Validating connection, structural characteristics and positioning of cable connectors

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9323631-B2
Application number	US-201414555824-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 28, 2014
Priority date	Dec 20, 2013
Publication date	Apr 26, 2016
Grant date	Apr 26, 2016

Abstract

In one or more aspects, a determination is made as to whether a connector is securely fastened, whether the connector connected within a socket structure is the expected connector for that socket structure, and/or whether connectors coupled to one another via one or more cables are properly positioned for communication between them. Information on selected physical connection elements of a connector is used to determine one or more structural characteristics of the cable(s) connected to the connector and to determine whether the connector is the expected connector for a particular socket structure.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of validating connections of connectors, said method comprising:
obtaining, from a connector connected to a socket structure, an identifier of a cable coupled to the connector at one end of the cable, the obtaining comprising reading information from a plurality of physical connection elements of the connector to obtain the identifier, wherein the identifier serves as an indication of whether the cable is properly physically engaged in the socket structure;
determining, based on the identifier, whether a structural characteristic of the cable is an expected structural characteristic for that socket structure;
based on determining the structural characteristic of the cable is the expected structural characteristic for that socket structure, continuing validation of connection of the connector; and
based on determining the structural characteristic of the cable is not the expected structural characteristic for that socket structure, providing an indication that the connector is not as expected.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the structural characteristic comprises a length of the cable.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the information comprises a plurality of values read from the plurality of physical connection elements in a defined sequence to provide the identifier, the identifier identifying the length of the cable.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the continuing validation comprises:
obtaining, from another connector coupled to the cable at another end of the cable and connected to another socket structure, another identifier, the obtaining comprising reading information from another plurality of physical connection elements of the another connector to obtain the another identifier,
determining, based on the another identifier, whether the structural characteristic of the cable is the expected structural characteristic for the another socket structure; and
based on determining the structural characteristic of the cable is the expected structural characteristic for the another socket structure, initiating communication between the connector and the another connector.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the initiating communication comprises performing a communications handshake between the connector and the another connector using a selected plurality of connection elements of the connector and the another connector.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
determining whether the communications handshake is successful;
based on determining the communications handshake is successful, initiating data communication using the cable; and
based on determining the communications handshake is unsuccessful, providing an indication of such.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein based on determining the structural characteristic of the cable is not the expected structural characteristic, a further determination is made as to whether the identifier is a first value, wherein based on the identifier being the first value it is determined that the connector is not fully engaged in the socket structure.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein based on determining the structural characteristic of the cable is not the expected structural characteristic, a further determination is made as to whether the identifier is a second value, wherein based on the identifier being the second value it is determined that the connector is not to be used.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein based on determining the structural characteristic of the cable is not the expected structural characteristic:
determining whether the identifier is a first value, wherein based on the identifier being the first value, it is determined that the connector is not fully engaged in the socket structure;
based on the identifier not being the first value, determining whether the identifier is a second value, wherein based on the identifier being the second value, it is determined that the connector is not to be used; and
based on the identifier not being the first value or the second value, it is determined that the connector is not a proper connector for the socket structure.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of physical connection elements have a length of a first size, and wherein the connector comprises other physical connection elements having a length of a second size, the second size differing from the first size.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the information is built into the physical connection elements of the connector.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Brodsky William L
• Kostenko William P

Classifications

• G06F11/0751

  Error or fault detection not based on redundancy (power supply failures G06F1/30; network fault management H04L41/06) · CPC title

• H05K7/1492

  having electrical distribution arrangements, e.g. power supply or data communications · CPC title

• G06F11/3089

  Monitoring arrangements determined by the means or processing involved in sensing the monitored data, e.g. interfaces, connectors, sensors, probes, agents (software debugging using additional hardware using a specific debug interface G06F11/3656; performance evaluation by tracing or monitoring G06F11/3466) · CPC title

• H01R13/64

  Means for preventing incorrect coupling · CPC title

• G06F11/2289 Primary

  by configuration test · CPC title