Control service expansion board card structure based on ATCA architecture RTM board card

Abstract

The invention discloses a control service expansion board card structure of an RTM board card based on an ATCA architecture, and the structure comprises a main control MCU which is used for being connected to a pin header through a GPIO pin, and then being connected with a signal on the RTM board card, so as to achieve the control and query functions specified by a PIGMG; the 2.5 V low-voltage precision power supply is used as a benchmark reference power supply for the main control MCU to monitor the power supply voltage of the front plate; the variable board card type identification circuit is used for identifying the type of the RTM board card; and the two rows of plugs consisting of pin header male heads are used for being inserted into two rows of female seat joints reserved on the RTM board card. A simple jack is reserved on the RTM board card, so that the control service expansion board card can be installed, and the layout and wiring area is greatly reduced; in addition, the control service expansion board card can be installed on the RTM board card only when needed, and a user can select and match the control service expansion board card according to own requirements, so that the problem that the cost of the RTM board card is increased is avoided.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of RTM boards, in particular to a control service expansion board structure based on an ATCA architecture RTM board. Background Art

[0002] The PIGMG-defined specifications have the following control requirements for RTM boards:

[0003] (1) The RTM board is a field-replaceable unit. The RTM board uses the I2C bus to communicate with the front board (designed according to the ATCA standard, called a universal processing carrier board, here referred to as the front board) and accepts control and status inquiries from the front board and the business main system (a complete set of chassis and supporting boards that comply with the ATCA standard).

[0004] (2) The front panel needs to provide a hot-swap sensor for the RTM board.

[0005] (3) The RTM board can activate or stop its own status, and can also be used independently by hot plugging.

[0006] (4) If the RTM board stops working, the corresponding front board will stop working.

[0007] (5) Both RTM boards that support hot-swap and those that do not support hot-swap need to be equipped with a blue LED light and a handle switch.

[0008] (6) The power supply for the blue LED light should be obtained from the management circuit power supply and is not managed by the business power supply.

[0009] (7) The front panel control of the blue LED light and handle switch should be designed according to the specifications defined by PIGMG.

[0010] (8) The front panel should save the sensor data according to the specifications defined by PIGMG.

[0011] (9) The front panel should provide version information for field replacement units according to the specifications defined by PIGMG.

[0012] With the growth of communications services, RTM boards are required to handle a large amount of data access, data exchange, and data processing, making it difficult to provide layout space for board control circuits. In certain situations, the service processing chip is fully utilized, leaving the RTM board's MCU with little computing power left, making it impossible to use the board management functions. However, RTM boards only experience full service in rare cases, and adding independent board control circuits for each RTM board would be costly. Summary of the Invention

[0013] To meet the aforementioned control requirements and solve the aforementioned problems, the present invention provides a control service expansion board structure based on an ATCA architecture RTM board. In addition to a main control MCU, this control service expansion board also incorporates a variable board type identification circuit, a 2.5V low-voltage precision power supply, and a USB interface provided by the main control MCU, providing a channel for online MCU program upgrades. This control service expansion board is pluggable and can be installed by simply reserving a simple connector on the RTM board, significantly reducing layout and wiring area. Furthermore, this control service expansion board is only installed on the RTM board when needed, allowing users to select the control service expansion board according to their needs, thus avoiding the problem of increased RTM board costs.

[0014] To achieve the above object, the present invention adopts the following technical solutions:

[0015] In one embodiment of the present invention, a control service expansion board structure based on an ATCA architecture RTM board is proposed, which includes:

[0016] The main control MCU is used to connect to the pin header through the GPIO pins, and then connect to the signals on the RTM board to realize the control and query functions specified by PIGMG;

[0017] 2.5V low-voltage precision power supply, used as a reference power supply for the main control MCU to monitor the front panel power supply voltage;

[0018] A variable board type identification circuit for identifying the type of the RTM board;

[0019] The two rows of male pin headers are used to plug into the two rows of female connectors reserved on the RTM board.

[0020] Furthermore, the USB interface of the main control MCU is provided to the front panel, providing a channel for online program upgrade of the main control MCU.

[0021] Furthermore, the GPIO pin of the main control MCU is connected to the power switch circuit of the RTM board to control the power on and off of the RTM board.

[0022] Furthermore, the main control MCU is connected to the 3.3V power supply provided by the front board through a pin header.

[0023] Furthermore, the 2.5V low-voltage precision power supply serves as the reference power supply for the main control MCU, and performs high-precision detection of various voltages on the RTM board.

[0024] Furthermore, three board type indicator lines of the variable board type identification circuit are provided to the front board through the front board and the RTM board connection port to identify the type of the inserted RTM board.

[0025] Furthermore, a 3.3V power interface, an I2C interface, a USB interface, a variable board type identification interface and a hot-swap interface are reserved between the two rows of female connectors of the RTM board and the front panel and RTM board connection ports.

[0026] Beneficial effects:

[0027] 1. The present invention can independently transfer the management function of the RTM board to the control service expansion board.

[0028] 2. The control service expansion board designed in the present invention obtains 3.3V power from the front board, so it starts up before the RTM board, and controls the power on and off of the RTM board through the GPIO pins of the main control MCU.

[0029] 3. A variable board type identification circuit is added to the control service expansion board designed by the present invention, which can be used to identify the model of the RTM board inserted into the front panel to prevent incorrect insertion.

[0030] 4. A 2.5V low-voltage precision power supply is added to the control service expansion board designed by the present invention as one of the reference power supplies for the main control MCU on the control service expansion board; this control service expansion board can monitor the power supply voltage of the front panel between 2.5V-37V and can be used as a front panel power supply alarm; in addition, since the 2.5V low-voltage precision power supply does not change with the input voltage, it provides a more accurate reference benchmark for the control service expansion board.

[0031] 5. The control service expansion board designed by the present invention provides a USB interface of the main control MCU to the front board, thus providing a channel for online upgrade of the MCU program.

[0032] 6. The control service expansion board designed in the present invention is a pluggable circuit board, which is a daughter card that provides management functions for the RTM board. Its pluggable design can save a lot of PCB area for the RTM board and provide more layout and wiring space for the service processing circuit. At the same time, the control service expansion board can be assembled according to demand, which can effectively save costs. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0033] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the control service expansion board based on the ATCA architecture RTM board of the present invention;

[0034] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the main control MCU chip circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0035] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of a 2.5V low-voltage precision power supply circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0036] Figure 4 1 is a schematic diagram of a variable board type identification circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0037] The principles and spirit of the present invention will be described below with reference to several exemplary embodiments. It should be understood that these embodiments are provided solely to enable those skilled in the art to better understand and implement the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention in any way. Rather, these embodiments are provided to make this disclosure more thorough and complete, and to fully convey the scope of the present disclosure to those skilled in the art.

[0038] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the embodiments of the present invention may be implemented as a system, apparatus, device, method, or computer program product. Therefore, the present disclosure may be implemented in the following forms: entirely in hardware, entirely in software (including firmware, resident software, microcode, etc.), or in a combination of hardware and software.

[0039] According to an embodiment of the present invention, a control service expansion board structure based on an ATCA architecture RTM board is proposed. Its main components include a main control MCU, a 2.5V low-voltage precision power supply, a variable board type identification circuit, and a plug consisting of two rows of 2.54mm male pin headers. The main control MCU requires only a 3.3V power supply for stable operation. Therefore, the main control MCU can operate simply by introducing the 3.3V power supply provided by the front panel through the pin headers. The main control MCU connects to the pin headers via GPIO pins, which in turn connect to the signals on the RTM board. This allows the main control MCU to perform the control and query functions specified by the PIGMG standard. Furthermore, by combining other components on the control service expansion board, new functions not required by the PIGMG standard can be implemented. For example: 1. A 2.5V low-voltage precision power supply is used to monitor the front panel supply voltage, thereby improving the accuracy and stability of the voltage detected by the control service expansion board on the RTM board; 2. A variable board type identification circuit is used to identify the type of RTM board. Before the RTM board's business circuit starts working, the type of the RTM board can be detected in advance. In this way, if the RTM board type is inserted incorrectly, an early alarm can be issued, effectively avoiding circuit damage caused by incorrect insertion; 3. The USB interface provided by the main control MCU can be used to upgrade the main control MCU's program online; 4. Since the main control MCU's power comes from the front panel, the main control MCU can control the power supply on the RTM board through a GPIO pin; the front panel is able to control the start and stop of the RTM board's business circuit.

[0040] The principles and spirit of the present invention are explained in detail below with reference to several representative embodiments of the present invention.

[0041] Figure 1This is a schematic diagram of the control service expansion board structure based on the ATCA architecture RTM board of the present invention. Figure 1 As shown, two 1x10 2.54mm female connectors are reserved on the RTM board as slots for control service expansion boards. These slots, along with the front panel connector in Area 3, connect to the RTM board. These connectors include a 3.3V power connector, an I2C port, a USB port, a port for identifying the board type, and a hot-swap port. These ports are reserved for the expanded functionality of the control service expansion board.

[0042] The Control Service Expansion Board is equipped with two 1x10 male 2.54mm pin headers, which securely mount the board to the RTM board. The entire board receives 3.3V power from the front panel. The board provides the nine functions specified by the PIGMG specification and innovatively adds four additional features:

[0043] 1. Monitor the 3.3V power supply voltage of the front panel to improve the detection accuracy of the voltage on the RTM board by the control business expansion board. Figure 2 As shown in the figure, the voltage measurement of the existing chip is based on its own 3.3V power supply voltage. Therefore, when the 3.3V power supply voltage changes, the main control MCU cannot detect the change. A 2.5V low-voltage precision power supply (such as Figure 3 As shown in the figure, this 2.5V low-voltage precision power supply can stably output 2.5V within a supply voltage range of 2.5V to 37V, with an accuracy of 0.5%. The main control MCU uses this 2.5V low-voltage precision power supply as a reference power supply, accurately detecting voltage fluctuations between 2.5V and 37V when the front panel's supply voltage fluctuates, enabling the monitoring of the front panel's 3.3V supply voltage. Furthermore, due to the high accuracy of the 2.5V low-voltage precision power supply, using it as the main control MCU's reference power supply for testing various voltages on the RTM board significantly improves detection accuracy.

[0044] 2. Provide variable board type identification circuit, such as Figure 4 As shown, TYPE1_3 can freely define high and low voltage levels as needed to distinguish eight RTM board types. These three lines (TYPE1_1, TYPE1_2, and TYPE1_3) are directly provided to the front panel through the area 3 front panel and RTM board connector to identify the RTM board type. Because the control service expansion board can control the power supply of the RTM service circuit, if the front panel detects that the incorrect RTM board type is installed, it can issue an alarm and shut down the power supply to the RTM board service circuit. This effectively prevents circuit damage caused by incorrect insertion.

[0045] 3. A USB port is reserved between the control service expansion board and the front panel. This USB port provides a channel for MCU online upgrade programs. Therefore, the control service expansion board supports online upgrade function.

[0046] 4. The control service expansion board and the RTM board are powered by different power supplies. The control service expansion board is powered by the front panel, and the main control MCU is the main chip on the control service expansion board. The RTM board is powered by the chassis's 12V power supply. The RTM board can be configured to not be powered after being inserted into the control service expansion board. The power control switch on the RTM board is activated only after a GPIO pin on the main control MCU provides a power-on control signal. This function is achieved by connecting a GPIO pin on the main control MCU on the control service expansion board to the power switch circuit of the RTM board. This function, used together with the variable board type identification circuit, can effectively reduce circuit damage caused by incorrect insertion of the RTM board type.

[0047] It should be noted that while the detailed description above mentions several modules within the control service expansion board architecture based on the ATCA architecture RTM board, this division is merely exemplary and not mandatory. In practice, according to embodiments of the present invention, the features and functions of two or more modules described above can be embodied within a single module. Conversely, the features and functions of a single module described above can be further divided and embodied by multiple modules.

[0048] The management requirements for the RTM board in the specifications defined by PIGMG are: the RTM board communicates directly with the front panel through the I2C integrated circuit bus. The specifications defined by PIGMG carefully define the size and dimensions of the RTM board, and there is no definition information about the control service expansion board. The purpose of designing the control service expansion board of the present invention is to make the management function of the RTM board independent of the control service expansion board. At the same time, new functions are given: 1. The control service expansion board designed by the present invention obtains 3.3V power from the front panel, so it starts ahead of the RTM board and controls the power on and off of the RTM board through the GPIO pin of the main control MCU; 2. A variable board type identification circuit is added to the control service expansion board designed by the present invention, which can be used to identify the model of the RTM board inserted into the front panel to prevent mis-insertion operations; 3. A 2.5V low-voltage precision power supply is added to the control service expansion board designed by the present invention as one of the reference power supplies for the main control MCU on the control service expansion board; this control service expansion board can monitor the power supply voltage of the front panel between 2.5V-37V. voltage, which can be used as a front panel power supply alarm; in addition, due to the characteristic that the 2.5V low-voltage precision power supply does not change with the input voltage, it provides a more accurate reference benchmark for the control business expansion board; 4. The control business expansion board designed by the present invention provides a USB interface of the main control MCU to the front panel, which provides a channel for online upgrade of the MCU program; 5. The control business expansion board designed by the present invention is a pluggable circuit board, which provides a daughter card with management functions for the RTM board; its pluggable design can save a lot of PCB area for the RTM board and provide more layout and wiring space for the business processing circuit; at the same time, the control business expansion board is assembled according to demand, which can effectively save costs.

[0049] The English names and abbreviations involved in the present invention are explained in Table 1 below:

[0050] Table 1

[0051]

[0052] Although the spirit and principles of the present invention have been described with reference to several specific embodiments, it should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed, and the division into various aspects does not mean that the features of these aspects cannot be combined to benefit. Such division is only for the convenience of expression. The present invention is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

[0053] Regarding the limitation of the protection scope of the present invention, those skilled in the art should understand that, based on the technical solution of the present invention, various modifications or variations that can be made by those skilled in the art without creative work are still within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A control service expansion board structure based on an ATCA architecture RTM board, characterized in that: The structure includes: The main control MCU is used to connect to the pin header through the GPIO pins, and then connect to the signals on the RTM board to realize the control and query functions specified by PIGMG; 2.5V low-voltage precision power supply, used as a reference power supply for the main control MCU to monitor the front panel power supply voltage; A variable board type identification circuit for identifying the type of the RTM board; The two rows of male pin headers are used to plug into the two rows of female connectors reserved on the RTM board.

2. The control service expansion board structure based on the ATCA architecture RTM board according to claim 1, characterized in that: The USB interface of the main control MCU is provided to the front panel, providing a channel for online program upgrade of the main control MCU.

3. The control service expansion board structure based on the ATCA architecture RTM board according to claim 1, characterized in that: The GPIO pins of the main control MCU are connected to the power switch circuit of the RTM board to control the power on and off of the RTM board.

4. The control service expansion board structure based on the ATCA architecture RTM board according to claim 1, characterized in that: The main control MCU is connected to the 3.3V power supply provided by the front panel through a pin header.

5. The control service expansion board structure based on the ATCA architecture RTM board according to claim 1, characterized in that: The 2.5V low-voltage precision power supply serves as the reference power supply for the main control MCU and performs high-precision detection on various voltages on the RTM board.

6. The control service expansion board structure based on the ATCA architecture RTM board according to claim 1, characterized in that: The three board type indicator lines of the variable board type identification circuit are provided to the front board through the front board and the RTM board connection port to identify the type of the inserted RTM board.

7. The control service expansion board structure based on the ATCA architecture RTM board according to claim 1, characterized in that: A 3.3V power supply interface, an I2C interface, a USB interface, a variable board type identification interface and a hot-swap interface are reserved between the two rows of female connectors of the RTM board and the front panel and RTM board connection ports.

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