METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING A MECHANICAL MEANS TO SUPPORT CARD SLOTS CAPABLE OF ACCEPTING CARDS OF MULTIPLE FORM FACTORS
An embodiment of the invention may comprise a reconfigurable chassis with one or more first card slots capable of being populated with a first mechanical form factor card, one or more second card slots capable of being populated with the first mechanical form factor card or with a second mechanical form factor card, and a mechanical slot adaptor configured to occupy at least one second card slot, where the mechanical slot adaptor is configured to provide mechanical support for the second mechanical form factor card in the second card slot.
Latest TELLABS OPERATIONS, INC. Patents:
- Methods and apparatus for providing timing analysis for packet streams over packet carriers
- Methods and apparatus for providing configuration discovery using intra-nodal test channel
- Method and apparatus for improving connectivity between optical devices using software defined networking
- Methods and apparatus for performing in-service software upgrading for a network device using system virtualization
- Method and apparatus for providing automatic node configuration using a dongle
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application 61/487,434 filed on May 18, 2011, the contents of which are incorporated by reference in its entirety.
This application incorporates by reference the U.S. Application [TBD], entitled MULTI-CONFIGURABLE SWITCHING SYSTEM USING MULTI-FUNCTIONALITY CARD SLOTS, Attorney Docket Number 02495.000120, filed on even date herewith.
BACKGROUND1. Field
Example aspects described herein relate generally to communications equipment, and more specifically to a mechanical means to support card slots capable of accepting cards of multiple form factors.
Due to the continued increase in the operating speed and memory capacity of processors, such as personal computers, workstations, and servers, current communications systems are challenged to deliver data to these processors at continually higher speeds.
2. Description of Related Art
Typical communications systems include collections of interconnected access nodes that communicate with one another using a software protocol structure. These nodes may be interconnected using one or more network switches included in a switch fabric.
SUMMARYA mechanical chassis to support circuit packs (cards) of differing mechanical dimensions in the same slot of an equipment chassis is described. The mechanical chassis comprises at least one chassis type and at least one mechanical slot adaptor mechanism. The chassis may be used in a switching system containing both port (interface) cards and switch cards.
An embodiment of the invention may comprise a reconfigurable chassis with one or more first card slots capable of being populated with a first mechanical form factor card, one or more second card slots capable of being populated with the first mechanical form factor card or with a second mechanical form factor card, and a mechanical slot adaptor configured to occupy at least one second card slot, where the mechanical slot adaptor is configured to provide mechanical support for the second mechanical form factor card in the second card slot.
The teachings claimed and/or described are further described in terms of exemplary embodiments. These exemplary embodiments are described in detail with reference to the drawings. These embodiments are non-limiting exemplary embodiments, in which like reference numerals represent similar structures throughout the several views of the drawings, and wherein:
Various example embodiments of a mechanical means to support card slots capable of accepting cards of multiple form factors will be described with respect to
A description of example embodiments of the invention follows.
The interior of the chassis contains card guides for each card slot of the chassis. There is a set of card guides for the first plurality of card slots, and a set of card guides for the second plurality of card slots. The removable mechanical slot adaptor slides into card guides of the second plurality of card slots. One or more mechanical slot adaptors may be placed into the second plurality of card slots so that those card slots become capable of accepting cards of the second mechanical form factor.
A chassis may be constructed such that it can house either a single slot adaptor or multiple slot adaptors (e.g., two, three, four, etc.). In a chassis that can support two slot adaptors, a first slot adaptor can be placed in a first set of the second plurality of card slots, and a second slot adaptor can be placed in a second set of the second plurality of card slots. In such a configuration, switch cards may be placed in the first and second slot adaptors.
Alternatively, in a chassis that can support two slot adaptors, a first slot adaptor can be placed in a first set of the second plurality of card slots, and a second slot adaptor need not be placed in a second set of the second plurality of card slots. In such a configuration, switch cards may be placed in the first slot adaptor, and port cards can be placed in the second set of the second plurality of card slots. This configuration provides the ability to place more port cards into the chassis than the configuration that uses both a first and second slot adaptor.
Alternatively, in a chassis that can support two slot adaptors, neither a first or second slot adaptor need be placed into the first or second set of the second plurality of card slots. Generally, a chassis may comprise slots able to accept various slot adaptors. Some slots may be able to accept more than one type of slot adaptors, some slots may be able to accept only one type of slot adaptor, and some slots may not be able to accept any slot adaptors at all.
As shown in
The chassis 800 additionally contains a printed circuit board (PCB) backplane assembly 970 (
The slot adaptor 600 may be constructed such that a first card of the second mechanical form factor is placed directly above a second card of the second mechanical form factor in the slot adaptor 600. For such a slot adaptor, a rigid intermediate support wall 665 may be located between the first and second cards of the second mechanical form factor, wherein the rigid support wall extends from the front of the slot adaptor 684 to the rear of the slot adaptor 682. Additionally, the slot adaptor 600 may contain integrated card guides 660 for both the first and second cards of the second mechanical form factor, wherein the card guides 660 provide a means of properly aligning the first and second cards of the second mechanical form factor so that electrical connectors located at the rear of the cards of the second mechanical form factor can properly engage with mating connectors on the backplane in the chassis 800.
The top rigid support walls 680, the bottom rigid support walls 685, and intermediate rigid support walls 665 may additionally contain ventilation holes 690 that may allow air flow through the slot adaptor 600 for cooling purposes.
The rigid left support wall 670 and the rigid right support wall 675 may contain substantially large cut-outs 645 that may allow air to flow through the cut-outs for cooling purposes.
The slot adaptor 600 may additionally contain an upper alignment runner 610 and a lower alignment runner 710 (
The chassis 800 and removable mechanical slot adaptor 600 contain a mechanical means to secure the removable mechanical slot adaptor 600 to the chassis 800 once the mechanical slot adaptor 600 is completely inserted into the chassis 800. The slot adaptor 600 may contain at least one mechanical tab 620, 880, 885, 930, 935 with securement slots 630, 892, 960 that allow mechanical screws to be used to secure the slot adaptor 600 to threaded holes on the chassis 800.
The slot adaptor 600 may additionally contain an upper alignment pin 640, 720, 870 and a lower alignment pin 646, 725, 875, located on the upper and lower tabs 885, 880 of the slot adaptor 600. The alignment pins 640, 646, 720, 725, 870, 875 slide into alignment pin holes 865 located on the chassis, further aligning the slot adaptor 600 to the chassis cavity.
The removable mechanical slot adaptor 600 contains an open rear cavity that allows the connectors on the backplane assembly 970 to make direct mechanical and electrical contact with the electrical connectors located on the cards 1020 of the second mechanical form factor.
All the slots in the chassis 800 may be spaced equally apart. For a chassis with equally spaced slots, slots in the first plurality of card slots have the same spacing between them as the slots in the second plurality of card slots. This same spacing is between a card slot in the first plurality of card slots that is adjacent to a card slot in the second plurality of card slots. Therefore, the slot adaptor 600 of this invention is designed for a chassis whose non-controller card slots are all equally spaced apart. For example, the card slot spacing may be the same between all 14 non-controller card slots shown in
Once the slot adaptor 600 is secured to the chassis 800, the second mechanical form factor cards 1020 may be inserted into the open cavity 910 at the front of the slot adaptor 600. The slot adaptor may contain at least one
mechanical fastening mechanism for each card plugged in the adaptor. The mechanical fastening mechanism may consist of a screw 1030 and threaded tab 650, where the screw 1030 is attached to each card 1020 plugged into the adaptor 1010, and the screw 1030 is screwed into a threaded tab 650 on the slot adaptor 600.
The second mechanical form factor cards 1020 may additionally contain a pull handle 1040 used to remove the card from the chassis 800.
The chassis 800 additionally may contain a third plurality of card slots, wherein the third plurality of card slots provide a means to house cards that are a fraction of the height of the cards of the first mechanical form factor, and wherein no slot adaptor is used to house the cards of the third plurality of card slots. For example, the chassis could contain some permanent mechanical means 890 (
In the above descriptions, various aspects of the invention have been described with reference to specific example embodiments. The specification and drawings are accordingly to be regarded in an illustrative rather than in a restrictive sense. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the present invention.
In addition, it should be understood that the figures illustrated in the attachments, which highlight the functionality and advantages of the present invention, are presented for example purposes only. The architecture of the example aspect of the present invention is sufficiently flexible and configurable such that it may be utilized (and navigated) in ways other than that shown in the accompanying figures.
Although example aspects of this invention have been described in certain specific embodiments, many additional modifications and variations would be apparent to those skilled in the art. It is therefore to be understood that this invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described. Thus, the present example embodiments, again, should be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive.
Claims
1. A reconfigurable chassis comprising:
- one or more first card slots capable of being populated with a first mechanical form factor card,
- one or more second card slots capable of being populated with the first mechanical form factor card or with a second mechanical form factor card, and
- a mechanical slot adaptor configured to occupy at least one second card slot, wherein the mechanical slot adaptor is configured to provide mechanical support for the second mechanical form factor card in the second card slot.
2. The chassis of claim 1,
- wherein each of the first and second card slots comprise card guides configured to position cards and the mechanical slot adaptors that are inserted into the first and second card slots.
3. The chassis of claim 2,
- wherein the mechanical slot adaptor comprises at least one of a top alignment runner and a bottom alignment runner configured to guide the mechanical slot adaptor into the card guides.
4. The chassis of claim 1,
- wherein at least one of the chassis and mechanical slot adaptor is configured to secure the mechanical slot adaptor to the chassis when the mechanical slot adaptor is inserted into the chassis.
5. The chassis of claim 1,
- wherein the mechanical slot adaptor comprise at least one mechanical tab with securement slots that allow mechanical screws to be used to secure the mechanical slot adaptor to threaded holes on the chassis.
6. The chassis of claim 5,
- wherein the mechanical tab comprises at least one alignment pin configured to align the mechanical slot adaptor to the chassis.
7. The chassis of claim 1,
- wherein the mechanical slot adaptor is configured to occupy one or more of the second card slots.
8. The chassis of claim 5,
- wherein the mechanical slot adaptor is configured to hold at least two of the second mechanical form factor cards for each of the second card slots it occupies.
9. The chassis of claim 1,
- wherein the one or more second card slots comprise a first set of second card slots and a second set of second card slots.
10. The chassis of claim 9,
- wherein no mechanical slot adaptor is placed in the first set of the second card slots and the second set of the second card slots.
11. The chassis of claim 9,
- wherein a mechanical slot adaptor is placed in at least one slot of the first set of the second card slots and the second set of the second card slots.
12. The chassis of claim 11,
- wherein switch cards are placed in at least one of the mechanical slot adaptors in at least one of the first set of the second card slots and the second set of the second card slots.
13. The chassis of claim 1,
- wherein the chassis comprises a backplane configured to receive at least one of the first and second mechanical form factor cards.
14. The chassis of claim 13,
- wherein the removable mechanical slot adaptor comprises a rear opening to allow connectors on the backplane to make electrical contact with corresponding electrical connectors on the received second mechanical form factor cards.
15. The chassis of claim 13,
- wherein the backplane comprises a first connector to connect to the first mechanical form factor card and a second connector to connect to the second mechanical form factor card.
16. The chassis of claim 15,
- wherein the second connector is off-set from the first connector to allow insertion of cards into the first connector and the second connector.
17. The chassis of claim 1,
- wherein the cards of the second mechanical form factor are narrower than the cards of the first mechanical form factor.
18. The chassis of claim 1,
- wherein the mechanical slot adaptor has both a top rigid support wall and a bottom rigid support wall, and both the top and bottom rigid support walls extend from a front of the mechanical slot adaptor to a rear of the mechanical slot adaptor.
19. The chassis of claim 18,
- wherein the mechanical slot adaptor is configured to receive a first of the second mechanical form factor cards placed directly above a second of the second mechanical form factor cards received by the mechanical slot adaptor.
20. The chassis of claim 19,
- wherein, within the mechanical slot adaptor, a rigid intermediate support wall is located between the first and second cards of the second mechanical form factor, and wherein the rigid intermediate support wall extends from the front of the mechanical slot adaptor to the rear of the mechanical slot adaptor.
21. The chassis of claim 20,
- wherein the rigid intermediate support wall comprises ventilation holes.
22. The chassis of claim 19,
- wherein the mechanical slot adaptor comprises card guides for both the first and second cards of the second mechanical form factor.
23. The chassis of claim 18,
- wherein at least one of the both the top and bottom rigid support walls comprises ventilation holes.
24. The chassis of claim 1,
- wherein the mechanical slot adaptor has both a left rigid support wall and a right rigid support wall, and wherein both the left and right rigid support walls extend from a top of the slot adaptor to a bottom of the slot adaptor, and comprise cut-out sections.
25. The chassis of claim 1,
- wherein the mechanical slot adaptor contains at least one mechanical fastening mechanism for each card plugged in the adaptor.
26. The chassis of claim 25,
- wherein the mechanical fastening mechanism comprises a screw and threaded tab, wherein the screw is screwed into a threaded tab on the mechanical slot adaptor to secure each card.
27. The chassis of claim 1,
- wherein the chassis additionally contains a third plurality of card slots, the third plurality of card slots provide a means to house cards that are a fraction of the height of the cards of the first mechanical form factor, and no mechanical slot adaptor is used to house the cards of the third plurality of card slots.
28. The chassis of claim 27,
- wherein the cards of the second mechanical form factor are able to be placed in the third plurality of card slots.
29. The chassis of claim 1,
- wherein each card of the second mechanical form factor comprises a pull handle, used to remove the card from the chassis.
Type: Application
Filed: Feb 7, 2012
Publication Date: Nov 22, 2012
Applicant: TELLABS OPERATIONS, INC. (Naperville, IL)
Inventors: Kimon Papakos (Chicago, IL), Scott Blakemore (Warrenville, IL), Mark Boduch (Geneva, IL)
Application Number: 13/368,025
International Classification: H05K 7/20 (20060101); H05K 5/02 (20060101); H05K 7/00 (20060101);