Patent ID: 6205496
Filing Date: 2001-03-20
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
In a peripheral device having a communication bus into and out of the peripheral device and a termination means for terminating the communication bus, an apparatus for identifying the type of communication bus with which a peripheral device should be configured to communicate and for polling the communication bus to determine if electrical termination is necessary, comprising:a plurality of communication lines wherein at least one of said plurality is electrically broken; anda microprocessor electrically connected to said plurality of communication lines, said microprocessor having instructions located therein for performing the following steps:sensing the signals received over at least one of said plurality of communication lines to determine whether the communication bus is operating as a SCSI bus or a parallel bus;if the communication bus is a SCSI bus, transmitting a signal along said one electrically broken line out of the device which causes the line to have a first logical level;sensing said one electrically broken line out of the device to determine if the communication line remains at said first logical level;if said one electrically broken line out of said device does not remain at said first logical level, deactivating the termination means and reevaluating the identification of the bus as a SCSI bus;if said one electrically broken line out of said device remains at said first logical level, transmitting a signal along said one electrically broken line out of the device which causes the line to have a second logical level;sensing said one electrically broken line out of the device to determine if the communication line remains at said second logical level;if said one electrically broken line does not remain at said second logical level, deactivating the termination means and reevaluating the identification of the bus as a SCSI bus;if said one electrically broken line remains at said second logical level, activating the termination means and reevaluating the identification of the bus as a SCSI bus.