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Generic backplane system which is configurable to serve different network access methods simultaneously

  • US 5,530,842 A
  • Filed: 03/31/1994
  • Issued: 06/25/1996
  • Est. Priority Date: 04/23/1990
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. A communication system concentrator, comprising:

  • a plurality of media modules each having one or more ports, each of said plurality of media modules being provided for one or more physical local area network media type such as fiber optic medium, coaxial cable or twisted pair cable and each of said ports being provided for a specific network access method including one of Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) and TokenRing;

    a generic passive backplane element with multiple physical circuits which are assigned as physical paths for data exchange between said plurality of media modules said ports of said media modules for connection to said generic passive backplane element, said generic passive backplane element providing multiple, simultaneous data transfer on different physical paths of said generic passive backplane element;

    switching means connected to each of said media modules for connecting or disconnecting one or more of said ports of each of said media modules with said generic passive backplane element; and

    management means connected to said plurality of media modules for managing said switching means for switching one or more of said ports to connect said ports to said multiple physical circuits for configuring and reconfiguring said physical paths to provide a physical communication path between said ports of a like network access method, whereby said generic passive backplane element is configurable to serve different network acccess methods simultaneously.

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