TWI670589B - computer system - Google Patents

Abstract

The computer system includes: a motherboard, the motherboard includes an embedded controller and a switch; and a power board, the motherboard and the power board are electrically coupled to each other. The power board includes: a voltage converter coupled to the switch, the voltage converter converting an input voltage into an output voltage, the voltage converter transmitting the output voltage to the switch; and a delay switch detecting circuit, The delay switch detection circuit is configured to detect a delay switch signal and transmit a detection result to the embedded controller. The embedded controller controls the switch according to the detection result of the delay switch detection circuit to achieve a delay switch function of the computer system.

Description

computer system

The invention is related to a computer system.

Current computer systems have a variety of power supply methods. One of the power supply methods is to use an external power adaptor to transform the input direct current (DC) power supply to the motherboard. The disadvantage is that only one voltage can be selected for conversion, and no special function can be externally connected. (such as delay switch (ignition), etc.).

Another power supply method is to place a power supply in the casing, and the power supply supplies the transformed power to the motherboard through a cable. The disadvantage is that the space occupied is relatively small. Large and have extra wire costs. In addition, the wire may have problems such as aging, embrittlement, looseness, and poor contact.

Therefore, how to design a better power supply mode for computer systems is one of the efforts of the industry.

According to an example of the present application, a computer system includes: a motherboard, the motherboard includes an embedded controller and a switch; and a power board, the motherboard and the power board are electrically coupled to each other. The power board includes: a voltage converter coupled to the switch, the voltage converter converting an input voltage into an output voltage, the voltage converter The output voltage is transmitted to the switch; and a delay switch detection circuit is coupled to the embedded controller, the delay switch detection circuit is configured to detect a delay switch signal and transmit a detection result to the embedded Controller. The embedded controller controls the switch according to the detection result of the delay switch detection circuit to achieve a delay switch function of the computer system.

In order to better understand the above and other aspects of the present invention, the following detailed description of the embodiments and the accompanying drawings

100‧‧‧ computer system

110‧‧‧ motherboard

150‧‧‧Power board

170, 171‧‧‧ connectors

112‧‧‧ embedded controller

114‧‧‧Switch

151‧‧‧Voltage Converter

153‧‧‧Delay switch detection circuit

155‧‧‧Delay switch enable switch

157‧‧‧AT/ATX mode switch

V+‧‧‧ input voltage

V-‧‧‧ Grounding voltage

Vout‧‧‧ output voltage

IGN‧‧‧Delay switch signal

IGNEN‧‧‧Delay switch enable signal

ATXEN‧‧‧AT/ATX mode signal

1 is a functional block diagram of a computer system in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention.

The technical terms of the present specification refer to the idioms in the technical field, and some of the terms are explained or defined in the specification, and the explanation of the terms is based on the description or definition of the specification. Various embodiments of the present disclosure each have one or more of the technical features. Those skilled in the art can selectively implement some or all of the technical features of any embodiment, or selectively combine some or all of the technical features of these embodiments, where possible.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a computer system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, a computer system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a motherboard 110 and a power board 150. The motherboard 110 and the power board 150 can be electrically coupled to each other through the connectors 170 and 171. The connector 170 is located on the power board 150, and the connector 171 is located on the motherboard 110. And other possible embodiments in this case The main board 110 and the power board 150 can also be electrically coupled to each other through the cable, which is also within the spirit of the present invention. The motherboard 110 includes an embedded controller (EC) 112 and a switch 114. The power board 150 includes: a voltage converter (for example, a DC-DC converter) 151, a delay switch (IGN) detecting circuit 153, a delay switch enabling switch 155 and an AT (Advanced Technology, Advanced Technology ) / ATX (Advanced Technology Extended) mode switch 157. The computer system 100 is, for example, a microcomputer system, and the motherboard 110 is, for example but not limited to, a microcomputer system motherboard.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the embedded controller 112 is electrically coupled to the switch 114 , the delay switch detection circuit 153 , the delay switch enable switch 155 , and the AT/ATX mode switch 157 . The embedded controller 112 can control the switch 114 according to the detection result of the delay switch detection circuit 153 to achieve the function of the delay switch.

The embedded controller 112 can further detect whether the input voltage V+ is stable or normal to determine how to control the switch 114. The reference symbol V- in FIG. 1 represents the ground voltage. For example, but not limited to, when the embedded controller 112 detects that the input voltage V+ is unstable, the embedded controller 112 can control the switch 114 such that the switch 114 does not output the output voltage Vout to other units of the motherboard 110 to avoid The unstable output voltage damages other units of the motherboard 110.

The embedded controller 112 can control the timing control, the light sensing function, the on-screen display (OSD) function of the entire motherboard 110, the power management, the delay switch function management, and the like. The embedded controller 112 can control the switch 114, the details of which will be displayed below. In addition, the embedded controller 112 controls the voltage converter 151 to select The first output voltage or the second output voltage is provided.

The switch 114 is electrically coupled to the embedded controller 112 and the voltage converter 151. Depending on the control of the embedded controller 112, the switch 114 can determine whether the output voltage Vout of the voltage converter 151 is to be sent to other units of the host board 110.

The voltage converter 151 is coupled to the switch 114. The voltage converter 151 receives the input voltages V+ and V-, and after performing voltage conversion thereon, generates an output voltage Vout, which is sent to the switch 114.

The delay switch detection circuit 153 is configured to detect the delay switch signal IGN. When the delay switch signal IGN is detected, the delay switch detection circuit 153 transmits the detection result to the embedded controller 112. For example, when the power button is pressed, the delay switch signal IGN may transition from a low logic to a high logic. The delay switch detecting circuit 153 is configured to detect the delay switch signal IGN. When the delay switch detection circuit 153 detects the high logic delay switch signal IGN, the delay switch detection circuit 153 transmits the detection result to the embedded controller 112.

In response to user operation, the delay switch enable switch 155 can output a delay switch enable signal IGNEN to the embedded controller 112. For example, when the delay switch enable signal IGNEN is high logic, the embedded controller 112 will enable the delay switch function (also referred to as the computer system 100 in the IGN mode); conversely, when the delay switch enable signal IGNEN is low At logic time, the embedded controller 112 will disable the delay switch function.

In response to user operation, the AT/ATX mode switch 157 can output an AT/ATX mode signal ATXEN to the embedded controller 112. For example, when the AT/ATX mode signal ATXEN is high logic (ie, adjusted to ATX mode), the embedded controller 112 controls computer system 100 to operate in ATX mode; conversely, when AT/ATX mode signal ATXEN is low logic (i.e., when adjusted to AT mode), embedded controller 112 controls computer system 100 to operate in AT mode. Please note that in the embodiment of the present invention, the AT mode, the ATX mode, and the IGN mode can only be selected one by one. That is, when the delay switch enable signal IGNEN is high logic, the embedded controller 112 determines that the delay switch function is to be turned on (ie, operates in the IGN mode), and the embedded controller 112 at this time ignores the AT/ ATX mode signal ATXEN. When the delay switch enable signal IGNEN is low logic, the embedded controller 112 determines that the delay switch function is to be turned off, and the embedded controller 112 at this time refers to the AT/ATX mode signal ATXEN to determine the computer system 100 to operate. In AT mode or ATX mode.

The connector 170 of the power board 150 has 20 pins, and the connector 171 of the motherboard 110 has 20 pins, wherein one end of the connector 170 is connected to 20 pins of the connector 171. The use of 20 pins is for example but not limited, using 16 pins to transmit the output voltage Vout generated by the voltage converter 151; using 2 pins to transmit the delay switch signal IGN; using 1 pin To transmit the delay switch enable signal IGNEN; and use one pin to transmit the AT/ATX mode signal ATXEN. But when you know that the case is not limited to this.

The operation of the computer system of the embodiment of the present invention will now be described.

When the delay switch signal IGN transitions to high logic (for example, when the power-on signal is transmitted), the delay switch detection circuit 153 transmits the detection result to the embedded controller 112, so that the embedded controller 112 controls the switch 114 to be used by the voltage. The output voltage Vout generated by the converter 151 is supplied to other units (not shown) on the motherboard 110. E.g, When the embedded controller 112 receives the detection result of the delay switch detection circuit 153 (representing the high logic delay switch signal IGN), the embedded controller 112 may delay for a period of time (for example, 10 seconds, but the case is not limited thereto) After this and after the embedded controller 112 determines that the input voltage V+ has stabilized, the embedded controller 112 controls the switch 114 to send the output voltage Vout generated by the voltage converter 151 to other units on the motherboard 110. (not shown). As such, the computer system 100 of the embodiment of the present invention can implement the function of delaying the booting.

In addition, when the delay switch signal IGN transitions to low logic, the delay switch detection circuit 153 transmits the detection result to the embedded controller 112. After a delay, the embedded controller 112 controls the switch 114 to turn off the output voltage Vout generated by the voltage converter 151 (for example, when transmitting a power-off signal) to achieve a delayed shutdown function.

When the embedded controller 112 detects that the input voltage V+ is unstable, the embedded controller 112 controls the switch 114 so that the switch 114 no longer sends the output voltage Vout generated by the voltage converter 151 to other units on the motherboard 110. (not shown). As such, the computer system 100 of the embodiment of the present invention can implement a voltage instability protection function.

As can be seen from the above, the computer system 100 of the embodiment of the present invention implements the IGN detection/IGN control function by using the embedded controller 112 commonly available on the motherboard 110. In addition, the embedded controller 112 of the motherboard 110 has a voltage instability protection function on the control power board 150, an output voltage specification selection function, and the like. Therefore, no additional circuit for the IGN detection/IGN control function is required on the power board 150. Therefore, the computer system 100 of the embodiment of the present invention has the advantages of low cost and simple circuit structure.

In addition, the voltage converter 151 on the power board 150 can be used as the case may be Replace other specifications. For example, other constant voltage converters of different specifications, either wide voltage voltage converters or Power Over Ethernet PD voltage converters. Therefore, the computer system 100 of the embodiment of the present invention has the advantages of being flexible in architecture and capable of being changed as needed. When the voltage converter 151 is replaced with other specifications, the embedded controller 112 of the embodiment of the present invention can control the voltage converter 151 of other specifications to implement the delayed boot function of the above embodiment of the present invention. Within the spirit.

In addition, since the computer system 100 of the embodiment of the present invention can support the three modes of the AT mode, the ATX mode, and the IGN mode, the computer system 100 of the embodiment of the present invention can be multi-purpose. For example, when operating in the IGN mode, the computer system 100 of the embodiment of the present invention can be used as a vehicle. When operating in the AT/ATX mode, the computer system 100 of the embodiment of the present invention can be used as a general computer.

In addition, in the computer system 100 of the embodiment of the present invention, the motherboard 170 and the power board 150 are interconnected by the connector 170 and the connector 171. Therefore, the computer system 100 of the embodiment of the present invention does not need to use wires to connect the motherboard 110 to each other. With the power board 150, there are no problems such as loose wires, aging, embrittlement, and poor contact.

In conclusion, the present invention has been disclosed in the above embodiments, but it is not intended to limit the present invention. A person skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, the scope of the invention is defined by the scope of the appended claims.

Claims (8)

A computer system comprising: a motherboard, the motherboard includes an embedded controller and a switch; and a power board, the motherboard and the power board are electrically coupled to each other, the power board includes: a voltage converter And coupled to the switch, the voltage converter converts an input voltage into an output voltage, the voltage converter transmits the output voltage to the switch; and a delay switch detection circuit coupled to the embedded controller, The delay switch detection circuit is configured to detect a delay switch signal and transmit a detection result to the embedded controller; wherein the embedded controller controls the detection result according to the delay switch detection circuit a switch to achieve a delay switch function of the computer system; and when the embedded controller detects that the input voltage is unstable, the embedded controller controls the switch such that the switch prohibits outputting the output voltage To other units on the motherboard. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the power board further includes a delay switch enabling switch electrically coupled to the embedded controller, the delay switch enabling switch outputting a delay switch enabling A signal is sent to the embedded controller such that the embedded controller determines whether the delay switch function is enabled by the computer system. The computer system of claim 2, wherein the power board further comprises an advanced technology/advanced technology enhanced mode switch electrically coupled to The embedded controller, the advanced technology/advanced technology enhanced mode switch outputs an advanced technology/advanced technology enhanced version mode signal to the embedded controller, the embedded controller controls the computer system to operate in an advanced technology mode or An advanced technology enhanced version of the model. The computer system of claim 3, wherein the motherboard has a first connector, and the power panel has a second connector, the first connector and the second connector being connected to each other. The computer system of claim 4, wherein the first connector and the second connector each have 20 pins. The computer system of claim 5, wherein among the 20 pins, 16 pins are used to transmit the output voltage generated by the voltage converter, and 2 pins are used for transmission. The delay switch signal, one pin is used to transmit the delay switch enable signal; and one pin is used to transmit the AT/ATX mode signal. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the motherboard is a microcomputer system motherboard. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the embedded controller controls the voltage converter to selectively provide a first output voltage or a second output voltage.