Peripheral storage card with offset slot alignment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10993345-B2
Application number	US-202016876749-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 18, 2020
Priority date	Aug 3, 2018
Publication date	Apr 27, 2021
Grant date	Apr 27, 2021

Abstract

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.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An assembly, comprising:
the first circuit board comprising at least a first storage device connector on a first side, and at least a second storage device connector on a second side;
a second circuit board comprising a connector insertable into an add-in card slot connector of a host system and configured to carry communications of the add-in card slot connector to the first circuit board;
communication switch circuitry communicatively coupled to at least the communications, the first storage device connector and the second storage device connector; and
an offset element configured to generally align the first circuit board with a centerline of a slot cover opening of the host system based on the second circuit board inserted into the add-in card slot connector.

2. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein based on the second circuit board inserted into the add-in card slot connector, the second circuit board is aligned with the add-in card slot connector and the first circuit board is not aligned with the add-in card slot connector due at least in part to an offset established by the offset element.

3. The assembly of claim 1 , further comprising:
a slot cover offset element configured to align a slot cover coupled to the first circuit board with the slot cover opening based on the second circuit board inserted into the add-in card slot connector.

4. The assembly of claim 1 , further comprising:
a coupling element configured to communicatively couple the communications to the first circuit board from the second circuit board, wherein the coupling element comprises at least one of a flexible circuit element and a rigid circuit board element.

5. The assembly of claim 4 , wherein the coupling element comprises a first connector on the first circuit board configured to couple to a second connector on the second circuit board.

6. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein the assembly comprises at least a half-height, half-length (HHHL) add-in card, and wherein the communications comprise at least one among Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) signaling, NVMe (NVM Express) signaling, and Gen-Z signaling.

7. The assembly of claim 1 , further comprising:
holdup circuitry configured to:
detect power loss to the first circuit board;
provide power to at least associated storage devices mated with the first storage device connector and the second storage device connector; and
initiate commit of in-flight data directed to the associated storage devices.

8. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein the first storage device connector and the second storage device connector comprise M.2 compatible connectors or SFF-TA-1002 compatible connectors.

9. The assembly of claim 1 , comprising:
at least a first M.2 storage device coupled to the first storage device connector; and
at least a second M.2 storage device coupled to the second storage device connector.

10. A data storage card, comprising:
a first assembly comprising a first circuit board, a first storage device connector disposed on a first side of the first circuit board, and a second storage device connector disposed on a second side of the first circuit board;
a second assembly comprising a second circuit board having a connector insertable into an add-in card slot connector of a host system and configured to carry communications of the add-in card slot connector to the first assembly;
communication switch circuitry communicatively coupled to at least the communications, the first storage device connector and the second storage device connector; and
an offset element that generally aligns the first circuit board with a centerline of a slot cover opening of the host system based on the second assembly inserted into the add-in card slot connector.

11. The data storage card of claim 10 , wherein based on the second assembly inserted into the add-in card slot connector, the second circuit board is aligned with the add-in card slot connector and the first circuit board is not aligned with the add-in card slot connector due at least in part to an offset established by the offset element.

12. The data storage card of claim 10 , further comprising:
a slot cover offset element configured to align a slot cover coupled to the first circuit board with the slot cover opening based on the second circuit board inserted into the add-in card slot connector.

13. The data storage card of claim 10 , further comprising:
a coupling element configured to communicatively couple the communications to the first circuit board from the second circuit board, wherein the coupling element comprises at least one of a flexible circuit element and a rigid circuit board element.

14. The data storage card of claim 13 , wherein the coupling element comprises a first connector on the first circuit board configured to couple to a second connector on the second circuit board.

15. The data storage card of claim 10 , wherein the data storage card comprises at least a half-height, half-length (HHHL) add-in card, and wherein the communications comprise at least one among Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) signaling, NVMe (NVM Express) signaling, and Gen-Z signaling.

16. The data storage card of claim 10 , further comprising:
holdup circuitry configured to:
detect power loss to the first circuit board;
provide power to at least associated storage devices mated with the first storage device connector and the second storage device connector; and
initiate commit of in-flight data directed to the associated storage devices.

17. The data storage card of claim 10 , wherein the first storage device connector and the second storage device connector comprise M.2 compatible connectors or SFF-TA-1002 compatible connectors.

18. The data storage card of claim 10 , comprising:
at least a first storage device coupled to the first storage device connector; and
at least a second storage device coupled to the second storage device connector.

19. An apparatus, comprising:
a first circuit board having a first side and a second side and comprising a first M.2 connector disposed on the first side and a second M.2 connector disposed on the second side;
a second circuit board comprising a connector insertable into a slot connector of a host system and configured to carry communications of the slot connector;
communication switch circuitry communicatively coupled to at least the communications, the first M.2 connector, and the second M.2 connector, and configured to receive storage operations issued by the host system, and transfer the storage operations for delivery to selected ones of at least the first M.2 connector and the second M.2 connector;
one or more offset elements configured to generally align the first circuit board with a centerline of a slot cover opening of the host system when the second circuit board is installed into the slot connector.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 , comprising:
a first storage device coupled to the first M.2 connector; and
a second storage device coupled to the second M.2 connector.

Assignees

• Liqid Inc

Inventors

• Schramm Bryan
• Heyd Andrew Rudolph
• Rust Brenden Michael
• Long Christopher R
• Puri Sumit

Classifications

• G06F1/185

  Mounting of expansion boards · CPC title

• G06F1/186

  Securing of expansion boards in correspondence to slots provided at the computer enclosure · CPC title

• G06F2213/0026

  PCI express · CPC title

• H05K7/1407 Primary

  by turn-bolt or screw member · CPC title

• H05K7/142 Primary

  Spacers not being card guides · CPC title