Abstract:
An inexpensive cable is utilized to permit multiple identical shelves in a bay of interface units to be wired for a plurality of signals by utilizing conventional twenty-five pin wiring. Hand-wired dedicated cables normally used for routing alarm signals are avoided. Printed wiring backplanes are utilized for connecting the common signals together and for permitting appropriate connections for the plurality of individual signals to be connected to the appropriate interface units positioned in the bay. The backplanes have an identical pattern so that the interface units can be used interchangeably.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     To provide a wiring cable connector with a cross-over backplane wiring to enable a single cable to be utilized for connecting a group of signals from an interface circuit to a central location. 
     2. Description of Background Art 
     Hithertofore, a unique hand-wired cable system was needed to permit a plurality of interface units to be wired back to a central location. More specifically, common sensors at the interface unit would require a common cable to be hand-wired from the common sensors by utilizing T-connections and thereafter be wired back to the central location to permit common signals or common alarm signals to be transferred back to the central location. 
     For example, if four interface units are arranged on four shelves, it would normally be necessary to hand-wire one common cable with wires for connecting the common signals connected by T-connections to the four interface units. The common signals could be common alarm signals such as an electrical failure, battery on discharge, etc. In addition, four cables would be necessary for unique signals connected to the four interface units. The unique signals could be alarm signals dedicated to specific or unique alarms such as door open or fan failure for each of the four central terminal units. 
     The complicated hand-wiring for the common signals and the use of dedicated cables for each of the interface units is expensive. 
     SUMMARY AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the present invention to design a connection system with a cross-over backplane to permit common signals and unique signals to be connected from an interface unit to a central location. 
     It is a further object of the present invention, to permit an inexpensive, conventional cable to be used to permit multiple interface units to be wired for a plurality of signals by utilizing conventional twenty-five pin wiring. 
     The present invention avoids the need to hand-wire dedicated cables for use to route signals. In addition, it is not necessary to form T-connections to permit cross-connection of the common signals. 
     The present invention permits the use of printed paths on a multi-layer back-plane to be disposed in the in and out connections for connecting the common signals together and for permitting appropriate connections for the plurality of individual signals to be connected to the appropriate interface units. 
     Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein: 
     FIG. 1 is a backplane wiring overview illustrating a wiring connection for an interface unit wherein three common signals and five unique signals from the interface unit are connected to a central location; and 
     FIG. 2 illustrates a bay wiring supporting three common inputs and five unique inputs from each of the interface units positioned on each of four shelves to be connected to a central location. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     As illustrated in FIG. 1, a shelf  102  includes an interface circuit  110  operatively connected on the backplane to an input lead (IN)  114  and an output lead (OUT)  116 . The input lead (IN)  114  is a conventional  25  pin connector that can be easily connected to a conventional  25  pin input lead secured to a cable. The  25  pin connector (IN)  114  includes pins  1 - 23  that correspond to bay cable designations for producing signals  1 - 23 . In addition, the  25  pin connector (IN)  114  includes two blank pins. The interface circuit  110 , the input lead  114 , the output lead  116 , and a preselected printed wiring backplane  118  comprise an interface unit  112 . 
     As illustrated in FIG.  2  and Table 1, four interface units  112 ,  212 ,  312  and  412  are located on four identical equipment shelves  102 ,  202 ,  302  and  402 . In operation each interface circuit  110 ,  210 ,  310 ,  410  includes eight inputs. The  25  pin connector  114  is connected by means of a conventional cable to send signals from the interface units to a central location. As set forth in Table 1, three of the signals  1  to  3  are common signals for all four interface units  112 ,  212 ,  312  and  412  positioned on the shelves  102 ,  202 ,  302  and  402 . For example, the common signals could be common alarms signals for representing an electrical failure, battery on discharge or other alarm signals that would be common to all four interface units. Five of the signals could be unique alarm signals for each of the individual interface units  112 ,  212 ,  312  and  412  such as door open, fan failure or other alarm signals that would be unique to each of the individual interface units  112 ,  212 ,  312  and  412 . 
     With reference to Table 1, the first three bay cable designations  1  to  3  correspond to the first three pins  1 - 3  and permit signals  1  to  3  to be connected to the central location that are common signals for the interface unit  112  located on a first shelf  102 . The subsequent five bay cable designations  4  to  8  correspond to the pins  4 - 8  and permit signals  4  to  8  to be connected to the central location that are unique alarm signals for the interface unit  112 . 
     The next five bay cable designations  9  to  13  correspond to the pins  9 - 13  and permit signals  9  to  13  to be connected to the central location that are unique signals for the interface unit  212 . 
     The following five bay cable designations  14  to  18  correspond to the pins  14 - 18  and permit signals  14  to  18  to be connected to the central location that are unique signals for the interface unit  312 . 
     The five bay cable designations  19  to  23  correspond to the pins  19 - 23  and permit signals  19  to  23  to be connected to the central location that are unique signals for the interface unit  412 . 
     As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the output lead (OUT) connector  116  is a conventional  25  pin connector that can easily be connected to a conventional  25  pin output lead secured to a cable. The  25  pin connector (OUT) connector  116  includes pins  1 - 18  that are wired by means of a cross-over printed path on a multi-layer backplane  118  to the (IN) connector  114  to configure the pins  1 - 18  of the (OUT) connector  116  to correspond to alarm signals  1  to  3  and  9  to  23 . 
     The pins  9 - 18  of the (OUT) connector  116  correspond to signals  14  to  23  that are unique signals for the interface units  312  and  412 . In addition, the output lead (OUT) connector  116  includes seven blank pins,  19 - 25 . 
     In addition, as illustrated in FIG. 2 the (IN) connector  214  is connected to the (OUT) connector  116  to enable signals from the first three bay cable designations  1  to  3  corresponding to the first three pins  1 - 3  to permit signals  1  to  3  to be connected to the central location that are common signals for the interface unit  212  located on a second shelf  202 . The subsequent five bay cable designations  4  to  8  correspond to the pins  4 - 8  and permit signals  9  to  13  to be connected to the central location that are unique signals for the interface unit  212 . 
     The  25  pin connector (OUT) connector  216  includes pins  1 - 13  that are wired by means of a cross-over printed path on a multi-layer backplane  218  to the (IN) connector  214  to configure the pins  1 - 13  of the (OUT) connector  216  to correspond to signals  1  to  3  and  14  to  23 . The (OUT) connector  216  includes seven blank pins. 
     In addition, as illustrated in FIG. 2 the (IN) connector  314  is connected to the (OUT) connector  216  to enable signals from the first three bay cable designations  1  to  3  corresponding to the first three pins  1 - 3  to permit signals  1  to  3  to be connected to the central location that are common signals for the interface unit  312  located on the third shelf  302 . The subsequent five bay cable designations  4  to  8  correspond to the pins  4 - 8  and permit signals  14  to  18  to be connected to the central location that are unique signals for the interface unit  312 . 
     The  25  pin connector (OUT) connector  316  includes pins  1 - 8  that are wired by means of a cross-over printed path on a multi-layer backplane  318  to the (IN) connector  314  to configure the pins  1 - 8  of the (OUT) connector  316  to correspond to signals  1  to  3  and  19  to  23 . Pins  9 - 18  of the (OUT) connector  316  are wired by means of a cross-over printed path on the multi-layer backplane  318  to pins  14 - 23  of the (IN) connector  314 . The (OUT) connector  316  includes seven blank pins  19 - 25 . 
     In addition, as illustrated in FIG. 2 the (IN) connector  414  is connected to the (OUT) connector  316  to enable signals from the first three bay cable designations  1  to  3  corresponding to the first three pins  1 - 3  to permit signals  1  to  3  to be connected to the central location that are common signals for the interface unit  412  located on a fourth shelf  402 . The subsequent five bay cable designations  19  to  23  correspond to the pins  4 - 8  and permit signals  19  to  23  to be connected to the central location that are unique signals for the interface unit  412 . 
     The  25  pin connector (OUT) connector  416  includes pins  1 - 3  that are wired by means of a cross-over printed path on a multi-layer backplane  418  to the (IN) connector  414  to configure the pins  1 - 3  of the (OUT) connector  416  to correspond to signals  1  to  3 . Pins  4 - 18  of the (OUT) connector  416  are wired by means of a cross-over printed path on the multi-layer backplane  418  to pins  9 - 23  of the (IN) connector  414 . The (OUT) connector  416  includes seven blank pins  19 - 25 . 
     From a review of the system printed wiring backplane for the interface units as illustrated in FIG. 2, the cross-over printed paths on the backplanes  118 ,  218 ,  318  and  418  for the connectors  114 ,  116 ;  214 ,  216 ;  314 ,  316  and  414 ,  416  are identical to enable the first three pins of all of the connectors to be utilized for three common signals for each of the interface units  112 ,  212 ,  312  and  412 . As the interface units are connected to interface units on adjacent shelves, the subsequent five pins are shifted over to permit signals  4  to  8 ,  9  to  13 ,  14  to  18  and  19  to  23  to be connected to a central location that correspond to unique signals for respective interface units  112 ,  212 ,  312  and  412 . Adjacent shelves may be connected by cables  500  having input and output connections, as illustrated in FIG.  2 . 
     The same printed wiring backplane can be reproduced for each of the interface units. The printed wiring backplane includes cross-over connections to permit a single conventional  25  pin connector to be utilized to connect both common signals and unique signals between a central location and the interface circuit. In addition, the printed wiring backplane permits interface units that are connected together to share the same common signals for each of the interface units and to permit designated pins to transmit unique signals for each of the connected interface units. Thus, a single conventional cable may be utilized to connect interface its and connect common signals and unique signals to a central location. 
     Although a  25  pin connector is described herein, it is to be understood that any connector could be utilized in the present invention wherein a printed wiring backplane would be used to enable the connectors to transmit common signals and unique signals. In addition, although three common signals and five unique signals have been described with regard to each of the interface circuits, it is to be understood that any number of common signals and any number of unique signals can be used in connection with the present invention. 
     The  25  pin connectors positioned on the backplane may be used to connect any signal or may be used to connect miscellaneous alarm inputs such as the cabinet door alarm between a central location and an interface circuit. These signals will be connected to the interface unit slots. 
     The internal connections for the miscellaneous inputs are shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. To limit the number of cables to be run over to the cross-connect panel for signals, the input signals for a full bay are combined into a single cable. Of the 32 potential input signals to a bay, 3 are bussed to all four shelves for common signals that should be reflected on all shelves. Five unique signals are distributed to each of the four shelves. For the lowest cost, two connectors are provided on the backplane. One is the input connector while the other one is used to mult the connections to the next shelf. A translation scheme with printed paths on a multi-layer backplane are used to achieve the desired connection for the common and unique signals. 
     In describing the present invention, the interface unit consists of the equipment shelf, the interface circuit, the input connector and the output connector that includes a preselected printed wiring backplane to permit cross-over connections to permit a single pin connector to be utilized to connect both common signals and unique signals between a central location and the interface circuit. The cable utilized in the present invention is a straight through cable that could be a bundle cable or a ribbon cable. In addition, it is to be understood that the signals could be transmitted from an interface circuit to a central location or from a central location to an interface circuit. 
     The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims. 
     
       
         
               
               
               
             
               
               
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                   
                 TABLE 1 
               
             
             
               
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 Signal at Interface Circuit 
                   
               
             
          
           
               
                   
                 Bay Cable 
                   
                   
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 Designation 
                 Shelf 1 
                 Shelf 2 
                 Shelf 3 
                 Shelf 4 
               
               
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 SIGNAL 1 
                 Input 1 
                 Input 1 
                 Input 1 
                 Input 1 
               
               
                   
                 SIGNAL 2 
                 Input 2 
                 Input 2 
                 Input 2 
                 Input 2 
               
               
                   
                 SIGNAL 3 
                 Input 3 
                 Input 3 
                 Input 3 
                 Input 3 
               
               
                   
                 SIGNAL 4 
                 Input 4 
               
               
                   
                 SIGNAL 5 
                 Input 5 
               
               
                   
                 SIGNAL 6 
                 Input 6 
               
               
                   
                 SIGNAL 7 
                 Input 7 
               
               
                   
                 SIGNAL 8 
                 Input 8 
               
               
                   
                 SIGNAL 9 
                   
                 Input 4 
               
               
                   
                 SIGNAL 10 
                   
                 Input 5 
               
               
                   
                 SIGNAL 11 
                   
                 Input 6 
               
               
                   
                 SIGNAL 12 
                   
                 Input 7 
               
               
                   
                 SIGNAL 13 
                   
                 Input 8 
               
               
                   
                 SIGNAL 14 
                   
                   
                 Input 4 
               
               
                   
                 SIGNAL 15 
                   
                   
                 Input 5 
               
               
                   
                 SIGNAL 16 
                   
                   
                 Input 6 
               
               
                   
                 SIGNAL 17 
                   
                   
                 Input 7 
               
               
                   
                 SIGNAL 18 
                   
                   
                 Input 8 
               
               
                   
                 SIGNAL 19 
                   
                   
                   
                 Input 4 
               
               
                   
                 SIGNAL 20 
                   
                   
                   
                 Input 5 
               
               
                   
                 SIGNAL 21 
                   
                   
                   
                 Input 6 
               
               
                   
                 SIGNAL 22 
                   
                   
                   
                 Input 7 
               
               
                   
                 SIGNAL 23 
                   
                   
                   
                 Input 8