Patent ID: 9698903
Date: 2017-07-04
CPC Classifications: H04B,H04L

Claim:
1. An apparatus, comprising: a cable having a first end, a second end, a first plurality of signal lines, a second plurality of signal lines, a first spare signal line and a second spare signal line, wherein each of the signal lines extend from the first end to the second end; a first connector having a plurality of data transmit lines and a plurality of data receive lines, wherein each of the plurality of data transmit lines of the first connector is logically associated with one of the plurality of data receive lines of the first connector, and wherein the first connector is adapted for communication with an input output bus of a first node; a first plurality of switches each having a first connection permanently coupled to one of the plurality of data transmit lines of the first connector and a second connection selectively coupled either to one of the first plurality of signal lines or the first spare signal line; a second plurality of switches each having a first connection permanently coupled to one of the plurality of data receive lines of the first connector and a second connection selectively coupled either to one of the second plurality of signal lines or the second spare signal line; and a first signal detector coupled to each of the plurality of data receive lines, wherein the first signal detector has an output identifying one of the plurality of data receive lines of the first connector not receiving a signal of at least a predetermined minimum quality, and wherein the output of the first signal detector is coupled to the first and the second plurality of switches to cause a first one of the second plurality of switches to selectively couple the identified data receive line of the first connector to the first spare signal line and to cause a first one of the first plurality of switches to selectively couple one of the plurality of data transmit lines of the first connector logically associated with the identified data receive line of the first connector to the second spare signal line.