Peripheral Storage Card Offset Slot Alignment
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing networked storage systems face physical space limitations and density constraints, particularly in high-density installations, which restrict the number of devices that can be included per host, impacting storage capacity, redundancy, and reliability in cloud and enterprise environments.
Innovation Solution
A storage card with offset slot alignment features, incorporating a PCIe switch circuit to communicatively couple storage device connectors on both sides of the card, allowing for increased storage density by mounting storage drives on both sides of the printed circuit board while fitting into a single host slot.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If traditional storage systems use single-sided device mounting, then device placement is simple, but storage density and component quantity are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from single-sided device mounting to dual-sided mounting by introducing offset slot alignment features that enable storage devices to be mounted on both sides of the circuit board. This dimensional change allows the storage card to accommodate more storage devices within the same physical footprint, thereby increasing storage density without proportionally increasing the host system's slot width requirement.
2Quantity of substance
If storage systems increase device quantity per host, then storage capacity and redundancy improve, but physical space requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
By enabling dual-sided device mounting through offset slot alignment, the patent effectively utilizes both faces of the circuit board for device placement. This allows a single storage card to hold a higher number of storage devices compared to traditional single-sided mounting, thereby increasing the number of devices per host without proportionally increasing the physical space or slot width required in the host system.
3Quantity of substance
If storage cards use offset slot alignment, then storage density increases, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs asymmetric offset slot alignment features that create a deliberate misalignment between the storage card's device connectors and the host slot. This asymmetric design allows storage devices to be mounted on both sides of the card while still fitting into the host slot. The offset mechanism inherently compensates for manufacturing tolerances, reducing the stringency of precision requirements compared to traditional aligned designs.
Data Source
AI summary
A storage card insertable into a host system is provided that includes a plurality of storage devices connectors. The storage card include slot offset features to offset a circuit board of the storage card from a host system slot alignment. This offset provides for storage device connector placement on both sides of the storage card. The storage card also can include a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) switch circuit configured to communicatively couple the PCIe signaling of the plurality of storage device connectors and PCIe signaling of a host connector of the storage card, where the PCIe switch circuit is configured to receive storage operations over the PCIe signaling of the host connector of the storage card and transfer the storage operations for delivery over the PCIe signaling of selected ones of the plurality of storage device connectors.