Power concentrator and electronic equipment

Abstract

The invention discloses a power supply concentrator and electronic equipment, and the power supply concentrator comprises a first input end and a plurality of output ends. The first input end comprises at least a first electric energy input end and a first sideband signal end which are arranged in a golden finger structure; each output end comprises an electric energy output end and a second sideband signal end; wherein the first electric energy input end is electrically connected with a plurality of electric energy output ends in the plurality of output ends, so that electric energy obtained by the first electric energy input end from a power supply unit of the electronic equipment is provided for the plurality of electric energy output ends; the first signal end is in communication connection with a plurality of second sideband signal ends in the plurality of output ends and is used for transmitting sideband signals between the electronic equipment and a plurality of electric equipment connected to the plurality of output ends; wherein the sideband signals comprise a plurality of sideband signals.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to, but is not limited to, the field of computer technology, and in particular to a power hub and electronic equipment. Background Art

[0002] Electronic devices have various expansion card slots on their motherboards, which accept corresponding expansion cards to enhance performance, expand functionality, or provide hardware redundancy. For example, most motherboards have high-speed serial computer expansion bus (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express, PCIe) slots and dual-inline memory module (DIMM) slots. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The present application provides at least one power hub and an electronic device.

[0004] The technical solution of this application is achieved as follows:

[0005] In one aspect, the present application provides a power hub, comprising: a first input terminal and a plurality of output terminals; the first input terminal comprises at least a first power input terminal and a first sideband signal terminal arranged in a gold finger structure; each output terminal comprises a power output terminal and a second sideband signal terminal; wherein,

[0006] The first power input terminal is electrically connected to a plurality of power output terminals among the plurality of output terminals, so as to provide power obtained by the first power input terminal from the power supply unit of the electronic device to the plurality of power output terminals;

[0007] The first sideband signal terminal is communicatively connected to multiple second sideband signal terminals among the multiple output terminals, and is used to transmit sideband signals between the electronic device and multiple electrical devices connected to the multiple output terminals; wherein the sideband signal includes multiple sideband signals.

[0008] In some embodiments, the power hub further comprises: at least one input-output expander; wherein,

[0009] The first sideband signal terminal is communicatively connected to the plurality of second sideband signal terminals via at least one input-output expander.

[0010] In some embodiments, the power hub further includes: a plurality of signal buffers; wherein,

[0011] The first sideband signal end is communicatively connected to the plurality of second sideband signal ends through a plurality of signal buffers respectively.

[0012] In some embodiments, the plurality of signal buffers include a reset signal buffer and an interrupt signal buffer.

[0013] In some embodiments, the connection between the first power input terminal and the plurality of power output terminals is a straight-through connection.

[0014] In some embodiments, the power hub further includes at least one second power input terminal; wherein,

[0015] The at least one second power input terminal obtains power from different power supply units of the electronic device and provides the obtained power to the multiple power output terminals.

[0016] In some embodiments, the first input terminal is connected to the electronic device via a high-speed serial computer expansion bus slot on a motherboard of the electronic device.

[0017] In some embodiments, the power hub is one of the following: a full-height half-length power hub, or a half-height half-length power hub.

[0018] On the other hand, the present application also provides an electronic device, comprising: a mainboard, a power supply unit and a power hub; a hub slot is arranged on the mainboard; wherein,

[0019] The power hub is connected to the motherboard through a hub slot, and the power hub includes a first input terminal and a plurality of output terminals; the first input terminal includes a first power input terminal and a first signal terminal; each output terminal includes a power output terminal and a second sideband signal terminal; wherein,

[0020] The first power input terminal is electrically connected to a plurality of power output terminals among the plurality of output terminals, so as to provide power obtained from the power supply unit by the first power input terminal to the plurality of power output terminals;

[0021] The first signal terminal is communicatively connected to multiple second sideband signal terminals among the multiple output terminals, and is used to transmit sideband signals between the electronic device and multiple electrical devices connected to the multiple output terminals; wherein the sideband signal includes multiple sideband signals.

[0022] In some embodiments, the motherboard includes a plurality of expansion card slots; the plurality of expansion card slots are connected to a plurality of output terminals of the power hub via cables.

[0023] It should be understood that the above general description and the following detailed description are merely exemplary and explanatory, and do not limit the technical solutions of the present application. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] The drawings herein are incorporated into and constitute a part of the specification. These drawings illustrate embodiments consistent with the present application and, together with the specification, are used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present application.

[0025] Figure 1A schematic diagram of the overall structure of a power hub provided in this application;

[0026] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the structure of a full-height, half-length power hub provided in this application embodiment;

[0027] Figure 3 A schematic structural diagram of a half-height, half-length power hub provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0028] Figure 4 A circuit diagram of a power hub provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0029] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of installing the power hub provided by the present application in an electronic device;

[0030] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of the hardware entity of an electronic device provided in this application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0031] In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of this application clearer, the technical solutions of this application are further elaborated in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. The described embodiments should not be regarded as limiting this application. All other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without making creative work are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0032] In the following description, reference is made to “some embodiments”, which describes a subset of all possible embodiments, but it will be understood that “some embodiments” may be the same subset or different subsets of all possible embodiments and may be combined with each other without conflict.

[0033] The terms "first / second / third" involved are merely used to distinguish similar objects and do not represent a specific ordering of the objects. It is understandable that "first / second / third" can be interchanged with a specific order or sequence where permitted so that the embodiments of the present application described herein can be implemented in an order other than that illustrated or described herein.

[0034] Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by those skilled in the art to which this application pertains. The terms used herein are for the purpose of describing this application only and are not intended to limit this application.

[0035] As mentioned above, electronic devices have various expansion card slots on their motherboards. These slots require corresponding power and signal cables to provide power and signal connections to the expansion cards plugged into them. Consequently, when a motherboard has a large number of expansion card slots, there may be insufficient space on the motherboard to route the power and signal cables for all of them.

[0036] In the related art, to support more PCIe expansion cards within the limited motherboard space, a PCIe riser card is used to expand a motherboard's PCIe slot into multiple PCIe slots. This allows multiple PCIe expansion cards to be plugged into the multiple PCIe slots created by the PCIe riser card, or multiple PCIe expansion cards can be connected using a PCIe cable riser card. The PCIe riser card has low insertion loss, meeting the insertion loss requirements of PCIe 5.0 solutions.

[0037] However, the number of PCIe slots that can be expanded by a PCIe riser card is fixed. For example, a PCIe riser card can support 8 or 16 PCIe slots. Therefore, when users use a PCIe riser card to expand the PCIe slots on the motherboard, even if the user actually only needs to expand a small number of PCIe slots (for example, 2 or 3), they still need to purchase a PCIe riser card with 8 or more PCIe slots. As a result, users cannot expand the number of PCIe slots as needed, which in turn increases hardware costs.

[0038] Based on this, the present application provides a power hub that can be plugged into a motherboard of an electronic device. The electronic device can be various types of terminal devices such as a desktop computer, an all-in-one computer, or a server.

[0039] Below, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

[0040] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of a power hub provided by this application. Figure 1 As shown, the power hub 100 includes a first input terminal 110 and multiple output terminals 120; the first input terminal 110 includes at least a first power input terminal 111 and a first sideband signal terminal 112 arranged in a gold finger structure; each of the output terminals 120 includes a power output terminal 121 and a second sideband signal terminal 122; wherein,

[0041] The first power input terminal 111 is electrically connected to a plurality of power output terminals 121 of the plurality of output terminals 120 so as to provide power obtained by the first power input terminal 111 from a power supply unit of the electronic device to the plurality of power output terminals 121;

[0042] The first sideband signal terminal 112 is communicatively connected to multiple second sideband signal terminals 122 among the multiple output terminals 120, and is used to transmit sideband signals between the electronic device and multiple electrical devices connected to the multiple output terminals 120; wherein the sideband signal includes multiple sideband signals.

[0043] Here, a hub slot is provided on the motherboard of the electronic device, and the hub slot is provided with power pins and signal pins for transmitting sideband signals. In this way, the first input terminal 110 can be connected to the electronic device through the hub slot to obtain power from the electronic device and transmit sideband signals between the electronic device and the power-consuming device.

[0044] A gold finger structure is an array of conductive contacts used to electrically connect a card to a slot. Here, the first power input terminal 111 and the first sideband signal terminal 112 of the first input terminal 110 are implemented as a gold finger structure. That is, the conductive contact array enables power and sideband signal transmission between the electronic device's motherboard and the power hub 100.

[0045] The first power input terminal 111 in the first input terminal 110 is used to obtain power from a power supply unit of the electronic device. In some embodiments, the power supply unit can be a battery or a power module in the electronic device. Thus, when the first power input terminal 111 is implemented as a gold finger structure, the conductive contact array of the first power input terminal 111 obtains power from the motherboard power supply through the power pins in the hub slot. In some embodiments, the first power input terminal 111 can support multiple input voltages. For example, the first power input terminal 111 can support input voltages such as 12V, 5.5V, or 3.3V.

[0046] At the same time, the first power input terminal 111 is electrically connected to multiple power output terminals 121 of the multiple output terminals 120 to provide power obtained from the power supply unit of the electronic device to the multiple power output terminals 121. In some embodiments, the first power input terminal 111 and the multiple power output terminals 121 are connected in a direct-through manner or a non-direct-through manner. For example, when the rated operating voltages required by multiple electrical devices are the same, the first power input terminal 111 and the multiple power output terminals 121 are connected in a direct-through manner, thereby directly providing power obtained from the power supply unit of the electronic device to the multiple power output terminals 121. For another example, the power hub 100 is internally provided with a voltage converter, that is, the first power input terminal 111 and the multiple power output terminals 121 are connected in a non-direct-through manner. In this way, when the rated operating voltages required by the multiple electrical devices are different, the voltage converter can be used to convert the voltage obtained from the power supply unit at the first power input terminal 111 to the rated voltage required by the corresponding electrical device.

[0047] The first sideband signal terminal 112 in the first input terminal 110 is electrically connected to the processor or south bridge chip of the electronic device through the conductive contact array in the hub slot, and is communicatively connected to the multiple second sideband signal terminals 122 in the multiple output terminals 120, thereby transmitting sideband signals between the processor or south bridge chip of the electronic device and multiple electrical devices.

[0048] Here, sideband signals are auxiliary control signals transmitted between an electronic device and multiple power-consuming devices via specific pins. Sideband signals include multiple types of sideband signals. In some embodiments, sideband signals include any one or more of interrupt signals, clock signals, data line signals, error reporting signals, reset signals, and power management signals.

[0049] In some embodiments, the first input terminal 110 can be implemented in any suitable manner. In some embodiments, the first input terminal 110 can be implemented as a physical port, that is, the first power input terminal 111 and the first sideband signal terminal 112 are encapsulated in the same physical port. For example, multiple pins can be set in the same physical port, and the first power input terminal 111 and the first sideband signal terminal 112 can be implemented respectively using the multiple pins. In some embodiments, the first input terminal 110 can be implemented as different physical ports, that is, the first power input terminal 111 and the first sideband signal terminal 112 are each implemented as a physical port, so that the connection method of the first power input terminal 111 and the first sideband signal terminal 112 to the electronic device is more flexible. For example, the first power input terminal 111 and the first sideband signal terminal 112 are respectively implemented as multiple pins encapsulated in different physical ports.

[0050] The power output terminal 121 and the second sideband signal terminal 122 in each output terminal 120 are respectively used to provide power and sideband signal transmission lines to the power-consuming device connected to the output terminal. In some embodiments, the power output terminal 121 can be implemented as multiple power pins. In some embodiments, the second sideband signal terminal 122 can be implemented as multiple sideband signal pins.

[0051] In some embodiments, each output port 120 is connected to an expansion card slot on the motherboard of the electronic device via a cable, thereby providing power and a sideband signal transmission path for an expansion card plugged into the expansion card slot. For example, each output port 120 can be connected to a PCIe slot on the motherboard via a cable, thereby providing power and a sideband signal transmission path for the PCIe slot. In this way, only the corresponding signal connections need to be arranged on the motherboard for the expansion card slot, thereby saving motherboard space.

[0052] In the above-mentioned embodiment provided by the present application, the power hub includes a first input terminal and a plurality of output terminals; the first input terminal includes at least a first power input terminal and a first sideband signal terminal arranged in a gold finger structure; each output terminal includes a power output terminal and a second sideband signal terminal; wherein the first power input terminal is electrically connected to a plurality of power output terminals among the plurality of output terminals to provide the power obtained by the first power input terminal from the power supply unit of the electronic device to the plurality of power output terminals; the first signal terminal is communicatively connected to a plurality of second sideband signal terminals among the plurality of output terminals for transmitting sideband signals between the electronic device and a plurality of power-consuming devices connected to the plurality of output terminals; wherein the sideband signals include a plurality of sideband signals. It can be seen that the power hub provided by the present application can expand the first input terminal into a plurality of output terminals, each output terminal can provide power to the power-consuming device (for example, an expansion card), that is, provide a power extension function for the electronic device. In this way, when multiple expansion card slots are provided on the mainboard of the electronic device, the signal connections corresponding to the multiple expansion card slots can be arranged on the mainboard, and the power hub provided by the present application can be used to provide power and corresponding sideband signal transmission ports for the multiple expansion card slots, thereby solving the problem of insufficient wiring space on the mainboard; at the same time, when the power hub provided by the present application is used to provide power and corresponding sideband signal transmission ports for the multiple expansion card slots, the user can purchase the corresponding number of cables according to the number of expansion cards required. Compared with the solution of using PCIe adapter cards to expand PCIe slots in the related art, it can achieve pay-as-you-go and reduce hardware costs.

[0053] In some embodiments, the power hub further includes at least one input-output expander; wherein the first sideband signal terminal 112 is communicatively connected to the plurality of second sideband signal terminals 122 via the at least one input-output expander.

[0054] Here, an input / output expander (I / O expander) refers to a circuit used to expand the number of input and output interfaces of a controller in an electronic device.

[0055] In some embodiments, the type of I / O expander can be determined based on the type of communication interface between the controller of the electronic device and the multiple powered devices connected to the power hub. For example, when the controller communicates with the multiple powered devices via an Inter-Integrated Circuit Bus (I2C) interface, the I / O expander is an I2C expander; when the controller communicates with the multiple powered devices via a Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI), the I / O expander is an SPI expander, etc.

[0056] The first sideband signal terminal 112 is communicatively connected to the plurality of second sideband signal terminals 122 through at least one I / O expander. In some embodiments, the number of I / O expanders can be determined based on the number of controllers in the electronic device that communicate with the electrical devices connected to the power hub. For example, when a system control manager (SCM) in the electronic device is communicatively connected to a plurality of electrical devices connected to the power hub, the pins in the first sideband signal terminal 112 used to transmit the sideband signal corresponding to the SCM can be expanded to a plurality of pins through the I / O expander to correspond to the plurality of second sideband signal terminals 122 respectively. Here, the controller that is communicatively connected to the plurality of electrical devices connected to the power hub can also be a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a south bridge chip, etc. in the electronic device.

[0057] In some embodiments, the I / O expander implements time-division multiplexing (TDM) to transmit sideband signals between the controller and multiple powered devices. For example, if there are eight powered devices connected to a power hub, the sideband signal transmission cycle can be divided into eight fixed-length time slots, each corresponding to an I / O channel. In other words, a communication interface between a powered device and the controller is opened during each time slot, thereby achieving sideband signal multiplexing.

[0058] As can be seen from the above, in the above embodiments provided in the present application, the first sideband signal terminal 112 is communicatively connected to multiple second sideband signal terminals 122 through at least one I / O expander to realize sideband signal multiplexing, that is, to realize sideband signal transmission between the controller and multiple electrical devices connected to the power hub.

[0059] In some embodiments, the power hub 100 further includes a plurality of signal buffers; wherein the first sideband signal terminal 112 is communicatively connected to the plurality of second sideband signal terminals 122 through the plurality of signal buffers, respectively.

[0060] Here, the signal buffer refers to an electronic circuit in the power hub for temporarily storing data. In some embodiments, the number of signal buffers in the power hub corresponds to the type of signals to be buffered.

[0061] The first sideband signal terminal 112 is communicatively connected to the plurality of second sideband signal terminals 122 via a plurality of signal buffers. In this way, the sideband signals sent by the plurality of electrical devices connected to the power hub to the controller of the electronic device can be cached in the corresponding signal buffers, so that the controller can access the electrical devices based on the cached sideband signals. For example, when the first electrical device connected to the first output terminal of the power hub sends an interrupt request to the controller, the interrupt request sent by the first electrical device is cached in the corresponding buffer. The SCM of the electronic device can then detect the presence of the interrupt request through the buffer and determine, through the FPGA of the electronic device, that the electrical device initiating the interrupt request is the first electrical device.

[0062] In some embodiments, the plurality of signal buffers include a reset signal buffer and an interrupt signal buffer.

[0063] Here, the reset signal buffer is used to cache the reset signal sent by the controller of the electronic device to the power-consuming device connected to the power hub; the interrupt signal buffer is used to cache the interrupt request signal sent by the power-consuming device connected to the power hub to the controller of the electronic device.

[0064] Since the reset signal requires a timely response from the electrical device and the interrupt request signal requires an immediate response from the SCM or baseboard management controller (BMC) of the electronic device, corresponding signal buffers are set for the reset signal and interrupt signal respectively, so that the electrical device can obtain the corresponding reset signal in time and the SCM can quickly notice the interrupt signal.

[0065] In some embodiments, the connection between the first power input terminal 111 and the plurality of power output terminals 121 is a straight-through connection.

[0066] Here, the straight-through connection means that the power obtained by the first power input terminal 111 from the power supply unit of the electronic device is directly transmitted to the multiple power output terminals 121 without voltage conversion or power regulation.

[0067] In some embodiments, when a direct-through connection is adopted between the first power input terminal 111 and the multiple power output terminals 121 , an overcurrent protection circuit, a temperature protection circuit, etc. may be provided between the first power input terminal 111 and the multiple power output terminals 121 .

[0068] In some embodiments, the power hub 100 further includes at least one second power input terminal; wherein the at least one second power input terminal obtains power from different power supply units of the electronic device and provides the obtained power to the multiple power output terminals.

[0069] Here, the second power input terminal refers to an input terminal that provides additional power to the multiple power output terminals 121 on the power hub 100 .

[0070] In some embodiments, the at least one second power input terminal can provide multiple input voltages for the multiple power output terminals 121 , for example, 12V, 5.5V, 3.3V, etc.

[0071] In some embodiments, a direct connection is adopted between the at least one second power input terminal and the plurality of power output terminals 121 .

[0072] In some embodiments, a non-through connection is employed between the at least one second power input terminal and the plurality of power output terminals 121. For example, a voltage converter is provided between the at least one second power input terminal and the plurality of power output terminals 121. Thus, if the rated operating voltages required by the plurality of electrical devices connected to the plurality of power output terminals 121 differ, the voltage converter can be used to convert the voltage obtained from the power supply unit at the at least one second power input terminal to the rated voltage required by the corresponding electrical device.

[0073] In some embodiments, when the electronic device includes multiple power supply units, the multiple second power input terminals can be connected to different power supply units using cables.

[0074] In the above-mentioned embodiment provided by the present application, in addition to the first power input terminal 111, the power hub 100 also includes at least one second power input terminal, so that when the power provided by the first power input terminal 111 cannot meet the power requirements of the multiple power output terminals 121, at least one second power input terminal can be used to provide power to the multiple power output terminals 121; in addition, when multiple power supply units are provided in the electronic device, the user can use cables to connect the multiple second power input terminals to different power supply units respectively. In this way, the power supply status of different power supply units can be balanced, avoiding current imbalance in different power supply units.

[0075] In some embodiments, the first input terminal 110 is connected to the electronic device via a high-speed serial computer expansion bus slot on a motherboard of the electronic device.

[0076] Here, a high-speed serial computer expansion bus slot (PCIe slot) on the motherboard of the electronic device is used as the hub slot of the power hub 100. In this way, at least one first power input terminal 111 and a first sideband signal terminal 112 of the first input terminal 110 can be implemented as gold finger structures corresponding to multiple power pins and sideband signal pins in the PCIe slot.

[0077] In the case that the first input terminal 110 is connected to the electronic device through a PCIe slot, the power hub 100 is implemented as a PCIe adapter.

[0078] Thus, in some embodiments, the power hub is one of the following: a full-height, half-length power hub, or a half-height, half-length power hub.

[0079] Here, the power hub is implemented as a card-type PCIe adapter; among them, the full-height, half-length (FHHL) power hub means that the height of the power hub is the standard height and the length is half of the standard length; the half-height, half-length (HHHL) power hub means that the height of the power hub is half of the standard height and the length is half of the standard length.

[0080] The standard height and standard length are pre-specified heights and lengths. In some embodiments, the standard height and standard length correspond to the standard height and standard length of a PCIe expansion card. Thus, if the power hub is a full-height, half-length power hub, the size and shape of the power hub correspond to the size and shape of a full-height, half-length PCIe expansion card; if the power hub is a half-height, half-length power hub, the size and shape of the power hub correspond to the size and shape of a half-height, half-length PCIe expansion card.

[0081] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a full-height, half-length power hub provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 2As shown, the power hub 200 includes a first input terminal 210, two second power input terminals 220, and multiple output terminals 230. The first input terminal 210 is implemented as a gold finger structure, in which some contacts are used to perform conductive functions and some contacts are used to transmit sideband signals. The two second power input terminals 220 can be connected to two power supply units of an electronic device via cables to obtain power from the two power supply units. The multiple output terminals 220 are arranged on the same side of the power hub 200 and are respectively connected to the first input terminal 210 and each second power input terminal 220.

[0082] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a half-height, half-length power hub provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 3 As shown, the power hub 300 includes a first input terminal 310, two second power input terminals 320, and a plurality of output terminals 330. Figure 2 The structure of the full-height half-length power hub 200 shown in the figure is similar, the difference between the two is that the height of the power hub 300 is half the height of the power hub 200, and in order to adapt to the height change, the arrangement of the two second power input terminals 320 in the power hub 300 is different from the arrangement of the two second power input terminals 220 in the power hub 200.

[0083] In addition to the above-mentioned card-type implementation, in some embodiments, the power hub provided in the present application can also be implemented as any other suitable structure. In some embodiments, the power hub can be implemented as a cable connection structure. For example, when the first power input terminal and the first sideband signal terminal and the at least one second power input terminal in the first input terminal are implemented as one physical port, the multiple output terminals can be respectively implemented as multiple physical ports, and the first input terminal and the multiple output terminals can be respectively connected using multiple cables; here, the first power input terminal, the first sideband signal terminal and the at least one second power input terminal can also be implemented as different physical ports.

[0084] Figure 4 This is a circuit diagram of a power hub provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 4 As shown, the power hub includes:

[0085] The third power input terminal 41 is configured to obtain a 12V voltage from a power supply unit of the electronic device and provide the voltage to the third power output terminal 42 via a power line. The third power output terminal 42 includes N power output terminals, i.e., the third power output terminal 42 outputs the 12V power provided by the third power input terminal 41 to N power output ports, each of which corresponds to the N output ports of the power hub. Where N is an integer greater than or equal to 2.

[0086] The fourth power input terminal 43 is used to obtain a 3.3V voltage from a power supply unit of the electronic device and provide it to the fourth power output terminal 44 through a power line. Here, the fourth power output terminal 44 includes N power output terminals, that is, the 3.3V power provided by the fourth power input terminal 43 is output to N power output ports, and the N power output ports respectively correspond to the N output ports of the power hub.

[0087] SCM_I2C_RST# port 45 is used to receive a reset signal from the SCM and send it to the corresponding SCM_I2C_RST# port 46 via a first buffer 46. Here, SCM_I2C_RST# port 46 includes N SCM_I2C_RST# ports, each corresponding to the N output ports of the power hub. Thus, after the output port corresponding to the reset signal is enabled, the reset signal in the first buffer 46 is sent to the power device corresponding to the output port, thereby resetting the power device.

[0088] SCM_I2C_INT# port 48 is used to read an interrupt request signal from the second buffer 49; wherein the interrupt request signal is sent by a powered device connected to SCM_I2C_INT# port 410; SCM_I2C_INT# port 410 includes N SCM_I2C_INT# ports, and the N SCM_I2C_INT# ports correspond to the N output ports of the power hub respectively;

[0089] Here, after the SCM reads the interrupt request signal from the second buffer 49, the SCM can obtain the interrupt source through the FPGA, that is, obtain the power-consuming device connected to which output terminal initiated the interrupt request. In this way, the FPAG accesses the SCM_I2C_INT# port 410 through the FPGA_I2C port 416 and the first I / O expander 411 to obtain the interrupt source information;

[0090] FPGA_I2C port 416 is connected to CABLE_PST# port 413 via second I / O expander 412. CABLE_PST# port 413 includes N CABLE_PST# ports, each corresponding to the N output ports of the power hub. In this way, the FPGA can determine whether a PCIe cable expansion card is connected to the multiple output ports based on the CABLE_PST# signals sent by the multiple output ports.

[0091] FPGA_I2C port 416 is connected to CARD_PST# port 415 via third I / O expander 414. CARD_PST# port 415 includes N CARD_PST# ports, each corresponding to the N output ports of the power hub. This allows the FPGA to determine whether a PCIe expansion card is connected to the multiple output ports based on the CARD_PST# signals sent by the multiple output ports.

[0092] FPGA_I2C port 416 is connected to FPGA_I2C slot 0 418 to FPGA_I2C slot N 419 through a fourth I / O expander 417 to transmit I2C clock signals and I2C data signals between the FPGA and the power-consuming devices corresponding to each slot;

[0093] The SCM_I2C port 420 is connected to SCM_I2C slot 0 422 to SCM_I2C slot N 423 through a fifth I / O expander 421 to transmit I2C clock signals and I2C data signals between the SCM and the powered device corresponding to each slot.

[0094] At the same time, in the power hub provided in the present application, if the definition of the sideband signal follows the definition of the sideband signal in the PCIe expansion card or PCIe adapter card, the PCIe adapter card or PCIe expansion card power normal signal (RISER_PWR_GD), PCIe adapter card or PCIe expansion card power status stable signal (RISER_PWR_STABLE), cable connection normal signal (CABLE_PST#) and PCIe adapter card or PCIe expansion card connection normal signal (CARD_PST#) defined in the PCIe expansion card, PCIe adapter card or PCIe cable adapter card are all set to invalid.

[0095] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of installing the power hub provided by the present application in an electronic device.

[0096] like Figure 5 As shown, electronic device 500 can be any type of electronic device with a motherboard structure, such as a desktop computer chassis or a server. The motherboard of electronic device 500 is provided with multiple PCIe slots 510 and a power supply unit 520. A power hub 540 is implemented as a PCIe adapter and is connected to electronic device 500 via the PCIe slots provided on the motherboard of electronic device 500. Simultaneously, a second power input terminal of power hub 540 is connected to power supply unit 520 via cable 550.

[0097] In this way, if a user needs to install a PCIe expansion card in the electronic device 500, for example, if there are two PCIe expansion cards, the two PCIe expansion cards can be inserted into two PCIe slots, and two cables can be used to connect the two PCIe slots to the two output terminals of the power hub 540, respectively. Thus, the two output terminals of the power hub 500 provide power and sideband signal transmission lines for the two PCIe slots. In this way, only the data signal lines corresponding to the PCIe slots need to be arranged on the motherboard of the electronic device 500, and the power lines and sideband signal lines corresponding to the PCIe slots do not need to be arranged on the motherboard, thereby saving motherboard space. At the same time, compared to the PCIe adapter card solution, the solution provided by this application allows users to pay on demand, that is, users can purchase cables according to actual needs to use the cables to connect the output terminals of the power hub to the PCIe slots, thereby helping users reduce hardware costs.

[0098] In some embodiments, when the power-consuming device connected to the power hub is a PCIe expansion card or a PCIe cable expansion card, the expansion card's identification (ID) design is based on the design specifications of the Intel BHS (Birch Stream) two-socket universal server platform. This eliminates the need to set a corresponding ID for the expansion card at the factory.

[0099] On the other hand, the present application also provides an electronic device. Figure 6 As shown, the electronic device 600 includes a mainboard 610, a power supply unit 620 and a power hub 630; a hub slot 640 is arranged on the mainboard 610; wherein,

[0100] The power hub 630 is connected to the motherboard 610 through the hub slot 640, and the power hub 630 includes a first input terminal and multiple output terminals; the first input terminal includes a first power input terminal and a first signal terminal; each of the output terminals includes a power output terminal and a second sideband signal terminal; wherein,

[0101] The first power input terminal is electrically connected to a plurality of power output terminals among the plurality of output terminals, so as to provide the power obtained by the first power input terminal from the power supply unit to the plurality of power output terminals;

[0102] The first signal end is communicatively connected to multiple second sideband signal ends among the multiple output ends, and is used to transmit sideband signals between the electronic device and multiple electrical devices connected to the multiple output ends; wherein the sideband signal includes multiple sideband signals.

[0103] In some embodiments, the first power input terminal in the power hub 630 obtains power from the power supply unit 620, indicating that the first power input terminal obtains power from the power supply unit 620 through the hub slot 640; wherein the hub slot 640 is electrically connected to the power supply unit 620 to obtain power from the power supply unit 620.

[0104] In some embodiments, the power hub 630 obtains power from the power supply unit 620 and the hub socket 640 , respectively; wherein the hub socket 640 is electrically connected to the power supply unit 620 to obtain power from the power supply unit 620 .

[0105] In some embodiments, the mainboard 610 includes a plurality of expansion card slots; the plurality of expansion card slots are respectively connected to a plurality of output terminals of the power hub 630 via cables.

[0106] It should be noted that the description of the above electronic device embodiment is similar to the description of the above power hub embodiment, and has similar beneficial effects as the above power hub embodiment. In some embodiments, for technical details not disclosed in the electronic device embodiment of this application, please refer to the description of the above power hub embodiment of this application for understanding.

[0107] It should be understood that "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" mentioned throughout the specification means that the specific features, structures or characteristics related to the embodiment are included in at least one embodiment of the present application. Therefore, "in one embodiment" or "in an embodiment" appearing throughout the specification does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. In addition, these specific features, structures or characteristics can be combined in one or more embodiments in any suitable manner. It should be understood that in the various embodiments of the present application, the size of the serial numbers of the above-mentioned steps / processes does not mean the order of execution, and the execution order of each step / process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application. The above-mentioned serial numbers of the embodiments of the present application are for description only and do not represent the advantages and disadvantages of the embodiments.

[0108] It should be noted that, in this document, the terms "comprises," "includes," or any other variations thereof are intended to encompass non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus comprising a series of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not explicitly listed, or elements inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. In the absence of further limitations, an element defined by the phrase "comprising a ..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus comprising the element.

[0109] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. The device embodiments described above are merely schematic. For example, the division of the units is merely a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods, such as: multiple units or components can be combined, or can be integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. In addition, the coupling, direct coupling, or communication connection between the components shown or discussed can be through some interfaces, and the indirect coupling or communication connection of the devices or units can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0110] The units described above as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components displayed as units may or may not be physical units; they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units; some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the scheme of this embodiment.

[0111] In addition, all functional units in the embodiments of the present application can be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit can be a separate unit, or two or more units can be integrated into one unit; the above-mentioned integrated units can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of hardware plus software functional units.

[0112] The above is only an implementation method of the present application, but the scope of protection of the present application is not limited thereto. Any technician familiar with this technical field can easily think of changes or replacements within the technical scope disclosed in this application, which should be covered by the scope of protection of the present application.

Claims

1. A power hub, comprising: A first input terminal and a plurality of output terminals; the first input terminal includes at least a first power input terminal and a first sideband signal terminal arranged in a gold finger structure; Each of the output terminals includes an electric energy output terminal and a second sideband signal terminal; wherein, The first power input terminal is electrically connected to a plurality of power output terminals among the plurality of output terminals, so as to provide power obtained by the first power input terminal from a power supply unit of the electronic device to the plurality of power output terminals; The first sideband signal terminal is communicatively connected to multiple second sideband signal terminals among the multiple output terminals, and is used to transmit sideband signals between the electronic device and multiple electrical devices connected to the multiple output terminals; wherein the sideband signal includes multiple sideband signals.

2. The power hub according to claim 1, further comprising: At least one input-output expander; wherein, The first sideband signal terminal is communicatively connected to the plurality of second sideband signal terminals through the at least one input-output expander.

3. The power hub according to claim 2, further comprising: A plurality of signal buffers; wherein, The first sideband signal end is communicatively connected to the plurality of second sideband signal ends through the plurality of signal buffers respectively. 4 . The power hub of claim 3 , wherein the plurality of signal buffers include a reset signal buffer and an interrupt signal buffer. 5 . The power hub according to claim 1 , wherein the first power input terminal and the plurality of power output terminals are connected in a straight-through manner.

6. The power hub according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising at least one second power input terminal; wherein The at least one second power input terminal obtains power from different power supply units of the electronic device and provides the obtained power to the multiple power output terminals. 7 . The power hub according to claim 1 , wherein the first input terminal is connected to the electronic device via a high-speed serial computer expansion bus slot on a motherboard of the electronic device. 8 . The power hub according to claim 7 , wherein the power hub is one of the following: a full-height half-length power hub or a half-height half-length power hub.

9. An electronic device comprising: Motherboard, power supply unit and power hub; The mainboard is provided with a hub slot; wherein, The power hub is connected to the mainboard via the hub slot, and the power hub includes a first input terminal and a plurality of output terminals; the first input terminal includes a first power input terminal and a first signal terminal; each of the output terminals includes a power output terminal and a second sideband signal terminal; wherein, The first power input terminal is electrically connected to a plurality of power output terminals among the plurality of output terminals, so as to provide the power obtained by the first power input terminal from the power supply unit to the plurality of power output terminals; The first signal end is communicatively connected to multiple second sideband signal ends among the multiple output ends, and is used to transmit sideband signals between the electronic device and multiple electrical devices connected to the multiple output ends; wherein the sideband signal includes multiple sideband signals.

10. The device according to claim 9, wherein the mainboard comprises a plurality of expansion card slots; the plurality of expansion card slots are connected to a plurality of output terminals of the power hub via cables.

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