Patent ID: 7880474

Claim:
A method for use in a system which includes communication over at least a first multi-wire cable, between first and second electronic devices during normal operation of the first and second electronic devices, the method for distinguishing at least a characteristic-of-interest related to the first multi-wire cable, a first end of the first multi-wire cable being coupled, during the normal operation, to a connector in the first electronic device, the method comprising: detecting, in the first electronic device, at least a first electrical characteristic of a first lead from the connector configured for connection to at least a first conductor of the first multi-wire cable, the first electrical characteristic being different from the characteristic-of-interest related to the first multi-wire cable, wherein the first electronic device is a module of a multi-module network repeater having two or more modules, and wherein the first electrical characteristics of the first lead corresponds to an electrical characteristic provided in the multi-wire cable; and determining whether the characteristic-of-interest is present in the first multi-wire cable based at least in part upon correlating the detected first electrical characteristic of the first lead with the characteristic-of-interest, wherein the first electrical characteristic acts as a marker for the characteristic-of-interest.