Patent ID: 8804538

Claim:
An Ethernet cable, comprising: a first Ethernet cable segment of the Ethernet cable having a first end and a second end and at least eight insulated conductors; a second Ethernet cable segment of the Ethernet cable having a first end and a second end and at least eight insulated conductors; a third Ethernet cable segment of the Ethernet cable having a first end and a second end and at least eight insulated conductors; a housing of the Ethernet cable that receives the respective first ends of the first, second and third Ethernet cable segments; a sensor disposed in the Ethernet cable that is configured to determine if a failure has occurred in a two-way communications link through the second Ethernet cable segment; and a switching mechanism that is disposed at least partly in the housing of the Ethernet cable, the switching mechanism being configured to selectively connect the at least eight conductors of the first Ethernet cable segment to respective ones of either the at least eight conductors of the second Ethernet cable segment or the at least eight conductors of the third Ethernet cable segment, wherein the switching mechanism is configured to automatically break connections between the at least eight conductors of the first Ethernet cable segment and respective ones of the at least eight conductors of the second Ethernet cable and to connect the at least eight conductors of the first Ethernet cable segment to respective ones of the at least eight conductors of the third Ethernet cable segment in response to the sensor determining that the failure has occurred in the two-way communications link through the second Ethernet cable segment.