KEYBOARD WITH CIRCUIT FOR CLEARING CMOS DATA

[0001] 1. Technical Field

[0002] The present disclosure relates to a keyboard with a circuit for clearing complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) data.

[0003] 2. Description of Related Art

[0004] Jumpers are short wires or conductors mostly used to short-circuit pins of electronic devices, such as motherboards or hard disk drives.

[0005] When the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) settings or the CMOS chip, of a computer, are to be cleared, one can use a jumper to short-circuit certain pins on the motherboard of the computer. However, to get to the motherboard one must unscrew and remove the computer enclosure, this is time-consuming and inefficient. Therefore there is room for improvement in the art.

[0010] The disclosure, including the accompanying drawings, is illustrated by way of example and not by way of limitation. It should be noted that references to “an” or “one” embodiment in this disclosure are not necessarily to the same embodiment, and such references mean at least one.

[0011] Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, an exemplary embodiment of a keyboard 100 includes a keyboard body 10, and a jumper block 16 set on an end surface of the keyboard body 10 to clear complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) data of the computer connected to the keyboard 100. The jumper block 16 includes two pins 1 and 2. The pins 1 and 2 are not connected to each other directly. The pins 1 and 2 may be set anywhere on the keyboard body 10. The pins 1 and 2 can be electrically connected together by a jumper 17.

[0012] Referring to FIG. 3, the keyboard 100 further includes a keyboard interface 18, such as a personal system/2 (PS/2) interface, a keyboard control circuit 19, a battery B, diodes D1 and D2, resistors R1-R3, and capacitors C1 and C2. The keyboard control circuit 19, the battery B, the diodes D1 and D2, the resistors R1-R3, and the capacitors C1 and C2 are mounted on a printed circuit board (not shown) received in the housing 10. The keyboard interface 18 includes a data pin 180, a voltage pin 181, and an idle pin 182. The keyboard control circuit 19 is connected to the data pin 180 and the voltage pin 181 of the keyboard interface 18 to transmit data and receive a voltage. The keyboard control circuit 19 is a known circuit of a common computer keyboard.

[0013] The voltage pin 181 of the keyboard interface 18 is also connected to an anode of the diode D1. A cathode of the diode D1 is connected to a cathode of the diode D2. An anode of the diode D2 is connected to a positive terminal of the battery B by the resistor R1. A negative terminal of the battery B is grounded. The cathode of diode D1 is grounded by the capacitor C1. The cathode of diode D1 is also grounded by the resistor R2 and the capacitor C2 connected in series. The idle pin 182 of the keyboard interface 18 is connected to a node between the resistor R2 and the capacitor C2, and connected to the pin 2 of the jumper block 16. The pin 1 of the jumper block 16 is grounded by the resistor R3.

[0014] A motherboard 20 of the computer connected to the keyboard 100 includes a keyboard socket 22, a super input/output (SIO) chip 24, and a south bridge chip 26 connected the SIO chip 24. The south bridge chip 26 includes a reset signal pin RTCRST to output reset signals to clear the CMOS data of the computer. The keyboard socket 22 includes a data pin 224 corresponding to the data pin 180 of the keyboard interface 18, a voltage pin 226 corresponding to the voltage pin 181 of the keyboard interface 18, and an idle pin 222 corresponding to the idle pin 182 of the keyboard 18. The idle pin 222 of the keyboard socket 22 is connected to the reset signal pin RTCRST of the south bridge chip 26. The data pin 224 of the keyboard socket 22 is connected to the SIO chip 24.

[0015] In use, the keyboard interface 18 is plugged into the keyboard socket 22, with the idle pin 182 connected to the idle pin 222, the data pin 180 connected to the data pin 224, and the voltage pin 181 connected to the voltage pin 226. When the computer is not powered on, the battery B provides a voltage to the diode D2 by the resistor R1, to turn on the diode D2. The battery B outputs a high level signal to the reset signal pin RTCRST of the south bridge chip 26 by the idle pins 182 and 222. When the reset signal pin RTCRST of the south bridge chip 26 receives the high level signal, the south bridge chip 26 does not clear CMOS data. At this time, if the motherboard 20 is powered on, the motherboard 20 will execute an operation system of the computer according to CMOS data stored in the south bridge chip 26. After the computer is powered on, the keyboard interface 18 receives a direct current (DC) voltage from the keyboard socket 22 and supplies the DC voltage to the diode D1, to turn on the diode D1. The keyboard interface 18 outputs the high level signal to the reset signal pin RTCRST of the south bridge chip 26 by the resistor R2, and the idle pins 182 and 222. When the reset signal pin RTCRST of the south bridge chip 26 receives the high level signal, the south bridge chip 26 does not clear CMOS data.

[0016] If the south bridge chip 26 needs to clear CMOS data, the computer is powered off, the jumper 17 can be plugged into the pins 1 and 2 of the jumper block 16. Because the pin 1 of the jumper block 16 is grounded by the resistor R3, the pin 2 of the jumper block 16 outputs a low level signal to the reset signal pin RTCRST of the south bridge chip 26 by the idle pins 182 and 222. When the reset signal pin RTCRST of the south bridge chip 26 receives the low level signal, the south bridge chip 26 clears the CMOS data. If the jumper 17 is removed from the pins 1 and 2 of the jumper block 16, the reset signal pin RTCRST of the south bridge chip 26 is reset at the high level signal, and the south bridge chip 26 resets the CMOS data.

[0017] In one embodiment, the diodes D1 and D2 can prevent reverse current. In other embodiments, the diodes D1 and D2 may not be included in the circuit according to need.

[0018] The keyboard 100 can trigger the reset signal pin RTCRST of the south bridge chip 26 through connecting the jumper 17 to the pins 1 and 2 of the jumper block 16, to clear COMS data.

[0019] It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present disclosure have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the disclosure, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in details, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the disclosure to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.