Structure for PCI-E based POS terminal

1. A non-transitory machine readable storage medium including design data for at least one of designing, manufacturing, and testing a design, wherein, when executed by a processor, the design data implements the design comprising a point-of-sale system unit, wherein the point-of-sale system unit functions as a central server, and wherein the point-of-sale system unit comprises:

a circuit board; and

a PCI Express interface communicatively coupled to the circuit board and configured to couple, via a PCI Express communication channel, to a PCI Express feature card, wherein the PCI Express feature card is located in a point-of-sale terminal remote from the point-of-sale system unit, and wherein the PCI Express feature card appears architecturally to the circuit board to be located at the circuit board,

wherein one or more point-of-sale input/output devices physically coupled to the point-of-sale terminal use the PCI Express feature card to provide input data to the point-of-sale system unit.

2. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the PCI Express communication channel is a bus connecting the PCI Express interface and the PCI Express feature card.

3. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 2 , wherein the bus is a cable.

4. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 3 , wherein the cable comprises an unshielded twisted pair cable.

5. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the PCI Express communication channel is a wireless connection.

6. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 3 , wherein the cable comprises a fiber optic cable.

7. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the circuit board is a motherboard.

8. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 1 , further comprising a netlist that describes the point-of-sale system unit.

9. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the design structure resides on the non-transitory machine readable storage medium as a data format used for an exchange of layout data of integrated circuits.

10. A non-transitory machine readable storage medium including design data for at least one of designing, manufacturing, and testing a design, wherein when executed by a processor, the design data implements the design comprising a point-of-sale system unit and a PCI Express connection, wherein the point-of-sale system unit functions as a central server, and wherein the point-of-sale system unit comprises:

a circuit board; and

a PCI Express interface communicatively coupled to the circuit board and configured to couple, via a PCI Express connection, to a PCI Express feature card located remotely from the point-of-sale system unit and wherein the PCI Express feature card appears architecturally to the circuit board to be located at the circuit board,

wherein the PCI Express connection comprises one of an unshielded twisted pair cable, a fiber optic cable, and a wireless connection.

11. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the PCI Express interface is a PCI Express connector.

12. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the circuit board is a motherboard.

13. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the PCI Express feature card is located in a point-of-sale terminal.

14. A non-transitory machine readable storage medium embodying a design structure for at least one of designing, manufacturing, and testing a design, wherein when executed by a processor, the design structure implements the design comprising a point-of-sale system unit and a separate point-of-sale terminal, wherein the point-of-sale system unit functions as a central server, and wherein the point-of-sale system unit comprises:

a circuit board; and

a PCI Express interface communicatively coupled to the circuit board and configured to couple to a PCI Express feature card located in the point-of-sale terminal, wherein the PCI Express feature card is connected to the circuit board via a bus and the PCI Express interface, and wherein the PCI express feature card appears architecturally to the circuit board to be located at the circuit board,

wherein one or more point-of-sale input/output devices physically coupled to the point-of-sale terminal use the PCI Express feature card to provide input data to the point-of-sale system unit.

15. The design structure of claim 14 , wherein the circuit board is a motherboard.

16. The design structure of claim 14 , wherein the PCI Express connection comprises one of an unshielded twisted pair cable, a fiber optic cable, and a wireless connection.

17. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein one or more point-of-sale input/output devices physically coupled to the point-of-sale terminal use the PCI Express feature card to provide input data to the point-of-sale system unit.

18. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein one or more point-of-sale input/output devices physically coupled to the point-of-sale terminal use the PCI Express feature card to provide input data to the point-of-sale system unit.

19. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the circuit board of the point-of-sale system unit is communicatively coupled, via a plurality of PCI Express connections, to a plurality of PCI Express feature cards, wherein each of the plurality of PCI Express feature cards is located in a respective one of a plurality of remote point-of-sale terminals.