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:
Mar. 30, 2004
Filed:
Jan. 26, 2001
Anthony Armstrong, Austin, TX (US);
Dell Products L.P., Round Rock, TX (US);
Abstract
In a computer system, a passive component minimization of connector pins configuration includes a motherboard and daughterboard. The daughterboard includes a selection switch coupled via passive components to a single connector pin, according to a prescribed state of multiple states of the daughterboard. In one embodiment, the passive components include three series connected resistors collectively coupled to the daughterboard connector pin. The motherboard includes a supply voltage and pull-up resistor circuit coupled to a single connector pin, and further includes decoding circuitry coupled to the motherboard connector pin for decoding a voltage level of the motherboard connector pin into binary data. Responsive to a mating of the daughterboard connector pin with the motherboard connector pin, the decoding circuitry converts voltage level data present at the motherboard connector pin into binary data representative of a current state of the daughterboard as a function of the selection switch and passive components of the daughterboard.