is transmitted to the second controller 121 through the transmission interface TI. In this way, the second circuit board 120 does not need to be connected to each of the signal sources 112-114 separately, which can effectively reduce the number of pins on the second circuit board 120 and reduce the complexity of the wiring on the second circuit board 120.

[0040] Please refer to the following: Figure 2 , Figure 2A schematic diagram of a server according to another embodiment of the present invention is shown. The server 200 includes storage devices HDD1-HDDN, light-emitting elements LD1 and LD2, and a light control device 20. The light control device 20 includes a first controller 211 and a second controller 221. The first controller 211 is disposed on a first circuit board 210, and the second controller 221 is disposed on a second circuit board 220. A platform controller hub (PCH) 212, a fault-tolerant disk array controller (RAID controller) 213, and a central processing unit (CPU) 214 may be disposed on the first circuit board 210. The platform controller hub 212, the fault-tolerant disk array controller 213, and the CPU 214 can be multiple signal sources and send control signals CS to execute light control actions.

[0041] The first circuit board 210 is also provided with a Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) 215. The Baseboard Management Controller 215 is coupled to the first controller 211. The Baseboard Management Controller 215 can be used to monitor the first controller 211 of the first circuit board 210 (motherboard), and can monitor the second controller 221 of the second circuit board 220 (backplane) through the first controller 211 of the first circuit board 210.

[0042] The input / output interface 216 of the first controller 211 can be coupled to one of the platform path controller 212, the fault-tolerant disk array controller 213, and the central processing unit 214 via the main cable CB. Figure 2 In the first controller 211, the first controller 211 is coupled to the fault-tolerant disk array controller 213 via the main cable CB.

[0043] The first controller 211 is coupled to the second controller 221 via the transmission interface TI. The second controller 221 is also coupled to the storage devices HDD1 to HDDN and the light-emitting elements LD1 and LD2.

[0044] Regarding the details of the indicator light control operation, when the server 200 enters standby mode, the second controller 221 can determine the type of the selected storage devices HDD1 to HDDN through the initialization action of its input / output interface 222 (e.g., GPIO). Specifically, the second controller 221 can determine the type of the selected storage devices HDD1 to HDDN through the logic values ​​of the signals received by the corresponding storage devices HDD1 to HDDN on multiple specific pins. The correspondence is shown in the table below:

[0045] The first pin in the table above can be PRSNT#, IfDet#, or SAS#.

[0046] Next, the baseboard management controller 215 can determine whether the first controller 211 is coupled to the fault-tolerant disk array controller 213 through the initialization action of its input / output interface 2151 (e.g., GPIO). When the baseboard management controller 215 determines that the first controller 211 is coupled to the fault-tolerant disk array controller 213, the baseboard management controller 215 can control a data transmission mode of the fault-tolerant disk array controller 213 to be either Universal Backplane Management (UBM) mode or Serial GPIO (SGPIO) mode. Specifically, the baseboard management controller 215 can set the data transmission mode to Serial GPIO mode by pulling down specific pins on the first controller 211 and the fault-tolerant disk array controller 213, or the data transmission mode can be set to UBM mode by pulling up the aforementioned specific pins through the first circuit baseboard 210.

[0047] Similarly, in standby mode, the first controller 211 can determine whether the coupled signal source is the fault-tolerant disk array controller 213, the platform path controller 212, or the central processing unit 214 through the initialization action of its input / output interface 216 (e.g., GPIO). In detail, the first controller 211 can make the determination based on the logic values ​​of two pins on the GPIO. For example, a logic value of 00 represents the signal source as the platform path controller 212; a logic value of 01 represents the signal source as the fault-tolerant disk array controller 213 (or hardware disk array (Raid Card)); and a logic value of 10 represents the signal source as the central processing unit 214.

[0048] Next, server 200 can enter the power-on state. In the power-on state, the first controller 211 can determine the format of the control signal CS to be decoded—whether it is a general backplane management mode signal, a serial general input / output mode signal, or a virtual pin port (VPP) signal—through the initialization of its input / output interface 216 (e.g., GPIO). The first controller 211 decodes the control signal CS and encodes the decoded control signal into an encoded control signal ECS of the integrated bus circuit signal. Through the transmission interface TI, the first controller 211 can transmit the encoded control signal ECS to the second controller 221.

[0049] The second controller 221 decodes the encoded control signal ECS and generates drive signals DVS1 and DVS2 based on the successfully decoded signal. The second controller 221 then provides drive signals DVS1 and DVS2 to the light-emitting elements LD1 and LD2, respectively. The second controller 221 can control the light-emitting states of the light-emitting elements LD1 and LD2 using the drive signals DVS1 and DVS2. The light-emitting elements LD1 and LD2 can reflect the operating status of the storage devices HDD1 to HDDN, for example, indicating that the storage devices HDD1 to HDDN are working or that an abnormality has occurred. The light-emitting elements LD1 and LD2 can be light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

[0050] It is worth mentioning that in server 200, the number of light-emitting elements can be any integer. Figure 2 The illustrations are merely examples for illustrative purposes and are not intended to limit the invention.

[0051] In one embodiment, the first controller 211 and the second controller 221 may be a programmable system-on-chip (PSoC) or a microcontroller (MCU), without any specific limitation.

[0052] Please refer to the following: Figure 3A as well as Figure 3B , Figure 3A as well as Figure 3B A flowchart illustrating the light control actions of a server according to an embodiment of the present invention is provided. Figure 3A In step S310, the server is in a power-off state. In step S320, power is supplied to the server, putting it into a standby state. In the standby state, in step S331, the second controller detects the type of its selected storage device through the initialization action of its GPIO. The second controller can obtain the type of the selected storage device by detecting the logic value on a specific pin, where when the logic value is 100 or 101, the storage device is an embedded non-volatile memory (NVM-e) disk drive; when the logic value is 000, the storage device is a Serial Amount Small Computer System Interface (SAS) disk drive; and when the logic value is 001, the storage device can be a Serial High Technology Configuration (SATA) disk drive.

[0053] When the logic value (three bits) on a specific pin detected by the second controller is 100, step S340 can be executed; when the logic value on a specific pin detected by the second controller is 101, 000 or 001, step S332 can be executed.

[0054] In step S332, the baseboard management controller can detect whether there is a hardware disk array (RaidCard) in the signal source. If there is, the selected storage device can be an embedded non-volatile memory disk drive, a serial interconnect small computer system interface disk drive, or a serial high-tech configuration disk drive, and step S333 can be executed; if not, the selected storage device can be a serial high-tech configuration disk drive, and step S334 can be executed.

[0055] In step S333, the baseboard management controller controls the signal transmission mode of the signal source through the initialization action of its GPIO. Specifically, when the baseboard management controller sets the signal on a specific pin to a logic value of 0, the signal transmission mode of the signal source is GPIO mode; or when the signal on a specific pin is set to a logic value of 1, the signal transmission mode of the signal source is UBM mode.

[0056] In addition, in step S334, the baseboard management controller controls the data transmission mode of the signal source to SGPIO mode through the initialization action of its GPIO.

[0057] Next, in step S340, the server performs a power-on action, and enters nodes A1, A2 and A3 respectively, corresponding to steps S331, S333 and S334 respectively.

[0058] exist Figure 3B In step S350, the first controller on the motherboard detects the type of the selected signal source through the initialization action of its GPIO. Specifically, corresponding to nodes A1, A2, and A3, the first controller can determine the selected signal source as a central processing unit (CPU) based on the logic value on a specific pin: when the logic value is 10, the selected signal source is determined to be a hardware disk array (RAID); when the logic value is 01, the selected signal source is determined to be a platform path controller (PCH); and when the logic value is 00, the selected signal source is determined to be a platform path controller (PCH).

[0059] In step S360, the first controller on the motherboard determines the mode of the control signal sent by the signal source through the initialization action of its GPIO. Specifically, for the selected signal source corresponding to the central processing unit, the control signal is a virtual pin interface signal; for the selected signal source corresponding to the hardware disk array, the control signal is a general backplane management mode signal or a serial general input / output mode signal; and for the selected signal source corresponding to the platform path controller, the control signal can be a serial general input / output mode signal.

[0060] In step S370, the first controller performs VPP, UBM, or SGPIO signal decoding on the control signal sent by the signal source based on the judgment result of step S360.

[0061] Next, in step S380, the first controller encodes the result of the decoding in step S370 and generates an integrated bus circuit (I... 2 C) Control signal after signal encoding.

[0062] In step S390, the second controller on the backplane decodes the received data as an integrated bus circuit (I... 2 C) The signal is encoded into a control signal, which in turn generates a drive signal. In step S3110, the second controller uses the drive signal to manipulate the movement of the light-emitting element to execute the server's light control action.

[0063] Please refer to Figure 4 , Figure 4 A flowchart illustrating a light control method according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown. In step S410, a first controller is set on a first circuit board, and the first controller receives and re-encodes a control signal through a signal source to generate an encoded control signal. In step S420, the encoded control signal is transmitted to a second circuit board through a transmission interface. In step S430, a second controller is set on the second circuit board, and the second controller decodes the encoded control signal to generate multiple driving signals corresponding to multiple light-emitting elements. In step S440, the light-emitting state of the light-emitting elements is driven and controlled according to the driving signals.

[0064] The implementation methods and details of the above steps have been described in detail in the foregoing embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0065] In summary, this invention generates drive signals for controlling LEDs by setting a first controller on the motherboard and decoding the control signals transmitted by the first controller. This reduces the resource consumption of the second controller on the backplane. Furthermore, by coupling the first controller to the selected signal source via a single cable, this invention effectively reduces the complexity of backplane wiring and the number of pins required for the second controller.

Claims

1. A light signal control device, comprising: A first controller is disposed on a first circuit board. The first controller is coupled to one of a plurality of signal sources to select a signal source to re-encode the received control signal and transmit the encoded control signal through a transmission interface. as well as A second controller, mounted on a second circuit board, is coupled to the first controller via the transmission interface. The second controller is also coupled to multiple light-emitting elements to decode the encoded control signal and generate corresponding multiple drive signals. These driving signals drive and control the light-emitting state of these light-emitting elements respectively.

2. The light control device as described in claim 1, wherein the first controller performs a demodulation operation on the control signal, and then performs a re-encoding operation on the control signal after the demodulation operation.

3. The light control device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second controller determines the type of at least one storage device through the initialization action of the input / output interface.

4. The light control device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the at least one storage device is an embedded non-volatile memory disk drive, a serial-connected small computer system interface (SAS) disk drive, or a serial high-tech configuration (SATA) disk drive.

5. The signal control device as described in claim 1, further comprising: A substrate management controller is disposed on the first circuit board and coupled to the first controller. The baseboard management controller controls the data transmission mode of the selected signal source through the initialization action of the input / output interface.

6. The light control device as described in claim 5, wherein the data transmission mode is a general backplane management mode or a serial general input / output mode.

7. The light control device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first controller determines whether the selected signal source is a hardware disk array, a platform path controller, or a central processing unit through the initialization action of the input / output interface.

8. The light control device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the first controller determines whether the control signal is a general backplane management mode signal, a serial general input / output mode signal, or a virtual pin interface signal by initializing the input / output interface.

9. The light control device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the encoded control signal is an integrated bus circuit signal.

10. The light control device of claim 1, wherein the first controller is coupled to the selected signal source via a main cable.

11. The light control device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first circuit board is a motherboard and the second circuit board is a backplane.

12. A light signal control method, comprising: A first controller is set on the first circuit board, and the first controller receives and re-encodes the control signal by selecting a signal source to generate an encoded control signal. The encoded control signal is transmitted to the second circuit board via a transmission interface. A second controller is set on the second circuit board, and the second controller decodes the encoded control signal to generate multiple driving signals corresponding to multiple light-emitting elements respectively; as well as The light-emitting state of these light-emitting elements is driven and controlled according to these driving signals.

13. The light control method as described in claim 12, further comprising: The first controller performs a demodulation operation on the control signal, and then performs a re-encoding operation on the control signal after the demodulation operation.

14. The light control method as described in claim 12, further comprising: The second controller determines the type of at least one storage device through the initialization action of the input / output interface.

15. The light control method as described in claim 12, further comprising: The substrate management controller is mounted on the first circuit board. as well as The baseboard management controller controls the data transmission mode of the selected signal source through the initialization action of the input / output interface.

16. The light control method as described in claim 12, further comprising: The first controller determines whether the selected signal source is a hardware disk array, a platform path controller, or a central processing unit through the initialization action of the input / output interface.

17. The light control method as described in claim 16, further comprising: The first controller determines whether the control signal is a general backplane management mode signal, a serial general input / output mode signal, or a virtual pin interface signal through the initialization action of the input / output interface.

18. A server, comprising: At least one storage device; Multiple light-emitting elements; as well as The light control device includes: A first controller is disposed on a first circuit board. The first controller is coupled to one of a plurality of signal sources to select a signal source to re-encode the received control signal and transmit the encoded control signal through a transmission interface. as well as A second controller, disposed on a second circuit board, is coupled to the first controller via the transmission interface. The second controller is also coupled to the at least one storage device and the light-emitting elements to decode the encoded control signal and generate corresponding multiple drive signals. These driving signals drive and control the light-emitting state of these light-emitting elements respectively.

19. The server as claimed in claim 18, wherein the first controller performs a demodulation operation on the control signal, and then performs a re-encoding operation on the control signal after the demodulation operation.

20. The server of claim 18, wherein the light control device further comprises: A substrate management controller is disposed on the first circuit board and coupled to the first controller. The baseboard management controller determines whether the selected signal source is a fault-tolerant disk array controller by initializing the input / output interface.

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