The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 11, 2000
Filed:
Jul. 20, 1998
Jung-Chen Lin, Cupertino, CA (US);
Lawerence W Mo, Cupertino, CA (US);
Kendin Semiconductor, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
Systems and methods are described for implementing a backplane in the context of a stack of networking hubs based on a backplane connecter and for carrying out a method of configuring and terminating the backplane. A backplane connector includes a first voltage source; a plurality of connector contacts; a plurality of termination resistors, a first end of the plurality of termination resistors being coupled to the plurality of connector contacts; a first switch located between the first voltage source and a second end of the plurality of termination resistors; a first logic circuit coupled to the first switch, the first logic circuit closing the first switch when a layer composed by the backplane connector is both i) active and ii) either a top layer in a stack composed by the layer or a bottom layer in the stack. The systems and methods provide advantages in that a plurality of stackable network hubs can be economically coupled together with automatic impedance matching and the ability to power down one or more layers in a stack without disrupting data flow between other layers in the stack.