| United States Patent Application | 20110249391 |
| Kind Code | A1 |
| Xu; Shuang | October 13, 2011 |
PORTABLE COMPUTER SYSTEM
| Inventors: | Xu; Shuang; (Shenzhen, CN) |
| Assignee: | NVIDIA Corporation Santa Clara CA |
| Serial No.: | 083469 |
| Series Code: | 13 |
| Filed: | April 8, 2011 |
| Current U.S. Class: | 361/679.33; 361/679.31; 361/679.4 |
| Class at Publication: | 361/679.33; 361/679.4; 361/679.31 |
| International Class: | G06F 1/16 20060101 G06F001/16; G06F 1/18 20060101 G06F001/18 |
CLAIM OF PRIORITY
[0001] The present application claims the priority of Chinese Patent Application No. 20100141965.4, filed Apr. 8, 2010, which is incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates to a computer system, and more particularly to a portable computer system.
BACKGROUND
[0003] With the increasing integration degree of integrated circuits (ICs), more and more functions can be combined on a single chip. Currently, there is a chip available referred to as a “Computer-On-a-Chip” (“CoC”) or “System-On-a-Chip” (“SoC”), such as the Tegra.TM. processor from NVIDIA Corporation. The CoC or SoC is a heterogeneous processor architecture with multiple processors, each designed for a specific class of tasks including, but not limited to, a central processing unit (CPU), a video processor, an image processor, an audio processor and a memory. These processors are used together or independently to perform what can be implemented in a traditional PC, but integrated onto a single chip. Besides the variety of functions, this CoC or SoC has another advantage in that it usually has ultra-low power consumption of several watts, for example, when working on a full load.
[0004] Due to these advantages of the CoC/SoC, more and more electrical devices start to use these chips, for example, in mobile phones, PCs or even cars. These chips can be used separately in the electrical devices, or used in parallel with traditional CPU chips to use different functions of different chips. However, in the traditional application, CoC/SoC is disposed with the electrical device. For example, CoC/SoC is mounted on the motherboard of the electrical device. It is very hard to detach CoC/SoC from the electrical device. That is to say, every electrical device must be provided with CoC/SoC if it intends to adopt CoC/SoC However, this will increase the cost of an electrical device. One the other hand, in order to meet different needs of different people, it is not necessary to provide the CoC/SoC to some electrical devices. Thus, after a user bought an electrical device without CoC/SoC, it is hard to provide such device with CoC/SoC.
[0005] Therefore, a computer system is needed to solve the above problems.
SUMMARY
[0006] This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
[0007] In consideration of the above-identified need a portable computer system is provided. The portable computer system comprises: a multi-functional processing unit with power consumption of no more than approximately 10 watts consisting of a single chip having a plurality of processors thereon, wherein each processor is operable for at least one task selected from a group consisting of computing, graphic processing and audio processing; a mother board to which the multi-functional processing unit is connected; a memory unit connected to the motherboard and in communication with the multi-functional processing unit; and an I/O interface connected to the motherboard and in communication with the multi-functional processing unit, the portable computer system is configured to insert into a interface of a peripheral device to communicate between the portable computer system and the peripheral device.
[0008] The portable computer system may be connected to other systems via its I/O interface to expand the function of other systems, and it can be removed from such other systems when needed. The portable computer system is easy to take and to detach, and has small size.
[0009] Other features and embodiments are described below.
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