CN209199092U - Scalable Electronic Computing System - Google Patents

Abstract

An extensible electronic computing system connectable to an external host, comprising: at least one graphic processing unit for generating a PCI-E signal; a conversion unit for receiving the PCI-E signal and converting the PCI-E signal into a USB signal; a main control unit for driving the conversion unit to act; a USB interface device for receiving the USB signal transmitted by the conversion unit and transmitting the USB signal to a USB connector of the external host through a USB transmission line, so that the USB signal can be transmitted to a central processing unit of the external host through the USB connector for processing, thereby improving the computing capability of the external host for executing a graphic processing task or a general computing task.

Description

Scalable Electronic Computing System

technical field

The utility model relates to an electronic computing system, in particular to an expandable electronic computing system capable of improving the computing capability of an external host with a USB connection port.

Background technique

With the advancement of data transmission technology, high-speed data transmission protocols have been proposed one after another. The Thunderbolt (Lightning) transmission interface is compatible with the USB Type C connector, and can reach a transmission speed of 40Gpbs. Therefore, computing devices with Thunderbolt connection ports are currently available. , can be compatible with the Thunderbolt transmission protocol, and communicate with an external device that also has a Thunderbolt connection port, for example, if the external device is a Thunderbolt display card external box, and the user completes the Thunderbolt driver program and firmware on the computing device After the hardware is installed, the computing device can successfully identify the external device and determine that it is an external graphics card (External GPU), thereby improving the graphics computing capability of the computing device.

However, most of the current computing devices with Thunderbolt ports are high-end personal computers or notebook computers. In other words, users must spend a higher hardware cost to replace higher-end models in order to improve their computing power through the Thunderbolt transmission interface. The computing capability of the device, and once the computing device purchased by the user fails, a new computing device needs to be purchased.

Moreover, most of the current low-end computing devices (such as personal computers or notebook computers) do not have Thunderbolt connection ports, and cannot improve their performance through the Thunderbolt transmission interface. Even if the current user can remove the wireless network card (adapted on the m-PCIE interface), and plug in an external device (such as a display card external box) that is compatible with the m-PCIE transmission interface to enhance its graphics computing capabilities, but in this way, users will need to use additional ways to expand Ethernet.

Therefore, how to provide an electronic computing system with low hardware construction cost and effectively improve the computing capability of computing devices for mid-to-low-end computing devices without Thunderbolt ports is still a problem to be solved.

Utility model content

In view of the problems of the above-mentioned background technology, the present inventor studies the related technologies of Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface and Express Peripheral Interconnection Standard (PCI-E) based on the experience of being engaged in related field research for many years; therefore, this The purpose of the utility model is to provide an expandable electronic computing system capable of improving the computing capability of an external host with a USB connection port.

In order to achieve the above object, the utility model proposes an expandable electronic computing system for connecting to an external host, the electronic computing system includes: at least one graphics processing unit, and the graphics processing unit is used for a request command based on the external host , to perform calculations to generate a PCI-E signal; a conversion unit for receiving the PCI-E signal and converting it into a USB signal; a main control unit for driving the conversion unit to operate; a USB interface device for receiving and converting The USB signal transmitted by the unit, and the USB signal is transmitted to a USB connection port of the external host through a USB transmission line; and after the utility model is implemented accordingly, the USB connection port can transmit the USB signal to a central processing unit of the external host , so as to enhance its graphics computing capability for performing a graphics processing task or enhance its general computing capability for performing a general computing task.

Wherein, there are more than two graphics processing units, which are respectively electrically connected to the conversion unit, so as to transmit the PCI-E signal to the conversion unit respectively.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a USB concentrator can be arranged between a plurality of electronic computing systems and external devices, wherein the USB concentrator is provided with a connection port, which can be connected to a USB connection port of an external host. The concentrator can also be provided with other connection ports for respectively connecting to the USB interface devices of each electronic computing system.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the electronic computing system also includes a USB hub, one connection port it has is connected to the USB interface device, and the other two connection ports that the USB hub has are respectively connected to the conversion unit and the main control unit. The USB hub is also provided with a plurality of expansion connection ports for connecting with a plurality of USB peripheral devices respectively.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a USB concentrator can be arranged between a plurality of electronic computing systems and external devices, wherein the USB concentrator is provided with a connection port, which can be connected to a USB connection port of an external host. The concentrator can also be provided with other connection ports for connecting to the USB interface devices of each electronic computing system; and the electronic computing system can also include a USB hub, which has a connection port connected to the USB interface device, and the USB The other two connection ports of the hub are respectively connected to the conversion unit and the main control unit, and the USB hub is also provided with multiple expansion connection ports for connecting to multiple USB peripheral devices respectively.

Wherein, each of the USB peripheral devices is one of an image sensing device, a communication device, and a HID device or a combination thereof.

Wherein, the main control unit is electrically connected with the image sensing device, so as to receive an image signal from the image sensing device, and transmit it to the graphics processing unit through the main control unit, and then The graphics processing unit performs the graphics processing task.

Wherein, the graphics processing unit is arranged in a PCI-E interface slot, and the PCI-E interface slot is adapted to a PCI-Ex1 interface, a PCI-E x2 interface, a PCI-E x4 interface, a PCI-E One of x8 interface and PCI-E x16 interface.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 is a system architecture diagram of the present utility model.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of the signal flow of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a system architecture diagram of another embodiment 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a system architecture diagram of another embodiment 2 of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the signal flow of another embodiment 2 of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a system architecture diagram of another embodiment 3 of the present invention.

Explanation of reference signs

10 Electronic Computing System

101 graphics processing unit

1011 graphics memory

102 conversion units

103 main control unit

104 USB interface device

10’ Electronic Computing System

10’’ electronic computing system

20 external hosts

201 USB port

202 central processing unit

30 usb hub

301 Master Control Unit

302 USB Peripherals

303 conversion unit

40 USB Hub

L USB transmission line.

Detailed ways

Please refer to Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, which are respectively the system architecture diagram and the signal flow schematic diagram of the present utility model, and the electronic computing system 10 with expansibility is for being connected to an external host computer 20, and the electronic computing system 10 includes: at least one graphics processing A unit 101 , a conversion unit 102 , a main control unit 103 and a USB interface device 104 .

The graphic processing unit 101 can be more than one (for example two), and it has a graphic memory 1011 respectively, and the graphic processing unit 101 is used for a request command transmitted based on the external host 20, performs calculations and generates a PCI-E (PCIExpress) signal, the graphics memory 1011 is configured to temporarily store data such as graphics instructions, request instructions and images, wherein the request instruction is to execute a graphics processing task or a general computing task.

The conversion unit 102 is electrically connected to the graphics processing unit 101 for receiving the PCI-E signal transmitted by the graphics processing unit 101 and performing signal processing to convert it into a USB signal respectively.

The main control unit 103 is electrically connected to the conversion unit 102, and mainly transmits a control signal to the conversion unit 102 to drive the conversion unit 102 to act. The main control unit 103 can be a microprocessor (Microprocessor), a microcontroller (Microcontroller) Unit, MCU), a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or other similar devices.

The USB interface device 104 is electrically connected with the main control unit 103 and the conversion unit 102 respectively, so as to receive the USB signal transmitted by the conversion unit 102, and transmit the USB signal to a USB connection port of the external host 20 through a USB transmission line L 201, and the conversion unit 102 is also used to receive the request command (USB signal) transmitted by the external host 20 from the USB interface device 104, and perform signal conversion, so that the external host 20 requests to read the computing resources of the graphics processing unit 101 The instruction is transmitted to the graphics processing unit 101 for calculation.

The USB connection port 201 of the external host 20 is used for transmitting USB signals to a central processing unit 202 of the external host 20 for processing, so as to continue a graphics processing task or a general computing task.

Wherein, the graphics processing task to be performed by the external host 20 may be 2D or 3D graphics rendering (rendering) video processing or image acceleration tasks, especially to meet the needs of 3D graphics or 3D game software, but not limited thereto.

Among them, the general-purpose computing task to be performed by the external host 20 can instruct the graphics processing unit 101 to run in a "GPGPU (General-Purpose Computing on GPU, general-purpose computing on GPU, also called graphics processor general computing)" mode, according to Here, instructions and data that need to perform general-purpose arithmetic processing (for example, floating-point arithmetic instructions that execute Single Instruction Stream Multiple Data (SIMD)) can be transferred from the central processing unit 202 of the external host 20 to the graphics processing unit 101, and the graphics The arithmetic result calculated by the processing unit 101 is sent back to the central processing unit 202 .

Continuing from the above, if the external host 20 is used as a node of a blockchain (Blockchain) network, and is used to continuously perform a hash operation (Hashing), then the external host 20 can make the graphics processing unit 101 run in GPGPU mode, and can Improve its computing power in the blockchain network.

In addition, the above-mentioned external host 20 can be a personal computer (PC), a notebook computer (NB), a display device with a USB connection port, a point of sale information system (Point of Sale, POS), a virtual reality head A wearable device (HMD) or a mixed reality head-mounted device or a combination thereof, but not limited thereto.

In addition, the graphics processing unit 101 can be arranged in a PCI-E interface slot, and the PCI-E interface slot can be adapted to a PCI-Ex1 interface, a PCI-E x2 interface, a PCI-E x4 interface, and a PCI-E x8 interface. One of the interface and PCI-E x16 interface.

In addition, the USB interface device 104 can be adapted to the transmission specifications of Universal Serial Bus standards such as USB 2.0, USB 3.0 or USB 3.1, but not limited thereto; wherein, if the USB interface device 104 meets the transmission specifications of USB 3.0, Then the USB interface device 104 can have a power supply conductor pair (VBUS, GND), a SSTX signal conductor pair (SSTX+, SSTX-), a second USB signal conductor pair is a SSRX signal conductor pair (SSRX+, SSRX-) and A D signal conductor pair (D+, D-).

Please refer to FIG. 3 , which is a system architecture diagram of another embodiment 1 of the present invention. The technology of this embodiment is similar to that of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 , the main difference is that the electronic computing system 10 also includes a USB hub 30 , and the USB hub 30 can include a plurality of connection ports (USB connectors), one of the connection ports that the USB hub 30 has can be connected with the USB interface device 104, and the other two connection ports that the USB hub 30 has can be Respectively connected to a main control unit 301 and a conversion unit 303, so the main control unit 301 of this embodiment, its connection relationship with the USB interface device 104 is different from the embodiment shown in Figure 1, and, The USB hub 30 can also be provided with a plurality of expansion connection ports (not shown in the figure) for respectively connecting a plurality of USB peripheral devices 302 .

Wherein, each USB peripheral device 302 can be a communication device, an image sensing device, a HID device (Human Interface Device, human-machine interface device) or one of the devices supporting the USB transmission interface or a combination thereof.

Wherein, the communication device can establish communication with an external device (not shown in the figure), and the communication method can be achieved through transmission protocols such as Ethernet, 3G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Zigbee, and Bluetooth. , but not limited to this.

Wherein, the image sensing device is electrically connected to the main control unit 301. After the image sensing device receives an image signal, it can be transmitted from the main control unit 301 to the graphics processing unit 101 for the graphics processing unit 101 to perform graphics processing. Task.

Please refer to FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, which are respectively a system architecture diagram and a signal flow diagram of another embodiment 2 of the present invention. In the implementation architecture of this embodiment, a USB concentrator 40 can be arranged on the external host 20 and Between multiple electronic computing systems 10, 10', 10''..., and the system architecture and technology of the electronic computing systems 10', 10''... in this embodiment are the same as those of the electronic computing system 10 in the embodiment shown in Figure 1 Similarly, wherein, the USB concentrator 40 may include a plurality of connection ports (not shown in the figure), and one of the connection ports of the USB concentrator 40 may be connected to the USB connection port of the external host 20, and the USB The other connection ports of the concentrator 40, in addition to being connected to the USB interface device 104 of the electronic computing system 10, can also be respectively connected to each USB interface device of the electronic computing system 10', 10''... (not shown in the figure) ), according to this, the USB interface devices of each electronic computing system 10, 10', 10''... can respectively transmit the request command transmitted by the external host 20 to the conversion unit for processing, and complete the processing in the respective graphics processing unit After the calculation, the USB signals are transmitted to the external host 20 respectively, so as to enhance the computing capability of the external host 20 to perform graphics processing tasks or general calculation tasks.

Please refer to Fig. 6, which is a system architecture diagram of another embodiment three of the present invention. This embodiment is similar to the technology of the embodiment shown in Fig. 4, and the main difference is that the electronic calculation of the embodiment provided in Fig. 4 The system 10 can also include a USB hub 30, and the USB hub 30 can include multiple connection ports (USB connectors), and one of the connection ports that the USB hub 30 has can be connected with the USB interface device 104, and the USB hub 30 can The other two connecting ports are respectively connected with a main control unit 301 and a conversion unit 303, and the USB hub 30 can also be provided with multiple expansion connecting ports (not shown in the figure) for connecting multiple A USB peripheral device 302; in addition, the electronic computing system 10', 10'' may also include a USB hub 30, which will not be repeated here.

In summary, the electronic computing system proposed by the utility model can allow an external host with a USB connection port to be connected to only a USB transmission line, and after completing the installation of the driver program corresponding to the graphics processing unit, the external host can Successfully identify the graphics processing unit of the electronic computing system and read its computing resources, thereby improving the computing power of the external host to perform graphics processing tasks or general computing tasks, especially to improve the performance of the external host in virtualization/amplification/ Mixed reality, hashing (Hashing) calculation (especially as a node in the block training network), training machine learning models and other application-level computing performance; in short, the utility model allows users to use relatively low hardware The cost of construction can effectively improve the computing power of the external host, especially more suitable for the upgrade of old computers.

Moreover, since the existing external host (such as a notebook computer) has to make trade-offs in many designs in order to meet the thin and light requirements, the power of the built-in graphics card of the existing external host will be relatively low. The electronic computing system proposed by the utility model can effectively improve the computing capability of the external host without losing the convenience of movement.

Moreover, the external host can be connected to a plurality of electronic computing systems at the same time by connecting a USB hub, so that the external host can obtain the computing resources of the graphic processing units of each electronic computing system, and the electronic computing system of the present utility model can also be provided with A USB hub is used to support the connection requirements of multiple USB peripheral devices, thereby making the electronic computing system expandable.

Apparently, the described embodiments are only some of the embodiments of the present invention, but not all of them. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative work fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims (9)

1. a kind of electronic computing system with extendibility, which is characterized in that for connecting an external host, and the outside Host has a USB connector, and the electronic computing system includes:

An at least graphics processing unit has a figure memory body, and the graphics processing unit is for generating a PCI-E signal；

One converting unit is electrically connect with the graphics processing unit, is transmitted for the reception graphics processing unit The PCI-E signal, and be converted to a usb signal；

One main control unit is electrically connect with the converting unit, for driving the converting unit movement；

One USB interface device is electrically connected with the main control unit and the converting unit respectively, for receiving the conversion The usb signal that unit is transmitted, and by a USB transmission line, the usb signal is transferred to the institute of the external host State USB connector；And

The USB connector is handled for the central processing unit that the usb signal is transferred to the external host.

2. as described in claim 1 with the electronic computing system of extendibility, which is characterized in that the graphics processing unit is Two or more is electrically connect with the converting unit respectively, single to the conversion to transmit the PCI-E signal respectively Member.

3. as described in claim 1 with the electronic computing system of extendibility, which is characterized in that a USB aggregator is set to Between the external host, the electronic computing system and another electronic computing system, wherein the USB aggregator is provided with One connector, for being connected to the USB connector of the external host, the USB aggregator is additionally provided with other connections Mouthful, for being respectively connected to the USB interface device of the electronic computing system and another electronic computing system.

4. as described in claim 1 with the electronic computing system of extendibility, which is characterized in that the electricity with extendibility Sub- arithmetic system further includes a usb hub, a connector and the USB interface device possessed by the usb hub It is connected, other two connectors possessed by the usb hub are for being respectively connected to the main control unit and described Converting unit.

5. as claimed in claim 4 with the electronic computing system of extendibility, which is characterized in that the usb hub is also set Multiple expansion connectors are equipped with, for being respectively connected to multiple USB peripheral devices.

6. as described in claim 4 or 5 with the electronic computing system of extendibility, which is characterized in that USB aggregator setting Between the external host, the electronic computing system and another electronic computing system, wherein the USB aggregator setting There is a connector, for being connected to the USB connector of the external host, the USB aggregator is additionally provided with other companies Interface, for being respectively connected to the USB interface device of the electronic computing system Yu another electronic computing system.

7. as claimed in claim 5 with the electronic computing system of extendibility, which is characterized in that each USB peripheral device For an Image sensor apparatus, a communication device and one of which of a HID device or combinations thereof.

8. as claimed in claim 7 with the electronic computing system of extendibility, which is characterized in that the main control unit and institute It states Image sensor apparatus electrically to connect, for receiving a video signal from the Image sensor apparatus, to pass through the master control Unit processed is transferred to the graphics processing unit and is handled.

9. as described in claim 1 with the electronic computing system of extendibility, which is characterized in that the graphics processing unit is set It is placed in a PCI-E interface slot, the PCI-E interface slot adapts to a PCI-E x1 interface, a PCI-E x2 interface, a PCI-E The one of which of x4 interface, a PCI-E x8 interface and PCI-E x16 interface.