Programmatically switched hot-plug PCI slots
First Claim
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1. Apparatus for controlling the selective testing of a plurality of circuit boards comprising:
- a backplane including a bus;
a plurality of backplane connectors mounted on said backplane each suitable for receiving a circuit board, each of said backplane connectors including terminals connected to the traces of said bus and suitable for connecting to the terminals of a circuit board received by a backplane connector, said terminals including power terminals for supplying power to circuit boards received by said backplane connectors; and
a controller for controlling the application of power to said power terminals such that selected ones of said power terminals receive power and others do not receive power thereby controlling the coupling of circuit boards received by said backplane connectors to said bus.
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Abstract
Electrically decoupling circuit boards, such as PCI cards, from a backplane bus without physically removing the circuit boards from backplane connectors is disclosed. A microprocessor controls the state of electrically controlled switches that control the application of power to the power terminals of backplane connectors. Optionally, manually operated switches also control the application of power to the power terminals of the backplane connector.
40 Citations
19 Claims
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1. Apparatus for controlling the selective testing of a plurality of circuit boards comprising:
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a backplane including a bus;
a plurality of backplane connectors mounted on said backplane each suitable for receiving a circuit board, each of said backplane connectors including terminals connected to the traces of said bus and suitable for connecting to the terminals of a circuit board received by a backplane connector, said terminals including power terminals for supplying power to circuit boards received by said backplane connectors; and
a controller for controlling the application of power to said power terminals such that selected ones of said power terminals receive power and others do not receive power thereby controlling the coupling of circuit boards received by said backplane connectors to said bus. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method of controlling the selective testing of a plurality of circuit boards connected to backplane connectors mounted on a backplane that includes a backplane bus connected to the terminals of the backplane connectors, comprising:
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generating a control signal suitable for identifying which of the plurality of circuit boards are to be tested and which of the plurality of circuit boards are not to be tested; and
controlling the application of power to the power terminals of said backplane connectors in accordance with said control signals. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A microprocessor containing computer executable instructions that when executed control the application of power to the power terminals of a plurality of backplane connectors by
identifying which of the plurality of backplane connectors are to be powered; - and
controlling the application of power to the power terminals of the identified ones of the plurality of backplane connectors. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification