U.S. patent application number 11/011251 was filed with the patent office on 2006-06-15 for console embedded server rack.
Invention is credited to Robert Vernon Williamson.
Application Number | 20060125358 11/011251 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 36582985 |
Filed Date | 2006-06-15 |
United States Patent
Application |
20060125358 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Williamson; Robert Vernon |
June 15, 2006 |
Console embedded server rack
Abstract
A server rack enclosure has a display, keyboard and mouse
mounted on the inside face of the enclosure's door. When the door
is in an open position, these user interface devices provide access
and control over the servers, hard drives, network equipment, etc.
mounted in the server rack. The location of the user interface
devices on the enclosure door saves valuable rack space for servers
or other machines. The user interface devices are integrally or
separately mounted to a vertical rail affixed to the door to permit
user positioning of the user interface devices to a preferred
height by sliding the display and keyboard along the rail. The
display and keyboard are mounted to the rail using hinge or swivel
mounts to permit the user rotation and positioning of the user
interface devices to a preferred viewing and operational angle.
Inventors: |
Williamson; Robert Vernon;
(Austin, TX) |
Correspondence
Address: |
DILLON & YUDELL LLP
8911 N. CAPITAL OF TEXAS HWY.,
SUITE 2110
AUSTIN
TX
78759
US
|
Family ID: |
36582985 |
Appl. No.: |
11/011251 |
Filed: |
December 14, 2004 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
312/223.1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H05K 7/1494
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
312/223.1 |
International
Class: |
A47B 81/00 20060101
A47B081/00; A47B 97/00 20060101 A47B097/00 |
Claims
1. A system rack comprising: an enclosure having rack mounting
components to enable machines to be mounted within the enclosure;
and a door movably attached to the enclosure, the door having one
or more user interface devices attached thereto configurable for
connection to machines mounted in the enclosure to provide
interface therewith.
2. The system rack according to claim 1, wherein one or more of the
machines are servers.
3. The system rack according to claim 1, wherein the rack mounting
components mount machines having a vertical height expressed in
terms of a standard vertical unit of measure.
4. The system rack according to claim 1, wherein the door permits
access to the machines mounted within the enclosure.
5. The system rack according to claim 1, wherein the user interface
devices are attached on a back side of the door, wherein the back
side faces into the enclosure when the door is closed.
6. The system rack according to claim 1, wherein the user interface
devices comprise a display device.
7. The system rack according to claim 1, wherein the user interface
devices comprise a laptop computer.
8. The system rack according to claim 1, wherein the user interface
devices comprise a keyboard.
9. The system rack according to claim 1, wherein the user interface
devices are rotatably mounted on the door to permit rotation of the
user interface devices into a plane at an angle to the plane of the
door.
10. The system rack according to claim 1, wherein the door is
configurable to mount the user interface devices at a user-selected
vertical position on the door.
11. A door for an enclosure comprising: a door body; one or more
attachment devices functioning to rotatably attach the body to an
enclosure; and one or more interface devices attached to a back
side of the door body and positioned thereon such that, when the
door body is attached to an enclosure, the one or more interface
devices are within the enclosure when the door is in a closed
position and accessible by a user when the door is in an open
position.
12. The door according to claim 11, wherein the interface devices
provide communication to machines in an enclosure.
13. The door according to claim 11, wherein the door permits access
to machines mounted within an attached enclosure.
14. The door according to claim 11, wherein the interface devices
comprise a display device.
15. The door according to claim 11, wherein the interface devices
comprise a laptop computer.
16. The door according to claim 11, wherein the interface devices
comprise a keyboard.
17. The door according to claim 11, wherein the interface devices
are rotatably mounted on the door body to permit rotation of the
interface devices into a plane at an angle to a plane defined by
the longest dimension of the door body.
18. The door according to claim 11, wherein the interface devices
are movably attached to the door body to permit the interface
devices to be located at a user-selected vertical position on the
door body.
19. The door according to claim 11, wherein the door body includes
a rail and wherein the interface devices are slidably attached to
the rail to permit the interface devices to be attached at a
user-selected position along the rail.
20. The door according to claim 19, wherein the interface devices
are enabled to slid along the rail in a vertical direction to
permit the interface devices to be attached at a user-selected
vertical position along the rail.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates in general to hardware for
computer systems, and in particular to console displays mounted
within computer system enclosures.
[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0004] System racks have been provided for housing equipment, such
as network server systems, telephone switch gear, power supplies,
and the like. Industry standards have been adopted for system
racks, including the adoption of standard unit vertical heights,
horizontal widths and horizontal depths of the system racks. One
such standard size rack has a width of 19 inches. The vertical
height of components for installation into system racks is
typically expressed in terms of a standard vertical unit of measure
called a "U," which corresponds to 1.25 inches. Various such U
components have been secured to system racks using threaded
fasteners, which have included bolts and screws that require hand
tools to secure the various components to the system racks. System
racks are typically enclosed using a metal or composite enclosure
surrounding the system racks, and incorporating a door to provide
access to the components mounted therein.
[0005] While the system rack enclosure allows for efficient use of
space by housing multiple computing devices, some of the enclosure
space is in some circumstances consumed by a computer console used
access the machines within the system rack enclosure. Typically,
such a console consists of a monitor, keyboard and mouse, and
sometimes even has its own central processing unit or other type of
computer system. A large video display and keyboard combination can
be housed within the enclosure, but a large number of units ("U")
of space are consumed storing such console.
[0006] In an improvement to this configuration, some systems
utilize just a single unit ("1U") of the rack to hold a flat panel
display and keyboard/touch-pad input device, both housed in a
rectangular drawer that slides in and out of one of the units in
the system rack. The flat panel displays have been pivotally
mounted to the drawers such that the monitor may be disposed in a
horizontal position for storage, and then raised to an upright
position for viewing once the drawer is pulled outward of the
server system rack. Such a configuration allows the flat panel
monitor to be laid flat in the drawer and the drawer pushed in to a
housed position within the rack when not in use. Input and output
devices, such as keyboards, mice, touch pads and display monitors
are connected to the servers in the system rack to allow user
access to the servers. The drawback to this solution is the loss of
at least one unit of rack space that could be otherwise mounting
another machine in the system rack. It would be desirable to
provide an alternative solution to provide computer console
functionality for a system rack without consuming valuable system
rack unit space.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] In accordance with the present invention, improved apparatus
and systems of system rack enclosures are disclosed. In one
embodiment of the present invention, a door for a system rack
enclosure has a door body, one or more attachment devices
functioning to rotatably attach the body to an enclosure, and one
or more interface devices attached to a back side of the door body
and positioned thereon such that, when the door body is attached to
an enclosure, the one or more interface devices is within the
enclosure when the door is in a closed position and accessible by a
user when the door is in an open position.
[0008] All objects, features, and advantages of the present
invention will become apparent in the following detailed written
description.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0009] This invention is described in a preferred embodiment in the
following description with reference to the drawings, in which like
numbers represent the same or similar elements, as follows:
[0010] FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of an external appearance of
a system rack, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the
present invention.
[0011] FIG. 2A shows a front view of the system rack enclosure, in
accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present
invention.
[0012] FIG. 2B shows a front view of the system rack enclosure in
state in which the front door thereof is removed, in accordance
with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
[0013] FIG. 3A shows a perspective view of the front of the system
rack enclosure in state in which the door is in an open position,
in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present
invention.
[0014] FIG. 3B shows a perspective view of the front of the system
rack enclosure door, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of
the present invention.
[0015] FIG. 4 shows an exploded perspective view of the enclosure
door, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present
invention.
[0016] FIG. 5 shows a front view of the enclosure door, in
accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present
invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0017] With reference now to the Figures, and particular with
reference to FIG. 1, there is shown a perspective view of an
external appearance of a system rack, in accordance with a
preferred embodiment of the present invention. System rack 10 is of
the type which is commonly used in network server systems,
telephone switch gear, power supplies, and the like. FIG. 2A is a
front view of the system rack enclosure, in accordance with a
preferred embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2B is a front
view showing the system rack enclosure in state in which the front
door thereof is removed.
[0018] As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2A, system rack 10 includes an
enclosure comprising an upper main body 12 and a lower main body
14, which are made of a sturdy material such as steel for example.
On the upper main body 12, an open-closeable front door 16,
including a handle 20 is arranged and a back door (not shown) is
also arranged on a back side thereof. Servers, routers or other
electronic machines can be housed in the inside upper main body 12
and accessed by opening the front door 16. The front door 16 is
closely attached and fixed to the front of the upper main body 12
by three hinges 22 at a predetermined spacing on one side of front
door 16. In addition, interconnection of mounted machines via rear
connection sockets is performed by accessing the machines through
the back door. Further, an open-closeable lower front door 18 is
also arranged on lower main body 14. In addition, three door
locking members 24 are also provided on the other side of door 16
at predetermined spacing on a side wall of the upper main body
12.
[0019] As shown in FIG. 2B, an internal space 27 in the upper main
body 12 receives a number of machines for mounting in the system
rack 10. For example, FIG. 2B shows thirteen servers 30 of the 1U
size and one router 32 of the 1U size attached to system rack 10 at
a predetermined spacing (e.g., 89 mm) sufficient to provide an air
layer for cooling of the servers. While not shown, cabling in the
rear of upper main body 12 interconnects servers 30 and router 32
and provides output cabling to connect these machines externally to
system rack 10. Attachment panels 28, on which predetermined
threaded holes are formed in order to secure the mounted servers
30, are disposed within internal space 27 adjacent to the openings
of the upper main body 12. In a state in which the front door 16 is
open, a user can place the servers 30 on the inside of the upper
main body 12 and, aligning threaded holes provided in front panels
of the servers and the threaded holes in the attachment panels 28,
thread screws into the threaded holes to mount the machines in the
system rack 10. The user can also attach the router 32 in the
inside of the upper main body 12 in the same manner.
[0020] FIG. 3A shows a perspective view of the front of the system
rack with the door in an open position, in accordance with a
preferred embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3B shows a
perspective view of the back of the system rack enclosure door, in
accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. A
computer console is provided on the inside face of the door. The
computer console includes a display 36, keyboard 38 and pointing
device 39. Keyboard 38 may integrally contain pointing device 39,
which is a track ball or mouse, for example. Flat panel display 36,
which can be a liquid crystal display or light emitting diode
display, for example, provides a display monitor for a graphical
user interface. Other types of input devices may also be used, such
as touch screens, touch pads, audio microphones, and the like. The
flat panel display 36/keyboard 38 combination is housed within an
inset 32 of door 16, and is slidably mounted to mounting rail 34 to
allow the flat panel display 36 and keyboard 38 to be vertically
positioned along the rail 34 to a preferred height for usability.
Mounting rail 34 is secured to the door 16 with securing means such
as brackets and screws. Keyboard 38 and pointing device 39 are
shown as a single unit, but may be fixated to mounting rail 34 as
two separate units in some embodiments. In an alternative preferred
embodiment, display 36, keyboard 38 and pointing device 39 are
contained in an integrated housing, for example as a laptop
computer, and integrally mounted to door 16, for example by
attachment to rail 34.
[0021] Inset 32 within door 16 is of a depth to allow mounting rail
34, flat panel display 36 and keyboard 38 to be fully contained
therein such that when rotated to a vertical position, flat panel
display 36 and keyboard 38 do not interfere with the machines 30
when door 16 is closed and secured by latches 24. Flat panel
display 36 and keyboard 38 are connected by hinges 40 to allow
keyboard 38 to be rotatably positioned between the vertical and
horizontal positions to allow for more ergonomic positioning by a
user. Flat panel display 36 may also be pivotally mounted to hinges
40 or mounting rail 34 in an alternative embodiment such that the
flat panel display 36 may be moved between a vertical and angled
position relative to door 16.
[0022] Electronic cabling connecting machines 30 to flat panel
display 36 and keyboard 38 is wired through an inner conduit within
mounting rail 34 (not shown), or alternatively is loosely placed
within inset 32 and into an aperture (not shown) in door 16. The
electronic cabling comes out of door 16 through cable harness 21
(FIGS. 1 and 2A) into enclosure 12 for connection to machines 30.
Typically, such electronic cabling supplies power and electronic
signaling to enable operation of flat panel display 36 and keyboard
38 with an associated server mounted in enclosure 12.
[0023] With reference now to FIGS. 4 and 5, there is shown,
respectively, an exploded perspective view and back view of the
enclosure door, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the
present invention. On the inside face of door 16 is inset 32.
Mounting rail 34 is equipped with various mounting brackets (not
shown) to secure mounting rail 34 to door 16 within inset 32 using
fastening means such as brackets and screws. Keyboard 38 and
pointing device 39 are attached to flat panel display 36 by hinges
40 (FIG. 3). Flat panel display 36 is securely attached to rail
bracket 37, which is slidably coupled to mounting rail 34 to allow
for slidable movement along mounting rail 34 in the vertical
direction. A locking mechanism (not shown) allows rail bracket 37
to be locked into position at a selected height along mounting rail
34. For example, rail bracket 37 may contain a latch member
slidably secured to rail bracket 42 and biased into an extended or
latched position by a spring (not shown) to secure the rail bracket
37 to the rail 34 at a selected position. The latch member would be
movable between the latched position and a release position for
selectively fastening the rail bracket 37 to the mounting rail 34
and releasing the rail bracket 37 from the mounting rail 34,
without the use of tooling, to allow user positioning of flat panel
display 36 in the vertical direction.
[0024] In an alternative preferred embodiment of the present
invention, the computer console is provided on the front face of
the door. In this way, the console can be accessed without opening
door 16. Keyboard 38, pointing device 39 and flat panel display 36
are mounted to a front side of door 16. This embodiment can be
visualized by considering FIG. 3B as showing a perspective view of
the front of the system rack enclosure door, and FIGS. 4 and 5,
show an exploded perspective view and front view of the enclosure
door, respectively, in accordance with an alternative preferred
embodiment of the present invention. The computer console includes
a display 36, keyboard 38 and pointing device 39. The flat panel
display 36/keyboard 38 combination is housed within an inset 32 of
door 16, and is slidably mounted to mounting rail 34 to allow the
flat panel display 36 and keyboard 38 to be vertically positioned
along the rail 34 to a preferred height for usability. Mounting
rail 34 is secured to the door 16 with securing means such as
brackets and screws. As will be appreciated, this embodiment
operates similarly to the embodiment described above.
[0025] While the invention has been particularly shown and
described with reference to a preferred embodiment, it will be
understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form
and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit
and scope of the invention.
* * * * *