CN109933482A - Computer system and its motherboard - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a kind of computer system and its mainboard.Computer system includes expansion board and mainboard.Expansion board includes a connecting interface, an at least I/O port, at least a conversion circuit and memory unit.Mainboard includes to extend interface, storage element and processing unit.Information corresponding conversion received from connecting interface is to meet the communications protocol of I/O port by each conversion circuit.One type information of memory unit record corresponding conversion circuit.Storage element stores multiple prepared firmwares.Processing unit obtains the person of being consistent according to type information as a driving firmware from interface type information is extended in the grade preparation firmware.Processing unit executes driving firmware to control expansion board, and via at least an I/O port and the external communication.

Description

Computer system and its motherboard

technical field

The present invention relates to a computer system, in particular to a computer system capable of detecting and connecting an expansion board and its mainboard.

Background technique

At present, in order to meet the needs of most users, manufacturers generally plan several common and fixed number of connection ports (such as USB ports, network ports, etc.) when manufacturing hosts, but if a specific user needs to use other types of connection ports or When there are more connection ports, it is necessary to expand the interface by connecting an expansion board. However, there are various types of expansion boards. To use different expansion boards, it is necessary to install corresponding firmware on the host computer, causing users to often do not know where to obtain the correct firmware or how to install the firmware.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of this, embodiments of the present invention provide a computer system and a motherboard thereof. The computer system includes an expansion board and a main board.

The expansion board includes a connection interface, at least one input/output port, at least one conversion circuit and a memory unit. The conversion circuit is connected between the connection interface and the input and output ports. The memory unit is connected to the connection interface. Each conversion circuit correspondingly converts the information received from the connection interface into a communication protocol conforming to the input and output ports. The memory unit records a type of information corresponding to the conversion circuit.

The mainboard includes an extension interface, a storage unit and a processing unit. The processing unit is connected to the storage unit and the extension interface. The extension interface is used for the corresponding connection of the connection interface of the expansion board. The storage unit stores a plurality of preliminary firmware. The processing unit receives the type information from the extension interface, and according to the type information, obtains a match among the preparatory firmware as a driving firmware. The processing unit executes the driving firmware to control the expansion board, and communicates with the outside through the at least one I/O port.

The computer system and its mainboard of the embodiment of the present invention can automatically detect and execute appropriate firmware when an expansion board is connected, so as to correctly communicate with the peripheral device through the expansion board, without requiring the user to install additional firmware.

The details of other functions and embodiments of the present invention are described below in conjunction with the drawings.

Description of drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present application or the technical solutions in the prior art, the following briefly introduces the accompanying drawings required for the description of the embodiments or the prior art. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only These are some embodiments described in this application. For those of ordinary skill in the art, other drawings can also be obtained based on these drawings without any creative effort.

1 is a schematic structural diagram of a computer system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of an expansion board according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Symbol Description

100 computer systems 200 expansion boards

210 connection interface 220 input and output ports

230 conversion circuit 240 memory unit

241 Different information 242 Common information

300 motherboards 310 processing units

320 Storage Unit 321 Preliminary Firmware

322 driver firmware 330 extension interface

400 Peripherals 500 Low Pin Count

510 first conversion circuit 520 second conversion circuit

530 serial communication port

Detailed ways

Please refer to FIG. 1 , which is a schematic structural diagram of a computer system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The computer system 100 can be, for example, an industrial computer, a personal computer, a notebook computer, an embedded system, or the like. The computer system 100 includes an expansion board 200 and a main board 300 . The mainboard 300 is the mainboard of the computer system 100 , and includes a processing unit 310 , a storage unit 320 and an extension interface 330 . The processing unit 310 is connected between the storage unit 320 and the extension interface 330 . The expansion board 200 includes a connection interface 210 , at least one I/O port 220 , at least one converting circuit 230 and a memory unit 240 . The conversion circuit 230 is connected between the connection interface 210 and the I/O port 220 . The memory unit 240 is connected to the connection interface 210 . The storage unit 320 and the memory unit 240 are non-volatile memories, such as electronically erasable rewritable read only memory (EEPROM). The processing unit 310 may be a microprocessor, microcontroller, or the like. The input/output port 220 can be, for example, a USB port, an HDMI port, a COM port, a UART port, a network port, a memory card port, and the like.

The extension interface 330 of the main board 300 can be correspondingly connected to the connection interface 210 of the expansion board 200 . The conversion circuit 230 correspondingly converts the information received from the connection interface 210 into a communication protocol conforming to the I/O port 220 , thereby expanding the motherboard 300 with more I/O ports 220 or no communication protocol. More peripheral devices 400 that are not originally supported by the mainboard 300 can be connected through the I/O ports 220 . Here, the connection interface 210 and the extension interface 330 include a System Management Bus (SMBus) and other transmission interfaces, but the invention is not limited thereto. The transmission interface may be, for example, Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCI Express) or/and Low Pin Count (LPC).

The memory unit 240 of the expansion board 200 records the type information corresponding to the conversion circuit 230 . Here, the type information may include, for example, the manufacturer, version, and chip model of the conversion circuit 230 , but the present invention is not limited thereto. The storage unit 320 of the mainboard 300 stores a plurality of preparatory firmware 321 . Each type of information corresponds to a preparatory firmware 321 . The preparatory firmware 321 includes definitions of registers and pins corresponding to the chips in the conversion circuit 230 .

After the mainboard 300 detects that the expansion board 200 is connected, the processor 310 reads the type information stored in the memory unit 240 through the extension interface 330 and the connection interface 210 . Therefore, after receiving the type information from the extension interface 330 , the processing unit 310 can obtain a match from the preparatory firmware 321 according to the type information as the driving firmware 322 . After the processing unit 310 executes the driving firmware 322 , it can control the expansion board 200 , and can communicate with the connected peripheral device 400 via the I/O port 220 . Therefore, the user can connect and use the peripheral device 400 after connecting the expansion board 200 to the mainboard 300 without additionally searching for and installing suitable firmware.

In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1 , each type of information includes a common information 242 and a different information 241 . The common information 242 is a common part of a plurality of pieces of this type of information, and the different information 241 is a different part of a plurality of pieces of type information. In this way, memory space can be saved. The common information 242 may include the identifier, the version number of the type information, the product number of the expansion board 200 and the physical setting of the memory unit 240 . The physical setting of the memory unit 240 can be, for example, whether to change a controlled address according to the pin connection of the memory unit 240 . For example, if the value of the physical setting is zero, it means that the controlled address is not changed. On the contrary, if the value of the physical setting is one, it means that the controlled address needs to be changed according to the change of the pin connection method.

In one embodiment, the number of conversion circuits 230 may be multiple, each conversion circuit 230 is connected to one or more input/output ports 220 , and each conversion circuit 230 corresponds to a controlled address. The processing unit 310 of the mainboard 300 specifies the corresponding conversion circuit 230 to communicate via the one or more I/O ports 220 connected thereto according to the controlled address. That is to say, the processing unit 310 of the mainboard 300 designates a corresponding controlled address to transmit information according to the I/O port 220 and the conversion circuit 230 connected to the peripheral device 400 to be transmitted, so that the information can be transmitted to the corresponding conversion circuit The 230 converts the communication protocol, so that the converted information is transmitted to the peripheral device 400 through the I/O port 220 . Here, each preparatory firmware 321 executed by the mainboard 300 stores the controlled address of the corresponding conversion circuit 230 .

Referring to FIG. 2 , it is a schematic structural diagram of an expansion board 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Here, the memory unit 240 is not shown. The connection interface 210 is implemented with a low pin count 500 , and the I/O port 220 is implemented with a serial communication port 530 . There are two conversion circuits 230 here, and each conversion circuit 230 includes a first conversion circuit 510 and two second conversion circuits 520 . The expansion board 200 receives the information of the main board 300 via the low pin count 500 . The first conversion circuit 510 converts the low pin count 500 protocol to another communication protocol, such as UART. Here, the first conversion circuit 510 is converted into two sets of UART outputs. The two second conversion circuits 520 respectively receive the two sets of UART outputs, and convert the UART signals into COM port signals (eg, RS232, RS422, RS485), and output them on the serial communication port 530 . Here, the motherboard 300 can initialize the first conversion circuit 510 via the low pin count 500 . The first conversion circuit 510 and the second conversion circuit 520 also have some pins connected to communicate with a low pin count 500, so that the motherboard 300 can initialize the second conversion circuit 520 through the first conversion circuit 510 .

To sum up, the computer system 100 and its mainboard 300 according to the embodiment of the present invention can automatically detect and execute appropriate firmware when the expansion board 200 is connected, so as to correctly communicate with the peripheral device 400 via the expansion board 200 without using or install additional firmware.

The above-mentioned embodiments and/or implementations are only used to illustrate the preferred embodiments and/or implementations for realizing the technology of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the implementation of the technology of the present invention in any form. Personnel, without departing from the scope of the technical means disclosed in the content of the present invention, may make some changes or modifications to other equivalent embodiments, but they should still be regarded as substantially the same technology or embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (10)

1. a computer system, is characterized in that, comprises: An expansion board, including: a connection interface; at least one I/O port; at least one conversion circuit connected between the connection interface and the at least one I/O port, each of the conversion circuits correspondingly converts the information received from the connection interface into a communication protocol conforming to the I/O port; and a memory unit connected to the connection interface, the memory unit records a type of information corresponding to the conversion circuit; and A main board, containing: an extension interface for corresponding connection of the connection interface of the expansion board; a storage unit storing a plurality of preliminary firmware; and a processing unit connected to the storage unit and the extension interface, the processing unit receives the type information from the extension interface, obtains a match from the preparatory firmware according to the type information as a driving firmware, and the processing unit executes The driving firmware controls the expansion board and communicates with the outside through the at least one I/O port. 2 . The computer system of claim 1 , wherein each type of information includes a common information and a different information, the common information is a common part of a plurality of the type information, and the different information is 2 . Multiple different parts of that type of information. 3. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the extension interface and the connection interface comprise a system management bus. 4. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the extension interface and the connection interface comprise Fast Peripheral Component Interconnect or low pin count. 5 . The computer system of claim 1 , wherein there are a plurality of the at least one conversion circuit, each of the conversion circuits is connected to at least one of the I/O ports, and each of the conversion circuits corresponds to a controlled address, the The processing unit of the mainboard designates the corresponding conversion circuit to communicate with the corresponding conversion circuit via the at least one I/O port connected to the processing unit according to the controlled address. 6 . The computer system of claim 5 , wherein each of the preparatory firmware executed by the mainboard stores the corresponding controlled address. 7 . 7. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the at least one I/O port is one of a USB port, an HDMI port, a COM port, a UART port, a network port, and a memory card port or any combination thereof. 8. A mainboard suitable for connecting an expansion board, wherein the mainboard comprises: an extension interface for connecting the expansion board; a storage unit storing a plurality of preliminary firmware; and a processing unit, connected to the storage unit and the extension interface, the processing unit receives a type information provided by the expansion board from the extension interface, and obtains a match from the preparatory firmware according to the type information as a driving firmware , the processing unit executes the driving firmware to control at least one I/O port of the expansion board and communicate with the outside through the at least one I/O port. 9. The motherboard of claim 8, wherein the at least one I/O port is one of a USB port, an HDMI port, a COM port, a UART port, a network port, and a memory card port or any combination thereof. 10 . The motherboard of claim 8 , wherein the extension interface is Peripheral Component Interconnect Express or low pin count. 11 .