Expansion card slot, motherboard and electronic device

Abstract

The present application provides an expansion card slot, a mainboard and an electronic device. The expansion card slot is adapted to be disposed on a mainboard. A specification of an expansion bus supported by the expansion card slot defines a plurality of adjacent power output contacts. The expansion card slot further includes a power pin corresponding to the plurality of power output contacts. The present application also provides a mainboard and an electronic device having the expansion card slot.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the technical field of motherboards, and more particularly to an expansion card slot, a motherboard having the expansion card slot, and an electronic device having the motherboard. Background Technology

[0002] Due to the pin size limitations of expansion card slots, the power that expansion card slots can transmit is restricted. For example, for the PCI-E high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard, the connector can only transmit 75W of power. This power transmission capacity is insufficient for the current needs of PCI-E graphics cards.

[0003] Therefore, how to increase the power wattage that the slot can transmit under the existing expansion card slot architecture is an urgent problem to be solved in this field. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The purpose of this invention is to provide an expansion card slot, a motherboard, and an electronic device to solve at least one of the aforementioned problems.

[0005] The present invention provides an expansion card slot suitable for installation on a motherboard. The expansion bus specification supported by the expansion card slot defines multiple adjacent power output contacts. The expansion card slot also includes a power pin, which corresponds to the aforementioned multiple power output contacts.

[0006] This invention also provides a motherboard. The motherboard includes a board body and an expansion card slot. The expansion card slot is disposed on the board body and is suitable for installing an expansion card. The expansion bus specification supported by the expansion card slot defines a plurality of adjacent power output contacts, and the expansion card slot also includes a power pin, which corresponds simultaneously to the aforementioned plurality of power output contacts.

[0007] The present invention also provides an electronic device comprising an expansion card and a motherboard. The motherboard includes a board body and an expansion card slot. The expansion card slot is disposed on the board body and is adapted to install an expansion card. The expansion bus specification supported by the expansion card slot defines a plurality of adjacent power output contacts, and the expansion card slot further includes a power pin, which simultaneously corresponds to the aforementioned plurality of power output contacts.

[0008] The expansion card slot provided by this invention has power pins whose width can simultaneously correspond to multiple power output contacts, which helps to increase the power wattage that the expansion card slot can transmit to meet the power requirements of current expansion cards (especially graphics cards). Attached Figure Description

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

[0010] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of an expansion card slot provided according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0011] Figure 3 Displays pin definitions for high-speed peripheral component interconnect devices;

[0012] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of a power supply pin according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0013] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of a power supply pin according to another embodiment of the present invention;

[0014] Figure 6 This is a partial schematic diagram of an expansion card suitable for installation in the expansion card slot of the present invention, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0015] Figure 7 This is a block diagram of an electronic device provided according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0016] Figure 8 This is a block diagram of an electronic device provided according to another embodiment of the present invention; and

[0017] Figure 9 This is a block diagram of an electronic device provided according to another embodiment of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0018] The specific embodiments of the present invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The advantages and features of the present invention will become clearer from the following description and claims. It should be noted that the drawings are all in a very simplified form and use non-precise proportions, and are only used to facilitate and clarify the illustration of the embodiments of the present invention.

[0019] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of a motherboard 100 provided according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of an expansion card slot 200 provided according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0020] As shown in the figure, the motherboard 100 includes a board body 120 and an expansion card slot 200. The expansion card slot 200 is located on the board body 120 and is suitable for installing an expansion card (not shown).

[0021] Expansion card slot 200 supports an expansion bus specification. This expansion bus specification defines a plurality of adjacent power output contacts P1, P2, P3, which are equipotential contacts. In one embodiment, expansion card slot 200 supports the High-Speed ​​Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI-E) specification. In another embodiment, this expansion card slot 200 is adapted to install a graphics card that supports the High-Speed ​​Peripheral Component Interconnect specification.

[0022] Please refer to the above as well. Figure 3 , Figure 3 The pin definitions of the high-speed peripheral component interconnect device are displayed. As shown in the figure, for example, regarding the specifications of the high-speed peripheral component interconnect device, contacts numbered 2 and 3 on side A, and contacts numbered 1, 2, and 3 on side B are all +12V contacts, which can be understood as adjacent power output contacts P1, P2, and P3 as described in this invention; in addition, for example, contacts numbered 9 and 10 on side A are both 3.3V contacts, which can also be understood as adjacent power output contacts P1, P2, and P3 as described in this invention.

[0023] Please return to Figure 2 The expansion card slot 200 of the present invention includes a power pin 220 and a plurality of signal transmission pins 240. The width of the power pin 220 is greater than that of the signal transmission pins 240, and is suitable for simultaneously corresponding to a plurality of adjacent power output contacts P1, P2, P3.

[0024] In another embodiment, the thickness of the power supply pin 220 of the present invention may be greater than the thickness of the signal transmission pin 240, thereby further increasing the cross-sectional size of the power supply pin 440.

[0025] In another embodiment, the power supply pin 220 and other signal transmission pins 240 may be made of different materials. For example, the power supply pin 220 may be made of a metal material with high conductivity to reduce the impedance of the power supply pin 220 and increase the current that the expansion card slot 200 can transmit (or the power wattage it can support).

[0026] For details regarding the specific structure of the power supply pin 220 of this invention, please refer to the following paragraphs.

[0027] Please refer to the above as well. Figure 4 , Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of a power pin 440 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The left half of the figure shows the power pin 12 of a conventional expansion card slot, and the right half shows the power pin 440 of this embodiment. This power pin 12 can be directly used as the signal transmission pin 240 of the present invention.

[0028] As shown in the figure, this power pin 440 includes multiple pin portions 442 and a connecting portion 444. The multiple pin portions 442 correspond to multiple power output contacts P1, P2, and P3 respectively, and the connecting portion 444 connects to the multiple pin portions 442 simultaneously. This power pin 440 is designed to be compatible with existing motherboards 100 without changing the electrical contact positions on the motherboard 100 used to install expansion card slots 200.

[0029] As shown in the figure, the size and position of each pin portion 442 of the power pin 440 in this embodiment correspond to the power pin 12 of a conventional expansion card slot. The width of the connecting portion 444 is significantly greater than the sum of the widths of the multiple pin portions 442. That is, the projected area of ​​the connecting portion 444 on the motherboard 100 is greater than the sum of the projected areas of the multiple power pins 12 on the motherboard 100. Thus, the overall impedance of the power pin 440 of this invention is lower than the impedance of the corresponding multiple conventional power pins 12 connected in parallel, which is beneficial to improving the current transmission capacity (or the power wattage supported) of the expansion card slot 200.

[0030] In addition, the size and position of each pin 442 correspond to the power pin 12 of the conventional expansion card slot. The design of this power pin 440 can be used with the existing motherboard 100 and expansion card 300 without changing the position of the electrical contacts on the motherboard 100 for installing the expansion card slot 200, and without changing the gold finger design on the expansion card 300.

[0031] In addition, to ensure the structural stability of the power pin 440 within the expansion card slot, a fixing structure 447 is provided on each opposite side of the power pin 440 to facilitate the engagement and fixation of the power pin 440 within the expansion card slot. For example, this fixing structure 447 can be a protrusion or a hook.

[0032] Please refer to the above as well. Figure 5 , Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of a power pin 540 according to another embodiment of the present invention. The diagram shows the power pin 12 of a conventional expansion card slot, and the right half shows the power pin 540 of this embodiment.

[0033] As shown in the figure, this power pin 540 includes a connector 542, an intermediate section 544, and a stop section 546 connected in sequence. The connector 542 is adapted to be inserted into the board 120, and the stop section 546 is adapted to be electrically connected to an expansion card. The connector 542 and the stop section 546 are connected to opposite sides of the intermediate section 544, and the widths of the connector 542, the intermediate section 544, and the stop section 546 are approximately the same.

[0034] The insertion portion 542 corresponds to multiple power output contacts P1, P2, and P3 simultaneously. The abutment portion 546 also corresponds to multiple power output contacts P1, P2, and P3 simultaneously. The width of the insertion portion 542 is equivalent to the width w1 of the corresponding multiple conventional power pins 12 plus their spacing d1. Therefore, the overall impedance of the power pins 540 of the present invention is lower than the impedance of the corresponding multiple conventional power pins 12 connected in parallel, which is beneficial to increasing the transmittable current (or the power wattage supported) of the expansion card slot 200.

[0035] Secondly, as shown in the figure, in this embodiment, the abutment portion 546 of the power pin 540 is configured as multiple contact areas 546a corresponding to the gold fingers on the expansion card 300. This is to avoid uneven force distribution caused by excessively large contact areas, which could affect the reliability of the electrical contact between the abutment portion 546 and the expansion card 300. However, the present invention is not limited to this. In other embodiments, the abutment portion 546 may also have only a single contact area, while simultaneously abutting against multiple gold fingers of the expansion card 300.

[0036] In addition, compared to Figure 4 In this embodiment, only one fixing structure 447 is provided on one side of the power pin 440 to engage with the expansion card slot. In this embodiment, multiple fixing structures 547 are provided on both sides of the middle section 544 of the power pin 540 to enhance the structural stability of the power pin 540 within the expansion card slot.

[0037] In summary, unlike the traditional expansion card slot 200, the power pins 440 and 540 provided by this invention simultaneously cover multiple adjacent power output contacts P1, P2, and P3. The current transmitted by these power output contacts P1, P2, and P3 with the same potential can be transmitted through the same power pins 440 and 540.

[0038] Compared to traditional expansion card slots that use multiple power pins 12 to transmit current to each power output contact P1, P2, P3 respectively, the cross-sectional dimensions of the power pins 440 and 540 of this invention are significantly larger than the sum of these power pins 12, which helps to increase the current that the expansion card slot 200 can transmit (or the power wattage it can support) to meet the needs of high-performance expansion cards.

[0039] Please refer to the above as well. Figure 6 , Figure 6 This is a partial schematic diagram of an expansion card 600 suitable for installation in the expansion card slot 200 of the present invention, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0040] As shown in the figure, the expansion card 600 has an expansion card connector 620. This expansion card connector 620 is adapted to be inserted into the expansion card slot 200. The expansion bus specifications supported by the expansion card 600 define a plurality of adjacent power input contacts on the expansion card connector 620. The expansion card connector 620 also includes a power finger 622 and a plurality of signal transmission fingers 624. The power finger 622 corresponds to the plurality of power input contacts simultaneously. In one embodiment, as shown in the figure, the width of the power finger 622 is greater than that of the signal transmission fingers 624.

[0041] Figure 7 This is a block diagram of an electronic device provided according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0042] As shown in the figure, this electronic device 700 includes an expansion card 720 and a motherboard 740. The motherboard 740 has a control unit 742. This motherboard 740 can be... Figure 1 The motherboard 100 shown.

[0043] This motherboard 740 also has an expansion card slot 744. The expansion card slot 744 is adapted to install an expansion card 720. The expansion bus specification supported by the expansion card slot 744 defines a plurality of adjacent power output contacts P1, P2, P3. The expansion card slot 744 also includes a power pin 7442, which corresponds simultaneously to the aforementioned plurality of adjacent power output contacts P1, P2, P3, and is adapted to transmit power to the corresponding plurality of adjacent power input contacts P4, P5, P6 on the expansion card 720.

[0044] In one embodiment, this expansion card slot 744 may be Figure 1 The expansion card slot 200 shown can be used with an expansion card 720. Figure 6 The expansion card 600 shown is not limited to this. In other embodiments, this expansion card slot 744 may be... Figure 1 The expansion card slot 200 shown can accommodate a conventional expansion card 720. Alternatively, in other embodiments, this expansion card slot can be a conventional expansion card slot, and the expansion card 720 can be... Figure 6 The expansion card 600 shown.

[0045] The control unit 742 is adapted to confirm the specifications of the expansion card 720 through the expansion card slot 744 in order to control the operating parameters of the expansion card 720 (such as the power consumption of the expansion card 720, the operating frequency of the graphics processing unit on the expansion card 720, etc.).

[0046] In one embodiment, as shown in the figure, the control unit 742 can communicate with the expansion card 720 via a reserved pin 7444 of the expansion card slot 744 to obtain the aforementioned data and control the operation of the expansion card 720. However, the present invention is not limited thereto.

[0047] In other embodiments, please refer to the following: Figure 8 , Figure 8 This is a block diagram of an electronic device 800 provided according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[0048] As shown in the figure, this electronic device 800 includes an expansion card 820 and a motherboard 840. The motherboard 840 has a control unit 842. This motherboard 840 can be... Figure 1 The motherboard 100 shown.

[0049] This motherboard 840 also has an expansion card slot 844. The expansion card slot 844 is adapted to install an expansion card 820. The expansion card slot 844 also includes a power pin 8442, which corresponds simultaneously to the aforementioned plurality of power output contacts P1, P2, P3. In one embodiment, this expansion card slot 844 can be... Figure 1 The expansion card slot 200 is shown.

[0050] Compared to Figure 7 In this embodiment, the control unit 842 of the motherboard 840 can communicate with the expansion card 820 plugged into the expansion card slot 844 via the system control bus 845 on the motherboard 840 and via another signal line 846.

[0051] Figure 9 This is a block diagram of an electronic device 900 provided according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[0052] As shown in the figure, this electronic device 900 includes an expansion card 920 and a motherboard 940, the motherboard 940 having a control unit 942. This motherboard 940 can be... Figure 1 The motherboard 100 shown.

[0053] The expansion card 920 in this embodiment includes an expansion card connector 922, a power connector 924, and a switching element 926. Both the expansion card connector 920 and the power connector 924 can be powered by the motherboard 920. The switching element 926 is electrically coupled to the expansion card connector 922 and the power connector 924, and is adapted to determine the power source of the expansion card 920 and provide power to the system 928 on the expansion card 920. In the case of a graphics card, this system 928 may include a graphics processing unit (GPU).

[0054] When the control unit 942 confirms that the rated power consumption of the expansion card 920 is lower than or equal to the power wattage supported by the power pin 9442 of the expansion card slot 944, the control unit 942 instructs the switching element 926 to switch to the expansion card connector 922, and obtain power from the power pin 9442. Conversely, when the control unit confirms that the rated power consumption of the expansion card 920 is higher than the power wattage supported by the power pin 9442, the control unit 942 instructs the switching element 926 to switch to the power connector 924, and obtain power from the corresponding power connector 948 of the motherboard 940 through a power transmission line 946.

[0055] In one embodiment, the aforementioned switching element 926 is a power switching switch adapted to switch between the aforementioned expansion card connector 922 and power connector 924 to determine whether to be powered by the expansion card connector 922 or the power connector 924.

[0056] However, the present invention is not limited thereto. In other embodiments, the aforementioned expansion card connector 922 and power connector 924 can be power supplies of different phases. The switching element 926 determines whether to supply power to the expansion card connector 922 or the power connector 924 by switching the phase of the power supply.

[0057] The expansion card slots 200, 744, 844, 944 provided by this invention have power pins 220, 440, 540, 7442, 8442, 9442, whose width can simultaneously correspond to multiple power output contacts P1, P2, P3, which helps to increase the power wattage that the expansion card slots 200, 744, 844, 944 can transmit, so as to meet the power requirements of current expansion cards (especially graphics cards).

[0058] Although the present invention has been disclosed above with reference to embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Those skilled in the art can make some modifications and refinements without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present invention shall be determined by the claims.

Claims

1. A motherboard, characterized in that, Include: Plate; and An expansion card slot is provided on the aforementioned board and is suitable for installing an expansion card. The expansion bus specification supported by the expansion card slot defines multiple adjacent power output contacts. The expansion card slot also includes power pins, which simultaneously correspond to the multiple power output contacts.

2. The motherboard according to claim 1, characterized in that, The aforementioned expansion bus specification is PCI-E.

3. The motherboard according to claim 1, characterized in that, The aforementioned power output contacts are suitable for outputting electrical energy at the same potential.

4. The motherboard according to claim 1, characterized in that, The expansion card supports the expansion bus specification and includes an expansion card connector. The expansion bus specification defines multiple adjacent power input contacts on the expansion card connector. The expansion card connector also includes power gold fingers, which correspond to the multiple power input contacts.

5. The motherboard according to claim 1, characterized in that, It also includes a control unit adapted to verify the specifications of the expansion card via the expansion card slot.

6. The motherboard according to claim 5, characterized in that, The aforementioned control unit communicates with the aforementioned expansion card via the system control bus.

7. The motherboard according to claim 5, characterized in that, The aforementioned control unit communicates with the aforementioned expansion card via a reserved pin in the aforementioned expansion card slot.

8. The motherboard according to claim 5, characterized in that, The expansion card includes an expansion card connector and a power connector. When the control unit confirms that the rated power consumption of the expansion card is lower than the power supply wattage supported by the power pin, the control unit notifies the expansion card to switch to the power pin for power supply.

9. The motherboard according to claim 1, characterized in that, The aforementioned power supply pin includes multiple pin portions and a connecting portion. The multiple pin portions correspond to the multiple power output contacts, and the connecting portion connects to the multiple pin portions.

10. The motherboard according to claim 1, characterized in that, The expansion card slot also includes multiple signal transmission pins, and the width of the power supply pin is greater than that of the signal transmission pin.

11. The motherboard according to claim 10, characterized in that, The thickness of the aforementioned power supply pin is greater than that of the aforementioned signal transmission pin.

12. The motherboard according to claim 10, characterized in that, The conductivity of the material used to construct the power supply pins is higher than that of the material used to construct the signal transmission pins.

13. The motherboard according to claim 1, characterized in that, The aforementioned power pins include a plug-in portion, an intermediate section, and a stop portion connected in sequence. The plug-in portion is adapted to be plugged into the aforementioned board body, and the stop portion is adapted to be electrically connected to the aforementioned expansion card.

14. The motherboard according to claim 13, characterized in that, The aforementioned insertion part, the aforementioned intermediate section, and the aforementioned abutment part have the same width.

15. An electronic device, characterized in that, Include: Expansion cards; and Motherboard, including: Plate; and An expansion card slot is provided on the aforementioned board and is suitable for installing the aforementioned expansion card. The expansion bus specification supported by the aforementioned expansion card slot defines multiple adjacent power output contacts. The aforementioned expansion card slot also includes power pins, which simultaneously correspond to the aforementioned multiple power output contacts.

16. An expansion card slot, suitable for mounting on a circuit board, characterized in that, The expansion card slot supports an expansion bus specification that defines multiple adjacent power output contacts. The expansion card slot also includes power pins that correspond to the multiple power output contacts.

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