Slot design for flexible and expandable system architecture

• Main Authors: TALBERT JASON R, LONGHENRY BRIAN E, BINGI RAVI B, HURRY PRAVIND K, GRUGER JEFF H, LAM RANGER H, STEINBACH ANDREW W
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 17.11.2015
• Subjects: CALCULATING; CASINGS OR CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS OF ELECTRIC APPARATUS; COMPUTING; COUNTING; ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING; ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; ELECTRICITY; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; MANUFACTURE OF ASSEMBLAGES OF ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS; PHYSICS; PRINTED CIRCUITS; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS

An apparatus includes a printed circuit board including a connector footprint comprising a first footprint portion operative to receive a first connector portion and a second footprint portion operative to receive a second connector portion. The first footprint portion is compliant with a first communications link type and the first and second footprint portions are jointly compliant with a second communications link type. The printed circuit board includes first conductive traces coupled to the first footprint portion and a first device footprint. The first conductive traces are selectively configurable according to a selected one of the first and second communications link types. The printed circuit board includes a second conductive traces coupled to the second footprint portion and the first device footprint. in at least one embodiment of the apparatus, the first communications link type is AC-coupled and the second communications link type is DC-coupled.