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:
May. 20, 2003
Filed:
Nov. 12, 1997
Quentin J. Lewis, Litchfield, NH (US);
Andrey M. Hassan, Windham, NH (US);
Sun Microsystems, Inc., Mountain View, CA (US);
Abstract
A computer system contains a small computer standard interface (SCSI) having a plurality of components to interface a plurality of external peripheral devices to the computer system in accordance with a SCSI specification. Within the computer system, the SCSI interface contains a SCSI bus having an internal SCSI terminator at an internal end of the SCSI bus, and an internal switchable SCSI terminator at an external end of the SCSI bus. The SCSI bus permits expansion beyond the computer system enclosure at the external side of the SCSI bus via an external connector and cable to interface external SCSI peripheral devices to the computer system. The internal switchable SCSI terminator senses whether any external SCSI external peripheral devices or an external terminator are attached to the SCSI bus. If external SCSI peripheral devices and/or an external terminator are attached to the SCSI bus, then the internal switchable SCSI terminator does not terminate the SCSI bus on the external side. Alternatively, if the internal switchable SCSI terminator senses that no external SCSI peripheral devices or external terminator are attached, then the internal switchable SCSI terminator terminates the SCSI bus at the external end.