Method and circuit for detecting the presence of a connector in a socket
US6477602B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 7, 1999 |
| Grant date | Nov 5, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 7, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01R31/66
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
The invention relates to the detection of the presence of a connector in a socket (10), the connector keeping a pin (13) of the socket to a a given level. The invention suggests to take advantage of this for detecting the presence of the connector, by trying to pull the pin to another-level (20, 21), and determining whether the level on the pin is the given level or the other level.For a socket for a WOL connector in the motherboard of a computer, the pin used is the wake signal pin, which is normally at a low level. Pull-up means are used to try and pull-up the voltage at the pin. This voltage is measured by scanning the status bit of the event register of the controller, to which the pin is connected. The voltage is pulled up only if no connector is plugged into the socket.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.