Method and apparatus for hot plugging/unplugging a sub-system to an

Abstract

The present invention provides an 'alert' interface for a component which can be safely 'hot-plugged/unplugged' to an 'alert' interconnect of an electrically powered system. The alert interface has a mating edge which includes daughter precharge/ground connectors, a daughter (engage) waning connector, a number of daughter signal connectors and a daughter engage connector. The alert interconnect includes corresponding mother connectors. The respective connectors of the interconnect and the interface are arranged so that they mate in the following exemplary order when the interface is hot-plugged/unplugged to the interconnect: precharge/ground connectors, warning connectors, signal connectors and finally engage connectors. When the daughter (engage) warning connector mates with the mother warning connector, the component sends an 'engage warning' signal to the powered system. Eventully, all the signal connectors mate followed by the engage connectors, enabling the component to send an 'engaged' signal to the system indicating that all the signal connectors have completely mated. In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the component can also be safely 'hot-unplugged' by first, substantially increasing the degree of recess of the daughter engage connector relative to the daughter signal connectors along the mating edge, and second, doubling the daughter engage connector to function as a daughter disengage warning connector.