Apparatus and method to uniquely identify similarly connected electrical devices

• Main Author: SHERMAN LEE
• Format: Patent
• Language: Chinese; English
• Published: 21.07.1996
• Subjects: CALCULATING; COMPUTING; COUNTING; ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; MEASURING; MEASURING ELECTRIC VARIABLES; MEASURING MAGNETIC VARIABLES; PHYSICS; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ARTCOLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS; TESTING

A novel identity apparatus in the form of, for example, a cable or a system board has a number of connectors, each connector including one or more "identity" terminals, that are used to uniquely identify an electrical device attached to the connector. The identity apparatus eliminates jumpers or dip switches conventionally used in an electrical device to provide an identity to the electrical device. An identity cable's identity terminals are pulled up to reference voltage Vcc by the attached electrical device that also senses the voltage at the identity terminals to determine identity. The identity cable's connector includes a "ground" terminal that is coupled to ground by the attached electrical device. Each identity terminal of a cable is couplable (i.e. can be coupled) inside the identity cable to ground or alternatively left unconnected, to thereby indicate a logic state "1" or a logic state "0" respectively. A system board's identity terminals can be pulled up to Vcc or coupled to ground by traces within