Modular expansion card bus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10925167-B2
Application number	US-201916549868-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 23, 2019
Priority date	Mar 23, 2018
Publication date	Feb 16, 2021
Grant date	Feb 16, 2021

Abstract

A computing system includes a circuit board assembly and multiple expansion cards connected to one another and also connected to the circuit board assembly. The connected expansion cards form a modular expansion card bus that allows the expansion cards to communicate between each other without routing the communications through the circuit board assembly. In some embodiments, the expansion cards are mounted on a tray that includes mounting pins that engage mounting slots of the expansion cards, allowing for simple installation of various combinations of expansion cards connected together to form a modular expansion card bus.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a card comprising:
a connector on a first edge of the card configured to couple with a corresponding connector of a circuit board such that the card and the circuit board are oriented parallel to one another;
a connector on a second edge of the card configured to couple with a corresponding connector of an adjacent card mounted in a same plane as the card; and
a mounting slot configured to restrict movement of the card in a first direction and allow at least some movement of the card in a second direction, wherein the mounting slot is configured to limit the movement of the card in the second direction to a distance that is less than a width of the connector on the second edge of the card.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the card is:
a networking expansion card;
a storage expansion card;
a memory expansion card; or
a processing expansion card.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the connector on the second edge of the card is a printed circuit board (PCB) edge connector comprising conductive fingers, which are configured to couple with a corresponding connector of the adjacent card.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the card further comprises re-drivers or re-timers to facilitate transmitting signals between the card and the adjacent card.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the card further comprises one or more switches configured to direct signals to:
an adjacently connected card;
a circuit included on the card; or
the circuit board coupled to the card via the connector on the first edge of the card.

6. The system of claim 4 , wherein the card is configured to transmit signals to the adjacent card without routing the signals through the circuit board, wherein the circuit board is a motherboard and the card and the adjacent card are expansion cards coupled to the motherboard.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the card comprises:
a system on a chip (SoC);
an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC);
a field programmable gate array (FPGA); or
graphic processing unit (GPU).

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein the card comprises one or more solid-state storage devices or memory devices.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the adjacent card is a dummy card comprising a connector on each of two edges of the dummy card, wherein the dummy card is configured to provide a communication path between the card and another card.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the system is configured such that the card is configured to be:
disconnected from the circuit board and the adjacent card; and
replaced with another card or a dummy card.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the connector on the first edge of the card is oriented perpendicular to the connector on the second edge of the card.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the mounting slot of the card is configured to engage with a mounting pin of a tray.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the mounting slot of the card is configured to:
restrict motion of the card relative to the mounting pin of the tray in the first direction; and
permit motion of the card relative to the mounting pin of the tray in the second direction.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the card is a processing expansion card comprising one or more specialized processors and the adjacent card is a memory expansion card comprising one or more memory devices,
wherein the processing expansion card is configured to transmit signals to the memory expansion card via the connector on the second edge coupled with the corresponding connector of the memory expansion card without routing the signals through the circuit board to which the processing expansion card and the memory expansion card are coupled.

15. The system of claim 1 , wherein the card is a processing expansion card comprising one or more specialized processors and the adjacent card is a network expansion card,
wherein the processing expansion card is configured to transmit signals to the network expansion card via the connector on the second edge coupled with the corresponding connector of the network expansion card without routing the signals through the circuit board to which the processing expansion card and the network expansion card are coupled.

16. The system of claim 1 , wherein the card is a memory expansion card comprising one or more memory devices and the adjacent card is a processing expansion card,
wherein the memory expansion card is configured to transmit signals to the processing expansion card via the connector on the second edge coupled with the corresponding connector of the processing expansion card without routing the signals through the circuit board to which the memory expansion card and the processor expansion card are coupled.

17. The system of claim 1 , wherein the card comprises:
a connector on a third edge of the card, wherein the connector on the third edge of the card is configured to couple with a corresponding connector of another adjacent card mounted in the same plane as the card.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the connectors on the second and third edges of the card are oriented perpendicular to the connector on the first edge of the card.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the card is configured to couple with the adjacent card and the other adjacent card to form a modular expansion card bus configured to route communication signals between the card, the adjacent card, and the other adjacent card without routing the communication signals through the circuit board to which the card, the adjacent card, and the other card are coupled.

Assignees

• Amazon Tech Inc

Inventors

• Bailey Kevin
• Lam Priscilla
• Frink Darin Lee
• Harland Jason Alexander
• Gutierrez Felipe Enrique Ortega

Classifications

• G06F11/0793

  Remedial or corrective actions (recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40) · CPC title

• G06F11/20

  using active fault-masking, e.g. by switching out faulty elements or by switching in spare elements · CPC title

• G06F13/4068 Primary

  Electrical coupling · CPC title

• H05K1/184 Primary

  associated with components inserted in holes through the PCBs and wherein terminals of the components are connected to printed contacts on the walls of the holes or at the edges thereof or protruding over or into the holes · CPC title

• H05K2203/167

  Using mechanical means for positioning, alignment or registration, e.g. using rod-in-hole alignment · CPC title