Multi-Functionality Card Slots for Reconfigurable Chassis Bandwidth
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current communications systems face challenges in delivering data at increasingly higher speeds to processors due to limitations in data transfer capabilities across interconnected access nodes.
Innovation Solution
A reconfigurable chassis system with multi-functionality card slots that can accommodate various types of cards, allowing for different configurations to enhance bandwidth and interconnectivity, including the use of switch cards with front panel pluggable optics for interconnecting multiple chassis.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If traditional fixed-configuration chassis are used, then device simplicity is maintained, but bandwidth capacity and interconnectivity are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The card slot is designed to accept multiple types of cards (port cards and switch cards) through a universal interface. The slot can be configured to receive either a full-height port card or two half-height switch cards, allowing the same physical slot to serve different functional purposes based on insertion needs, thereby increasing bandwidth capacity without requiring additional dedicated slots for each card type.
Solution Approach 2:
The card slot is segmented into two distinct reception spaces: a first reception space for port cards and a second reception space for switch cards. This segmentation allows independent placement and removal of different card types within the same slot structure, enabling flexible configuration of bandwidth capacity while maintaining a unified chassis architecture.
2Adaptability or versatility
If more port card slots are added to increase interconnectivity, then system scalability improves, but device complexity and physical size increase
Solution Approach 1:
By making card slots universal that can accommodate both port cards and switch cards, the system achieves higher interconnectivity without increasing the total number of slots. Switch cards can be inserted to provide additional switching capacity and interconnection capabilities, effectively increasing adaptability while reusing existing slot infrastructure.
Solution Approach 2:
Two half-height switch cards are nested within a single full-height card slot receptacle. This nesting arrangement allows the chassis to host more switching functionality within the same physical footprint, increasing interconnectivity without proportionally increasing device complexity or physical size.
3Ease of manufacture
If dedicated slots for each card type are used, then card installation reliability is ensured, but slot utilization efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The card slot is designed as a universal receptacle that can reliably accept both port cards and switch cards through standardized mechanical and electrical interfaces. This universal design ensures proper alignment, contact, and connectivity for different card types while maximizing slot utilization efficiency, as each slot can be dynamically assigned based on system requirements rather than being dedicated to a single card type.
Data Source
AI summary
An embodiment of the invention comprises a reconfigurable chassis with one or more multi-functionality card slots, where each multi-functionality card slot is capable of being populated with at least one of a plurality of different types of cards, including port cards and switch cards. In a first configuration, the port card slots and the multi-functionality card slots are populated with port cards. In a second configuration, a first set of multi-functionality card slots is populated with switch cards and a second set of multi-functionality card slots is populated with port cards. In a third configuration, the first set of multi-functionality card slots and the second set of multi-functionality card slots are populated with switch cards.