Patent ID: 6978395

Claim:
A communication system comprising: a switch circuit; a primary interface card couplable to a communication medium connection via the switch circuit; a secondary interface card coupled to the switch circuit, wherein the secondary interface card controls the switch circuit to decouple the primary interface card from the communication medium connection and couple the secondary interface card to the communication medium connection via the switch circuit, and wherein the switch circuit is external to the primary interface card; and a management card coupled to the primary and secondary interface cards, wherein the management card monitors the current loads of the primary and secondary cards to identify the cards; wherein the primary card is coupled to illuminate a light emitting diode (LED) when the primary card is operational, wherein the illuminated LED determines a current load of the primary card; and wherein the secondary card is coupled to illuminate a light emitting diode and activate a relay when the secondary card is operational, wherein the illuminated LED and activated relay determine a current load of the secondary card.