# US 2019/0380208 A1 · Modular expansion card bus > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2019/0380208 A1 - Document ID: US20190380208A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 16/549,868 - Filed: 2019-08-23 - Published: 2019-12-12 - Earliest claimed: 2018-03-23 - Assignees: Amazon Technologies, Inc. - Applicants: Amazon Technologies, Inc. - Inventors: Kevin Bailey; Priscilla Lam; Darin Lee Frink; Jason Alexander Harland; Felipe Enrique Ortega Gutierrez - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20190380208A1 ## CPC - H05K 1/184: associated with components inserted in holes through the PCBs and wherein terminals of the components are connected to printed contacts on the walls of the holes or at the edges thereof or protruding over or into the holes - G06F 11/20: using active fault-masking, e.g. by switching out faulty elements or by switching in spare elements - G06F 13/4068: {Electrical coupling} - H05K 1/183: associated with components mounted in and supported by recessed areas of the PCBs - H05K 3/30: Assembling printed circuits with electric components, e.g. with resistors - G06F 11/0793: {Remedial or corrective actions (recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40)} - H05K 1/142: {Arrangements of planar printed circuit boards in the same plane, e.g. auxiliary printed circuit insert mounted in a main printed circuit} - H05K 1/144: {Stacked arrangements of planar printed circuit boards} - H05K 2203/167: Using mechanical means for positioning, alignment or registration, e.g. using rod-in-hole alignment - H05K: PRINTED CIRCUITS; CASINGS OR CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS OF ELECTRIC APPARATUS; MANUFACTURE OF ASSEMBLAGES OF ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) ## Abstract A computing system includes a circuit board assembly and multiple expansion cards connected to one another and also connected to the circuit board assembly. The connected expansion cards form a modular expansion card bus that allows the expansion cards to communicate between each other without routing the communications through the circuit board assembly. In some embodiments, the expansion cards are mounted on a tray that includes mounting pins that engage mounting slots of the expansion cards, allowing for simple installation of various combinations of expansion cards connected together to form a modular expansion card bus. ## Claims ### Claim at position 1 -5. (canceled) ### Claim 6 A system comprising: a card comprising: a connector on a first edge of the card configured to couple with a corresponding connector of a circuit board; a connector on a second edge of the card configured to couple with a corresponding connector of an adjacent card mounted in a same plane as the card. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The system of claim 6, wherein the card is: a networking expansion card; a storage expansion card; a memory expansion card; or a processing expansion card. ### Claim 8 (depends on 6) The system of claim 6, wherein the connector on the second edge of the card is a printed circuit board (PCB) edge connector comprising conductive fingers configured to couple with a corresponding connector of the adjacent card, wherein the card comprises a mounting slot configured to limit the movement of the card to a distance that is less than a length of the conductive fingers. ### Claim 9 (depends on 6) The system of claim 6, wherein the card further comprises re-drivers or re-timers to facilitate transmitting signals between the card and the adjacent card. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The system of claim 9, wherein the card further comprises one or more switches configured to direct signals to: an adjacently connected card; a circuit included on the card; or the circuit board coupled to the card via the connector on the first edge of the card. ### Claim 11 (depends on 9) The system of claim 9, wherein the card is configured to transmit signals to the adjacent card without routing the signals through the circuit board, wherein the circuit board is a mother board and the card and the adjacent card are expansion cards coupled to the motherboard. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The system of claim 11, wherein the card comprises: a system on a chip (SoC); an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC); a field programmable gate array (FPGA); or graphic processing unit (GPU). ### Claim 13 (depends on 11) The system of claim 11, wherein the card comprises one or more solid-state storage devices or memory devices. ### Claim 14 (depends on 6) The system of claim 6, wherein the adjacent card is a dummy card comprising a connector on each of two edges of the dummy card, wherein the dummy card is configured to provide a communication path between the card and another card. ### Claim 15 (depends on 6) The system of claim 6, wherein the system is configured such that the card is configured to be: disconnected from the circuit board and the adjacent card; and replaced with another card or a dummy card. ### Claim at position 12 -20. (canceled) ### Claim 21 (depends on 6) The system of claim 6, wherein the connector on the first edge of the card is oriented perpendicular to the connector on the second edge of the card. ### Claim 22 (depends on 6) The system of claim 6, wherein the card comprises a mounting slot configured to limit the movement of the card to a distance that is less than a length of the conductive fingers. ### Claim 23 (depends on 22) The system of claim 22, wherein the mounting slot of the card is configured to engage with a mounting pin of a tray. ### Claim 24 (depends on 23) The system of claim 23, wherein the mounting slot of the card is configured to: restrict vertical motion of the card relative to the mounting pin of the tray; and permit at least some lateral motion of the card relative to the mounting pin of the tray. ### Claim 25 (depends on 6) The system of claim 6, wherein the card is a processing expansion card comprising one or more specialized processors and the adjacent card is a memory expansion card comprising one or more memory devices, wherein the processing expansion card is configured to transmit signals to the memory expansion card via the connector on the second edge coupled with the corresponding connector of the memory expansion card without routing the signals through the circuit board to which the processing expansion card and the memory expansion card are coupled. ### Claim 26 (depends on 6) The system of claim 6, wherein the card is a processing expansion card comprising one or more specialized processors and the adjacent card is a network expansion card, wherein the processing expansion card is configured to transmit signals to the network expansion card via the connector on the second edge coupled with the corresponding connector of the network expansion card without routing the signals through the circuit board to which the processing expansion card and the network expansion card are coupled. ### Claim 27 (depends on 6) The system of claim 6, wherein the card is a memory expansion card comprising one or more memory devices and the adjacent card is a processing expansion card, wherein the memory expansion card is configured to transmit signals to the processing expansion card via the connector on the second edge coupled with the corresponding connector of the processing expansion card without routing the signals through the circuit board to which the memory expansion card and the processor expansion card are coupled. ### Claim 28 (depends on 6) The system of claim 6, wherein the card comprises: a connector on a third edge of the card, wherein the connector on the third edge of the card is configured to couple with a corresponding connector of another adjacent card mounted in the same plane as the card. ### Claim 29 (depends on 28) The system of claim 28, wherein the connectors on the second and third edges of the card are oriented perpendicular to the connector on the first edge of the card. ### Claim 30 (depends on 29) The system of claim 29, wherein the card is configured to couple with the adjacent card and the other adjacent card to form a modular expansion card bus configured to route communication signals between the card, the adjacent card, and the other adjacent card without routing the communication signals through the circuit board to which the card, the adjacent card, and the other card are coupled.