Patent ID: 8556659

Claim:
An electronic device comprising: a housing; a receptacle connector having an opening at an exterior surface of the housing and a plurality of contacts arranged in a two dimensional array positioned within the opening, the receptacle connector configured to concurrently mate with multiple plug connectors where each mated plug connector electrically connects to different and mutually exclusive subset of contacts in the plurality of contacts; switching circuitry coupled to the plurality of contacts and configured to: (i) detect when a first plug connector is mated with the receptacle connector and electrically connect circuitry within the electronic device to contacts in the first plug connector via a first subset of contacts from the plurality of contacts, and (ii) detect when a second plug connector is mated with the receptacle connector and electrically connect circuitry within the electronic device to contacts in the second plug connector via a second subset of contacts from the plurality of contacts, wherein the first and second subsets of contacts are mutually exclusive subsets.