Ciena Corporation

Wayde Jaskela

Raleigh Bettiga

Colin Wilson

A chassis includes a midplane defining a plurality of expansion sockets on one side and one or more motherboard sockets on the other. A modular motherboard is removably inserted in the chassis and engages the one or more motherboard sockets. An expansion card may engage with one or more of the motherboard sockets simultaneously. The expansion sockets are arranged in a coplanar and collinear manner to enable a planar expansion card to simultaneously insert within multiple expansion sockets. The motherboard allocates lanes to the expansion card in response to detecting a number of sockets occupied by the expansion card.

Variable width PCIe interface

A chassis defines a slot for receiving a motherboard. The motherboard is insertable within the slot and further defines a plurality of fan module receivers along an edge thereof. Fan modules insert within the fan modules receivers and are removable and insertable while the motherboard is inserted within the chassis. The motherboard defines a plurality of edge connectors and connectors of the plurality of fan modules engage the edge connectors. Alignment posts mount to the motherboard opposite the edge connectors and the fan modules include slots that engage the alignment posts to align the connectors of the fan modules with the edge connectors. The chassis includes a midplane defining a plurality of expansion sockets on one side and one or more motherboard sockets on the other. The expansion sockets are arranged in a coplanar and collinear manner to enable a planar expansion card to simultaneously insert within multiple expansion sockets.

Modular fan and motherboard assembly

An arrangement has guides that define passageways for left and right edges of a card, and a tab located in a path of a connector at a front edge of the card. The tab is elastically deformable out of the path by movement of the connector, as the card is inserted into the arrangement. The tab returns to a space behind the connector when the connector moves past a highest point on the tab. The highest point is located between two surfaces of the tab: a ramp-up surface and a ramp-down surface. During movement along the path, the connector slides on the ramp-up surface to elastically deform the tab out of the path, and on further movement the ramp-down surface pushes on the connector as the connector mates with another external connector. Thereafter, presence of the tab keeps the two connectors mated, until the module is removed from the arrangement.

Growing community of inventors

Windsor, CA, United States of America

Wayde Jaskela