Network switch

Abstract

A network switch comprises a shell, a first switching chip, a first port connector and a rigid-flex board arranged in the shell, and the rigid-flex board comprises a first rigid printed circuit board, a second rigid printed circuit board and a first flexible printed circuit board; the first rigid printed circuit board is used for arranging the first exchange chip; the second rigid printed circuit board is used for arranging a first port connector; the first flexible printed circuit board is used for connecting the first rigid printed circuit board and the second rigid printed circuit board. The switch chip and the port connector can be respectively arranged on the two rigid printed circuit boards through the rigid-flex board and are connected through the flexible printed circuit board, so that the two rigid printed circuit boards can be randomly bent in the network switch; moreover, the rigid printed circuit board provided with the port connector can accommodate more input / output ports, thereby improving the equipment performance of the network switch.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to network equipment technology, and in particular, to a network switch. Background Art

[0002] With the growing demand for cloud computing and artificial intelligence computing power, higher performance requirements are placed on network switching equipment in data center networks or high-performance networks.

[0003] In the related art, taking a network switch with a single PCB (Printed Circuit Board) architecture as an example, the port connector and the switching chip are set on the same PCB, and a maximum of two layers of port connectors are set on one PCB board, and the number of input and output ports cannot meet the performance requirements of the device. Summary of the invention

[0004] This section is provided to introduce the concepts in a brief form, which will be described in detail in the detailed implementation section below. This section is not intended to identify the key features or essential features of the technical solution claimed for protection, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the technical solution claimed for protection.

[0005] The present disclosure provides a network switch, comprising a housing, a first switching chip, a first port connector, and a hard-soft board arranged in the housing, wherein the hard-soft board comprises a first rigid printed circuit board, a second rigid printed circuit board, and a first flexible printed circuit board; The first rigid printed circuit board is used to set the first switching chip; The second rigid printed circuit board is used to set the first port connector; The first flexible printed circuit board is used to connect the first rigid printed circuit board and the second rigid printed circuit board.

[0006] Through the above technical solution, the switching chip and the port connector can be respectively arranged on two rigid printed circuit boards by using a soft-hard combination board and connected through a flexible printed circuit board, so that the two rigid printed circuit boards can be bent arbitrarily inside the network switch, and the rigid printed circuit board on which the port connector is arranged can accommodate a larger number of input / output ports, thereby improving the equipment performance of the network switch.

[0007] Other features and advantages of the present disclosure will be described in detail in the following detailed description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] The above and other features, advantages and aspects of the embodiments of the present disclosure will become more apparent with reference to the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar elements. It should be understood that the drawings are schematic and the originals and elements are not necessarily drawn to scale. In the drawings: Figure 1a is a structural side view of a network switch with a single PCB architecture according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure; Figure 1b It is a schematic diagram of a port panel of a network switch with a single PCB architecture according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure; Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a network switch according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure; Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of a port panel of a network switch according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure; Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of a rigid-flexible board with different bending directions according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure; Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of a rigid-flex board according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure; Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of a rigid-flex board including a plurality of first rigid printed circuit boards according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure; Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of a rigid-flex board including a plurality of second rigid printed circuit boards according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure; Figure 8 FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of another rigid-flex board according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0009] Description of Reference Numerals 20 network switches 24 soft and hard combination boards 21 housing 241 first rigid printed circuit board 22 first switching chip 242 second rigid printed circuit board 23 first port connector 243 first flexible printed circuit board 61 second flexible printed circuit board DETAILED DESCRIPTION Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Although certain embodiments of the present disclosure are shown in the accompanying drawings, it should be understood that the present disclosure can be implemented in various forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments described herein, which are instead provided for a more thorough and complete understanding of the present disclosure. It should be understood that the drawings and embodiments of the present disclosure are only for exemplary purposes and are not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present disclosure.

[0010] The term "including" and its variations used herein are open inclusions, i.e., "including but not limited to". The term "based on" means "based at least in part on". The term "one embodiment" means "at least one embodiment"; the term "another embodiment" means "at least one additional embodiment"; the term "some embodiments" means "at least some embodiments". The relevant definitions of other terms will be given in the following description.

[0011] It should be noted that the concepts such as "first" and "second" mentioned in the present disclosure are only used to distinguish different devices, modules or units, and are not used to limit the order or interdependence of the functions performed by these devices, modules or units.

[0012] It should be noted that the modifications of "one" and "plurality" mentioned in the present disclosure are illustrative rather than restrictive, and those skilled in the art should understand that unless otherwise clearly indicated in the context, it should be understood as "one or more".

[0013] In the description of the present disclosure, it should be understood that the directions or positional relationships indicated by the terms "up", "down", "left", "right", "front", "back", etc. are based on the directions or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the present disclosure and simplifying the description, rather than indicating or implying that the device or element referred to must have a specific direction, and a specific direction structure and operation, and therefore should not be understood as a limitation on the present disclosure.

[0014] With the growing demand for cloud computing and artificial intelligence computing power, the scale and complexity of data center networks and high-performance networks are constantly increasing, which puts higher requirements on the performance of network switching equipment in data center networks and high-performance networks. In particular, for the core switching equipment at the upper layer of the network, the port rate has rapidly developed from 100G to 800G / 1.6T, and the bandwidth of the switching chip has developed from 3.2T to 50T / 100T. As a powerful and reliable network switch, the core switch is used to connect multi-stage switches and server groups. Its comprehensive performance is crucial to data center networks and high-performance networks.

[0015] Usually, a network switch can include a switching unit, a management unit, and a fan power supply unit. The switching unit includes HSIO (high speed input output) ports, switching chips such as ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) chips, chip (integrated circuit) chips, etc. The management unit includes CPU (Central Processing Unit), memory, SSD CPLD (Solid State Drive, solid state drive; Complex Programmable Logic Device, complex programmable logic device), chip chips and other management chips. The switching unit is responsible for data exchange, the management unit is responsible for device management, the power supply is used to power the device, and the fan is used to dissipate heat for the entire machine.

[0016] In the related art, the switching unit and the management unit are usually arranged on a PCB, such as Figure 1a The side view of a network switch with a single PCB architecture is shown in FIG. Figure 1b The diagram is a schematic diagram of the port panel of a network switch with a single PCB architecture. Figure 1a and 1b It can be seen that since the port connector and the switching chip are set on the same PCB, a maximum of two layers of port connectors can be set on a PCB board. Limited by the panel width of the network switch and the density of the port connector (two layers), the maximum number of port settings on the entire network switch port panel = (panel width ÷ port connector width) × (number of port connector layers) × 2, where the multiplication by 2 is because port connectors can be set on both the front and back of the PCB, and the limited number of input\output ports cannot meet the performance requirements of the equipment.

[0017] In order to improve the port density, the relevant technology provides a variety of expansion solutions. Solution 1 connects the port part to the daughter card through a mezzanine connector and increases the port density by adding daughter cards. Solution 2 expands the port part through a plug-in card architecture to achieve a higher port density. However, the above expansion solutions all have multiple boards, which will increase the complexity and production and assembly difficulty of the network switch. The increase in boards and interconnected nodes will increase the risk of equipment failure. In addition, the high-speed signal of the port needs to pass through a first-level connector, which will reduce the quality of the high-speed signal and affect the performance of the network switch.

[0018] In view of this, the present disclosure provides a network switch, which can improve the port density and the performance of the network switch through a soft-hard combination board while reducing the volume and weight of the network switch.

[0019] Figure 2is a schematic diagram of the structure of a network switch according to an exemplary embodiment. Figure 2 As shown, the network switch 20 includes a housing 21, a first switching chip 22, a first port connector 23, and a hard-flex board 24 disposed in the housing 21. The hard-flex board 24 includes a first rigid printed circuit board 241, a second rigid printed circuit board 242, and a first flexible printed circuit board 243. The first rigid printed circuit board 241 is used to set the first switching chip 22; the second rigid printed circuit board 242 is used to set the first port connector 23; and the first flexible printed circuit board 243 is used to connect the first rigid printed circuit board 241 and the second rigid printed circuit board 242.

[0020] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of a port panel of a network switch according to an exemplary embodiment. Figure 3 As shown, the port panel of the network switch can achieve different port densities based on business requirements and device height and width.

[0021] It is worth mentioning that the rigid-flexible board, also known as the rigid-flexible board, is a diversified printed circuit board that combines the flexibility of the soft board with the support of the hard board. The circuits of the hard board layer and the soft board layer are interconnected through metallized holes. Each rigid-flexible board can have multiple hard board areas and soft board areas. It can replace traditional external cables or connectors, avoid the problem of poor contact of connecting devices during long-term use, and the problems of joint corrosion and short circuit caused by long-term exposure to high temperature and high humidity working environment, and has extremely high reliability. In addition, the rigid-flexible board has good flexibility, can adapt to various complex shapes and assembly space requirements, realize three-dimensional assembly, and can reduce the volume and weight of network switches.

[0022] For example, the flexible printed circuit board can be made of conventional adhesive polyimide, non-adhesive polyimide, modified polyimide, liquid crystal polymer, perfluoroalkyl compound, polytetrafluoroethylene and other materials, and the present disclosure does not limit this. Preferably, polytetrafluoroethylene material can be used, because all hydrogen atoms in polytetrafluoroethylene are replaced by fluorine atoms, it has excellent electrical properties, and its dielectric constant and dielectric loss are very low. Therefore, the loss performance of the flexible printed circuit board based on polytetrafluoroethylene is better than the loss performance of the flexible printed circuit board of other materials. In addition, the flexible printed circuit board based on polytetrafluoroethylene can also balance the bending requirements and has good bending performance.

[0023] In the above technical solution, a rigid-flexible board is used to respectively set the switching chip and the port connector on two rigid printed circuit boards and connect them through a flexible printed circuit board. In this way, the two rigid printed circuit boards can be bent arbitrarily inside the network switch, and the rigid printed circuit board on which the port connector is set can accommodate a larger number of input / output ports, thereby improving the device performance of the network switch.

[0024] It should be understood that the network switch in the embodiment of the present disclosure may include: Figure 1a The management unit shown in the figure can be arranged in the same rigid printed circuit board as the management unit and the switching chip, or can be arranged separately in different rigid printed circuit boards and connected via flexible printed circuit boards, cables or connectors, which is not limited by the present disclosure. In addition, the network switch in the embodiment of the present disclosure can include the following: Figure 1a The fan power module shown in the figure can be set in the following way: Figure 1a , this disclosure does not limit this.

[0025] It should be noted that the two rigid printed circuit boards can be arranged at any angle in the network switch through the flexible printed circuit board, and the present disclosure does not limit this.

[0026] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, Figure 2 As shown, the first port connector 23 is vertically disposed on the second rigid printed circuit board 242 .

[0027] For example, in order to accommodate a larger number of input / output ports, such as Figure 2 As shown, the port connector can be vertically arranged on the second rigid printed circuit board, wherein the port connector can be a vertical line card connector, which can be selected according to requirements and is not limited in the present disclosure.

[0028] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, Figure 2 As shown, the first rigid printed circuit board 241 is horizontally disposed in the housing 21 , and the second rigid printed circuit board 242 is vertically disposed in the housing 21 .

[0029] For example, in order to reduce the size of a network switch, Figure 2 As shown, the first rigid printed circuit board 241 can be horizontally arranged in the housing 21, and the second rigid printed circuit board 242 can be vertically arranged in the housing 21. It can also be understood that the first rigid printed circuit board 241 is perpendicular to the port panel of the network switch, and the second rigid printed circuit board 242 is horizontally arranged on the port panel of the network switch, so that the port connector on the second rigid printed circuit board 242 can be fitted and corresponded with the port panel, so as to realize different port densities according to needs.

[0030] In addition, the horizontal placement of the first rigid printed circuit board 241 also facilitates the subsequent horizontal stacking of other rigid printed circuit boards with switch chips in the network switch, further reducing the size of the network switch.

[0031] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, Figure 4 As shown, the second rigid printed circuit board 242 is disposed on the front side or the back side of the first rigid printed circuit board 241 through the first flexible printed circuit board 243 .

[0032] For example, through the first flexible printed circuit board 243, the second rigid printed circuit board 242 can be set on the front side or the back side of the first rigid printed circuit board 241 according to needs, so as to meet different assembly requirements of network switches and realize different forms of network switches.

[0033] For example, the second rigid printed circuit board 242 and the first rigid printed circuit board 241 can be arranged at any angle through the first flexible printed circuit board 243, and the present disclosure does not limit this. Preferably, it can be arranged as follows Figure 4 Vertical angle shown.

[0034] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the first rigid printed circuit board 241 is used to set the first switching chip 22 on the front and / or back side.

[0035] For example, Figure 4 As shown in FIG. 5 , the embodiment of the present disclosure can place the switching chip on the front or back of the first rigid printed circuit board 241 according to the requirements, or place different switching chips on the front and back, so as to meet the assembly requirements of different network switches and realize network switches of different forms.

[0036] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the first rigid printed circuit board 241 is used to set one or more first switching chips 22 .

[0037] For example, Figure 4 As shown in FIG. 5 , in the embodiment of the present disclosure, one or more first switching chips can be selected and placed on the first rigid printed circuit board 241 according to the needs, so as to match a larger bandwidth and more ports.

[0038] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, Figure 6 As shown, there are multiple first rigid printed circuit boards 241 , and two different first rigid printed circuit boards 241 are connected via a second flexible printed circuit board 61 .

[0039] For example, Figure 6As shown, two or more first rigid printed circuit boards 241 can be selected for multi-level interconnection according to the needs. Among them, when multiple first rigid printed circuit boards 241 are connected, multiple first rigid printed circuit boards 241 can be connected in sequence through different second flexible printed circuit boards 61, or one first rigid printed circuit board 241 can be connected to multiple first rigid printed circuit boards 241 through different second flexible printed circuit boards 61, and the present disclosure does not limit this. In order to meet the assembly requirements of different network switches and realize network switches of different forms.

[0040] In addition, different first rigid printed circuit boards 241 can select the placement direction of the first switching chip according to needs and production and processing requirements, and the middle second flexible printed circuit board 61 can adjust the width and length according to needs to ensure the interconnection and processing requirements between multiple first rigid printed circuit boards 241.

[0041] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, Figure 7 As shown, the first rigid printed circuit board 241 is connected to a plurality of second rigid printed circuit boards 242 through different first flexible printed circuit boards 243 .

[0042] For example, Figure 7 As shown, multiple second rigid printed circuit boards 242 and one first rigid printed circuit board 241 can be selected according to the needs, and the present disclosure does not limit this, so that Figure 8 As shown, more ports are matched to meet the assembly requirements of different network switches and realize network switches of different forms.

[0043] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, Figure 8 As shown, the first rigid printed circuit board 241 is connected to the second rigid printed circuit board 242 through one or more first flexible printed circuit boards 243 .

[0044] For example, Figure 8 As shown, one or more first flexible printed circuit boards 243 can be selected according to needs to connect the first rigid printed circuit board 241 with the second rigid printed circuit board 242. The present disclosure does not limit this, that is, the first rigid printed circuit board 241 and the second rigid printed circuit board 242 can have one or more connection points to meet the assembly requirements of different network switches and realize network switches of different forms.

[0045] It is worth noting that the network switch can be assembled into different forms according to actual needs and in combination with the various architectures described above. The port panel of the network switch can also achieve different port densities according to business needs and the height and width of the device.

[0046] It should be noted that the first rigid printed circuit board 241 is used to set a switching chip, and therefore can also be called a switching unit board, and the second rigid printed circuit board 242 is used to set a port connector, and therefore can also be called a port unit board.

[0047] In one example, a switching unit board and a port unit board can be selected to be connected by a flexible printed circuit board to form a hard-soft combination board for assembling a network switch, wherein the switching unit board can be provided with a switching chip on the back and / or the front, and the number of the switching chips can be one or more, the port unit board can be placed on the front side or the back side of the interactive unit board, and the number of the flexible printed circuit boards between the switching unit board and the port unit board can be one or more, and the present disclosure does not impose any restrictions on this.

[0048] In one example, a switching unit board and multiple port unit boards can be selected to assemble a network switch through a soft-hard combination board connected by different flexible printed circuit boards, wherein the switching unit board can be provided with a switching chip on the back and / or the front, and the number of the switching chips can be one or more, and multiple port unit boards can be placed on the front side and / or the back side of the interactive unit board respectively, and the number of flexible printed circuit boards between the switching unit board and each port unit board can be one or more, and the present disclosure does not limit this.

[0049] In one example, a hard-soft combination board including multiple switching unit boards, multiple port unit boards and multiple flexible printed circuit boards can be selected to assemble a network switch, wherein the switching unit boards with a connection relationship among the multiple switching unit boards can be connected through one or more flexible printed circuit boards, and the switching unit boards and port unit boards with a connection relationship can also be connected through one or more flexible printed circuit boards. The switching unit board can be provided with a switching chip on the back and / or the front, and the number of the switching chips can be one or more, which is not limited by the present disclosure.

[0050] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the rigid-flex board 24 is formed by pressing a first rigid printed circuit board 241 , a second rigid printed circuit board 242 , and a first flexible printed circuit board 243 at one time.

[0051] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the network switch also includes a third rigid printed circuit board, which is connected to the rigid-flexible board 24 through the first board connector and the third flexible printed circuit board; the third rigid printed circuit board is used to set the second switching chip or the second port connector.

[0052] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the first flexible printed circuit board 243 is connected to the first rigid printed circuit board 241 through the second board-card connector, and the first flexible printed circuit board 243 is connected to the second rigid printed circuit board 242 through the third board-card connector.

[0053] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, one end of the first flexible printed circuit board 243 is welded to the surface of the first rigid printed circuit board 241 , and the other end is welded to the surface of the second rigid printed circuit board 242 .

[0054] For example, different processing techniques can be selected to make a rigid-flexible board. For example, different numbers of rigid printed circuit boards for setting the switching chip, rigid printed circuit boards for setting the port connector, and flexible printed circuit boards can be selected according to the above embodiment and pressed together to obtain a rigid-flexible board. Alternatively, after obtaining a rigid-flexible board by pressing together once, other rigid printed circuit boards for setting the switching chip or the port connector can be connected to the rigid-flexible board through a flexible printed circuit board and a connector.

[0055] For example, a first rigid printed circuit board for setting a switching chip, a second rigid printed circuit board for setting a port connector, and a flexible printed circuit board may be separately manufactured, and then the flexible printed circuit board may be respectively connected to the first rigid printed circuit board and the second rigid printed circuit board through different board connectors. Alternatively, one end of the first flexible printed circuit board may be welded to the surface of the first rigid printed circuit board, and the other end may be welded to the surface of the second rigid printed circuit board. The specific selection may be made according to the requirements, and the present disclosure does not limit this.

[0056] In other possible implementations, multiple rigid-flexible boards may be obtained by one-time pressing and molding, and then the multiple rigid-flexible boards may be connected via a flexible printed circuit board and a connector, which is not limited in the present disclosure.

[0057] By adopting the above technical solution, the switching unit board and the port unit board can be interconnected through the soft-hard combination board, and the switching unit board and the port unit board can be assembled synchronously inside the network switch at one time through the soft-hard combination board. The boards can be interconnected without connectors, and the equipment assembly is simple, which can reduce the number of boards and reduce the hardware complexity of the equipment. It can also avoid the quality problems of connector intermatching and improve the quality of the equipment. In addition. The internal high-speed signal can be directly connected to the two hard boards without changing layers. Compared with the connector interconnection method, the performance of signal integrity can be improved.

[0058] In addition, through the hard-and-soft combination board and the vertical port connector, the high-density port of the whole machine can be realized without using cables within the board and without multiple boards. The hard-and-soft combination board can also be used to realize various forms of interconnection and interoperability architecture of multiple chips and multiple boards, further improving the assembly flexibility of the network switch.

[0059] According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, Example 1 provides a network switch, including a shell, a first switching chip, a first port connector and a hard-soft combination board arranged in the shell, the hard-soft combination board including a first rigid printed circuit board, a second rigid printed circuit board and a first flexible printed circuit board; the first rigid printed circuit board is used to set the first switching chip; the second rigid printed circuit board is used to set the first port connector; the first flexible printed circuit board is used to connect the first rigid printed circuit board and the second rigid printed circuit board.

[0060] According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, Example 2 provides the network switch described in Example 1, wherein the first port connector is vertically disposed on the second rigid printed circuit board.

[0061] According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, Example 3 provides the network switch described in Example 1, wherein the first rigid printed circuit board is horizontally disposed in the housing, and the second rigid printed circuit board is vertically disposed in the housing.

[0062] According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, Example 4 provides the network switch described in Example 1, wherein the second rigid printed circuit board is disposed on the front side or the back side of the first rigid printed circuit board through the first flexible printed circuit board.

[0063] According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, Example 5 provides the network switch described in Example 1, wherein the first rigid printed circuit board is used to set the first switching chip on the front and / or back side.

[0064] According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, Example 6 provides the network switch described in Example 1, wherein the first rigid printed circuit board is used to set one or more first switching chips.

[0065] According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, Example 7 provides the network switch described in any of Examples 1-6, wherein the number of the first rigid printed circuit boards is multiple, and two different first rigid printed circuit boards are connected via a second flexible printed circuit board.

[0066] According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, Example 8 provides the network switch described in any of Examples 1-6, wherein the first rigid printed circuit board is connected to a plurality of second rigid printed circuit boards through different first flexible printed circuit boards.

[0067] According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, Example 9 provides the network switch described in any of Examples 1-6, wherein the first rigid printed circuit board is connected to the second rigid printed circuit board through one or more first flexible printed circuit boards.

[0068] According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, Example 10 provides the network switch described in any of Examples 1-6, wherein the rigid-flexible board is formed by pressing the first rigid printed circuit board, the second rigid printed circuit board, and the first flexible printed circuit board at one time.

[0069] According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, Example 11 provides the network switch described in any of Examples 1-6, wherein the network switch also includes a third rigid printed circuit board, and the third rigid printed circuit board is connected to the rigid-flexible board via a first board connector and a third flexible printed circuit board; the third rigid printed circuit board is used to set a second switching chip or a second port connector.

[0070] According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, Example 12 provides the network switch described in any of Examples 1-6, wherein the first flexible printed circuit board is connected to the first rigid printed circuit board via a second board card connector, and the first flexible printed circuit board is connected to the second rigid printed circuit board via a third board card connector.

[0071] According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, Example 13 provides the network switch described in any of Examples 1-6, wherein one end of the first flexible printed circuit board is welded to the surface of the first rigid printed circuit board, and the other end is welded to the surface of the second rigid printed circuit board.

[0072] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure and an explanation of the technical principles used. Those skilled in the art should understand that the scope of disclosure involved in the present disclosure is not limited to the technical solutions formed by a specific combination of the above technical features, but should also cover other technical solutions formed by any combination of the above technical features or their equivalent features without departing from the above disclosed concept. For example, the above features are replaced with the technical features with similar functions disclosed in the present disclosure (but not limited to) by each other to form a technical solution.

[0073] In addition, although each operation is described in a specific order, this should not be understood as requiring these operations to be performed in the specific order shown or in a sequential order. Under certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Similarly, although some specific implementation details are included in the above discussion, these should not be interpreted as limiting the scope of the present disclosure. Some features described in the context of a separate embodiment can also be implemented in a single embodiment in combination. On the contrary, the various features described in the context of a single embodiment can also be implemented in multiple embodiments individually or in any suitable sub-combination mode.

[0074] Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and / or method logic actions, it should be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or actions described above. On the contrary, the specific features and actions described above are merely example forms of implementing the claims. Regarding the device in the above embodiment, the specific manner in which each module performs the operation has been described in detail in the embodiment related to the method, and will not be elaborated here.

Claims

1. A network switch (20), characterized in that: It comprises a housing (21), a first switching chip (22), a first port connector (23), and a hard-flex board (24) arranged in the housing (21), wherein the hard-flex board (24) comprises a first rigid printed circuit board (241), a second rigid printed circuit board (242), and a first flexible printed circuit board (243); The first rigid printed circuit board (241) is used to set the first switching chip (22); The second rigid printed circuit board (242) is used to set the first port connector (23); The first flexible printed circuit board (243) is used to connect the first rigid printed circuit board (241) and the second rigid printed circuit board (242).

2. The network switch (20) according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first port connector (23) is vertically arranged on the second rigid printed circuit board (242).

3. The network switch (20) according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first rigid printed circuit board (241) is horizontally arranged in the housing (21), and the second rigid printed circuit board (242) is vertically arranged in the housing (21).

4. The network switch (20) according to claim 1, characterized in that: The second rigid printed circuit board (242) is arranged on the front side or the back side of the first rigid printed circuit board (241) through the first flexible printed circuit board (243).

5. The network switch (20) according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first rigid printed circuit board (241) is used to arrange the first switching chip (22) on the front and / or back side.

6. The network switch (20) according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first rigid printed circuit board (241) is used to set one or more first switching chips (22).

7. The network switch (20) according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: There are multiple first rigid printed circuit boards (241), and two different first rigid printed circuit boards (241) are connected via a second flexible printed circuit board (61).

8. The network switch (20) according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: The first rigid printed circuit board (241) is connected to a plurality of second rigid printed circuit boards (242) via different first flexible printed circuit boards (243).

9. The network switch (20) according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: The first rigid printed circuit board (241) is connected to the second rigid printed circuit board (242) via one or more first flexible printed circuit boards (243).

10. The network switch (20) according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: The rigid-flex board (24) is formed by pressing the first rigid printed circuit board (241), the second rigid printed circuit board (242) and the first flexible printed circuit board (243) together at one time.

11. The network switch (20) according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: The network switch (20) further comprises a third rigid printed circuit board, wherein the third rigid printed circuit board is connected to the rigid-flexible board (24) via a first board connector and a third flexible printed circuit board; The third rigid printed circuit board is used to set a second switching chip or a second port connector.

12. The network switch (20) according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: The first flexible printed circuit board (243) is connected to the first rigid printed circuit board (241) via a second board card connector, and the first flexible printed circuit board (243) is connected to the second rigid printed circuit board (242) via a third board card connector.

13. The network switch (20) according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: One end of the first flexible printed circuit board (243) is welded to the surface of the first rigid printed circuit board (241), and the other end is welded to the surface of the second rigid printed circuit board (242).

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