JP2000322156A - Extended board and method for packaging equipment to be extended - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To effectively utilize free space in an extended part of a bus connector for the installation of equipment to be extended. SOLUTION: Equipment (g) to be extended consisting of an IDE HDD is fixed on an HDD fixing fitting (f) by a set screw (e) and an HDD fixing board holding mechanism (b) is inserted into an idle PCI bus connector (c) and fixed on a PCI extending slot part formed on the rear face of a personal computer(PC) by a PCI slot cover (d), so that equipment (g) to be extended such as a 2nd IDE HDD can be more installed. The IDE HDD to be an extended equipment to be extended (g) is connected to a master IDE HDD through a signal cable (h) and power is supplied to the extended equipment (g) to be extended through a power supply cable (i). Thus the equipment (g) to be extended can be installed by effectively utilizing the idle PCI bus connector (c) or its neighborhood.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an extension board and a method for mounting an extension device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer of a tower type or the like composed of a relatively large outer case,
It has the function of an extension file, and it is possible to add and attach a hard disk device (HDD) in the device case. However, in the case of a desktop or space-saving personal computer with a medium or small outer case, the FD, HD
D, CD-ROM, etc. are mounted as standard, and it is difficult to secure a space for installing an additional HDD inside the personal computer. When an HDD is added in such an environment, it is common that the additional HDD body is externally connected to the additional connector via a cable via an additional HDD board.

[0003]

As described above, in the case where the additional HDD body is externally connected to the additional connector through a cable connection via the additional HDD board, the additional HDD board is connected to the PCI bus and externally connected thereto. There is a technical problem that a space for installing an external HDD is required in addition to the main body of the personal computer to connect the HDD. When moving the PC, it is necessary to remove the PC and the external HDD.
There is also a technical problem that it is very troublesome because D must be connected. There is a concern that a failure due to incomplete cable insertion may occur. Further, for a user who does not put any board on the PCI bus, the additional portion of the PCI bus becomes an empty space and is wasted.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to provide a technology capable of installing additional equipment without requiring an extra installation space outside the information processing apparatus. Is to do.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a technique capable of easily moving and re-installing an information processing apparatus.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a technique capable of preventing a trouble due to incomplete cable insertion in moving or re-installing an information processing apparatus.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a technique that can effectively utilize an empty space in an additional portion of a bus connector for additional equipment.

[0008]

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the present invention has the following constitution. The gist of the present invention resides in that the invention includes a board, an engaging means for attaching the board to the bus connector, and a device holding means for holding an additional device on the board. The gist of the invention according to claim 2 is that, in the extension board according to claim 1, the bus connector is an extension bus connector installed inside a housing of the information processing apparatus, and the engagement means includes: It is to be mounted without being electrically connected to the bus connector. The gist of the invention described in claim 3 is that, in the extension board according to claim 1 or 2, the bus connector is a PCI bus connector, and the extension device is a hard disk device. The gist of the present invention resides in that an extension board having no electrical connection to the bus connector is mounted on the bus connector, and the extension device is fixed on the extension board. Claim 5
The gist of the present invention resides in the method of mounting an additional device according to claim 4, wherein the bus connector is a PCI bus connector. The gist of the invention according to claim 6 is that, in the mounting method of the extension device according to claim 4 or 5, the extension device is a hard disk device.
More specifically, as an example, the present invention is characterized in that an HDD is added inside a personal computer using an empty PCI bus. PCs, such as tower-type personal computers that consist of relatively large external cases, have the function of additional files.
It is possible to add and attach HDDs in the device case. However, in the case of a desktop or space-saving personal computer composed of a medium or small outer case, the FD, HDD,
Since a CD-ROM or the like is mounted as standard, it is difficult to secure a space for installing an additional HDD inside the personal computer. When an HDD is added in such an environment, the additional HDD main body is generally externally connected to the additional connector via a cable via an HDD expansion board. According to the present invention, an HDD is added inside a personal computer by using an empty PCI bus.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a configuration of an extension board according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an example of a mounting state thereof. In FIG. 1, the upper side is a plan view of the extension board of the present embodiment, and the lower side is a side view.

In FIG. 1, a is an HDD fixing board on which the HDD fixing bracket f is mounted. Reference numeral b denotes an HDD fixed board holding mechanism for attaching the HDD fixed board a to the PCI bus connector. Reference numeral d denotes a PCI slot cover for fixing the HDD fixing substrate a to the back of the personal computer. e is a set screw for fixing the HDD to the HDD fixing bracket f.

The HDD fixed substrate holding mechanism b is a normal PC
It is gold-plated like the I-bus adapter, but has no electrical connection function. Therefore, the PCI bus is not affected at all by the mounting of the HDD fixed substrate holding mechanism b. Hereinafter, the operation of the extension board of the present embodiment and the method of mounting the extension board using the extension board will be described.

FIG. 2 shows that an additional device such as an IDE HDD can be installed in an information processing apparatus such as a desktop type or a space-saving personal computer using a medium-sized or small outer case by using the additional board of the present embodiment. This shows an example of extension.

That is, the PCI bus connector c is an additional connector provided on a motherboard or the like in a desktop or space-saving personal computer, and is unused and unused.

In the case of this embodiment, an additional device g composed of an IDE HDD is fixed to the HDD fixing bracket f with a set screw e, and the HDD fixed substrate holding mechanism b is inserted into the vacant PCI bus connector c. It is fixed to a PCI expansion slot on the back of the personal computer (not shown) with a slot cover d. In this way, the second IDEH inside the personal computer
It is possible to add an additional device g such as a DD. The IDE HDD as the additional equipment g is
Master IDE H not shown via signal cable h
DD, and power is supplied via a power cable i.

As described above, according to the extension board of the present embodiment, an effect is obtained that the extension device g can be installed by effectively utilizing the empty PCI bus connector c and the nearby space.

That is, in a desktop personal computer, H
When adding a DD, it is common to connect an additional HDD board to a PCI bus and connect an external HDD to it. However, for a user who does not attach any board to the PCI bus connector c, the additional PCI bus becomes an empty space and is wasted.

In the present embodiment, the space can be saved when the HDD is added by expanding the HDD by making good use of the empty space. In addition, since the HDD is accommodated and fixed inside the personal computer, when the personal computer is moved, it is not necessary to connect and disconnect the signal cable h as in the case of an external HDD. There is no fear of malfunction due to incomplete insertion of the signal cable h of g. Further, the length of the signal cable h of the HDD is shortened, the influence of noise at the time of data transfer is reduced, and the reliability of operation is improved.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 shows an example in which a plurality of SCSI HDDs are added as additional equipment g using the additional board of the present invention.

HDD # 1 and HDD # 2 are fixed to two HDD fixing brackets f with set screws e. Each H
The DD fixed board holding mechanism b is inserted into two empty PCI bus connectors c inside the personal computer. Each PCI slot cover d is fixed to a PCI expansion slot on the back of the personal computer. SCSI HDD already built into the main unit
By connecting # 0 to HDD # 1 and HDD # 2 with SCSI cables, two HDDs can be added.

As described above, two or more SCs can be added.
Even in the case of the SI HDD, if there is a space in the PCI bus connector c, it is possible to obtain an effect that the space can be effectively utilized by using the space in the vicinity of the PCI bus connector c. In the present embodiment, an example in which the present invention is applied to mounting of an additional device such as an HDD has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to a technical field suitable for applying the present invention. . For example, not limited to the PCI bus,
It can also be applied to bus connectors such as SA and EISA.

Further, the number, position, shape, etc. of the above-mentioned constituent members are not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, but can be set to a suitable number, position, shape, etc. for carrying out the present invention.

In the drawings, the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals.

[0024]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, the following effects can be obtained.

It is possible to install additional equipment without requiring extra installation space outside the information processing apparatus.

It is possible to easily move and re-install the information processing apparatus.

[0027] Problems caused by incomplete cable insertion in moving or re-installing the information processing apparatus can be prevented.

The empty space in the additional portion of the bus connector can be effectively used for installing additional equipment.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of an extension board according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an example of an operation of a method of mounting an extension device using an extension board according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a modified example of a method of mounting an extension device using an extension board according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 a HDD fixed board (board) b HDD fixed board holding mechanism (engaging means) c PCI bus connector d PCI slot cover e set screw f HDD fixing bracket (equipment holding means) g extension equipment h signal cable i power cable

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An extension board comprising: a board; engagement means for attaching the board to a bus connector; and device holding means for holding an extension device on the board. 2. The expansion board according to claim 1, wherein the bus connector is an expansion bus connector installed inside a housing of the information processing apparatus, and the engagement means is provided on the bus connector. An extension board which is mounted without being electrically connected. 3. The expansion board according to claim 1, wherein the bus connector is a PCI bus connector, and the expansion device is a hard disk device. 4. A method for mounting an extension device, comprising: mounting an extension board having no electrical connection to the bus connector on the bus connector; and fixing the extension device on the extension board. 5. The method for mounting an extension device according to claim 4, wherein the bus connector is a PCI bus connector. 6. The method for mounting an additional device according to claim 4, wherein the additional device is a hard disk device.