Abstract: The invention is a modular bus bridge that comprises an I/O controller board, an optional display, and various connectors. The connectors allow a choice of backplane mounting or cable connections. The I/O controller board interconnects bus interfaces and controls the display. The I/O controller board is connected to the display by releasable connectors, so the display may be optionally added or removed. The display allows an end-user to scroll through a menu presented on the display and select from the menu. The I/O controller board is coupled to a backplane connector for backplane mounting. A cable interface can be releasably connected to the backplane connector if cable connections are desired instead of backplane mounting.

Abstract: The invention is a bus bridge for connecting a computer to peripheral devices over plurality of different bus interface configurations. The bus bridge comprises a motherboard and daughterboards. The daughterboards can be connected to the motherboard or to other daughterboards to create a new bus interface configuration. The bus bridge detects the new bus interface configuration and retrieves operating parameters to implement the new bus interface configuration. In some embodiments of the invention, the bus interface configuration is a fiber channel to the computer, a first small computer system interface to a first group of the peripheral devices, and a second small computer system interface to a second group of the peripheral devices.

Abstract: In a modular tower building block system for containing computing system devices, a power bus is incorporated into the modular blocks of the building block system by using a printed circuit board to carry the power bus in each modular block. The printed circuit board is mounted and positioned in each modular block to electrically connect with a printed circuit board in a next adjacent modular block when two modular blocks are stacked on each other. Also, there are a plurality of three-phase power buses on the printed circuit boards and only one phase of each power bus is distributed from each modular block. The printed circuit board is precisely located in each modular block at a predetermined position. Alignment pins and receivers provide alignment between stacked modular blocks to precisely position one modular block to the other modular block.