Patent ID: 8103801

Claim:
In an electronics system having an I/O module with an I/O port, a method for marking and faulting the I/O port, the method comprising: associating a light-emitting system with the I/O port, the light-emitting system being capable of emitting a plurality of different colors at the I/O port in order to produce at least three different status indicators for the I/O port, the at least three different status indicators including marking the I/O port, faulting the I/O port, and showing an activity level of the I/O port; emitting, by the light-emitting system, at least one of the plurality of different colors at a first rate to produce a first status indicator for the I/O port; alternately emitting, by the light-emitting system, each color of the plurality of different colors at a second rate to produce a second status indicator for the I/O port, wherein one of the first and second status indicators is for marking the I/O port irrespective of whether the I/O port has an established link and the other of the first and second status indicators is for faulting the I/O port; giving priority to faulting the I/O port over both marking the I/O port and showing the activity level of the I/O port when either marking the I/O port or showing the activity level of the I/O port occurs simultaneously with faulting the I/O port; and giving priority to marking the I/O port over showing the activity level of the I/O port when both marking the I/O port and showing the activity level of the I/O port occur simultaneously.