Patent ID: 7197137

Claim:
A method of providing an indication signal, comprising: providing a communication pathway carrying signals; connecting the communication pathway to an interface device, the interface device having conductors for carrying the signals; analyzing the signals carried by the conductors to determine which of the conductors are active conductors; providing active conductor information, wherein the active conductor information includes a list of the active conductors; providing primary interface class information, wherein the primary interface class information includes information about the active conductors for a known interface class; determining whether the primary interface class information is similar to the active conductor information; providing a first indication signal, the first indication signal being a first type if the information about the active conductors for the interface class is similar to the active conductor information, and the first indication signal being a second type if the information about the active conductors for the interface class is not similar to the active conductor information; determining which conductors carry a signal having an alternate voltage; and determining an average amplitude voltage for each of the conductors carrying a signal having an alternating voltage.