Micronics Computers, Inc.

Xiao Feng Zhu

Motherboard 10M receives a voltage at post 14P from an off-board power source. Buried conductive layer 10B selectively distributes this electrical power to component sites 10S. Post bore 14 penetrates through local electrodes 12U and 12L into the motherboard for exposing post contact regions 14U and 14L and post contact region 14B in the buried layer. Connector post 14P is positioned within the post bore. Post bore conductor 14C within the post bore establishes electrical continuity from the connector post to the buried layer. The post bore conductor also establishes electrical continuity from the connector post to post contact regions 14U and 14L in the local electrodes. Auxiliary bore 16 proximate the post bore penetrates into the motherboard for exposing auxiliary contact regions 16U and 16L in the local electrodes, and auxiliary contact region 16B in the buried layer. Auxiliary bore conductor 16C within the auxiliary bore establishes electrical continuity along the auxiliary bore. Each auxiliary bore provides an upper circuit and lower auxiliary circuit in parallel relationship between the connector post and the buried layer for reducing the electrical resistance into the buried layer from the off-board power supply.

Mother board with auxiliary conductors in parallel with power connectors

Mother board 10M provides a flexible circuit component layout for computer system 10 within housing 10H. The mother board accommodates system component options such as an add-on card 12C or a disk drive bay 10D. Memory module footprint sites 14A-F within memory region 14 are defined on the mother board. Footprints designated in the layout receive components which provide the option flexibility of mother board 10M. Memory module connectors are to be emplaced within the memory region depending on the space requirements of component options. The M memory connectors may be arranged in any configuration selected from a set of multiple possible configurations permitted by M module connectors of T types emplaced in F footprint sites (where F&gt;M). F minus M footprint sites remain vacant without a module connector emplaced therein. These vacant sites provide empty spaces which may be 'shuffled around' to accommodate the various system component options. Once a design option has been determined (such as an expansion circuit card or a relocated drive bay) a workable memory connector configuration is selected. The memory connectors are then emplaced in the memory region on the mother board and memory modules are seated in each of the module connectors.

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Fremont, CA, United States of America

Xiao Feng Zhu