Card cage and electronic card apparatus and system
Assignee3Com Corporation
InventorsDaniel J. Lecinski, Gerald Greco, Robert E. Sadler JR.
Life of this patent
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Abstract
One or more keys (101, 102, 103) can be integrally formed of a card cage and positioned to extend into the card-receiving openings of the card slots that comprise the card cage. The cards can then have key-receiving openings (112, 114, 116) that accommodate such keys. By matching the keys to particular physical and electrical functionality and compatibility attributes of a given card slot, such key-receiving openings can be similarly shaped and sized to assure that such cards cannot be inadvertently (or purposely) placed in an inappropriate card slot. In varying embodiments, such keys can be formed of a cable trough, a front panel, and a card guide seating surface.
Claims26
An apparatus comprising:
- a card cage comprising:
- at least one card slot having a corresponding card-receiving opening;
- at least one key formed integrally of the card cage and being disposed proximal to and extending into the card-receiving opening;
- at least one electronics card having a front panel and being at least partially disposed within the card slot and having at least one key-receiving opening formed in the front panel and being sized and positioned such that the key passes without obstruction through the key-receiving opening when the electronics card is moved into the card slot.
A card cage comprising:
- at least one card slot having a corresponding card-receiving opening;
- at least one key formed integrally of the card cage and being disposed proximal to and extending into the card-receiving opening, such that an electronics card having a key-receiving opening formed in a front panel thereof of appropriate size and position can be fully disposed within the at least one card slot while an electronics card not having such a key-receiving opening will be at least partially blocked from being fully disposed within the at least one card slot.
A card cage comprising:
- a plurality of card slots wherein each of the card slots has a corresponding card-receiving opening;
- a plurality of keys formed integrally of the card cage and each being disposed proximal to and extending into the card-receiving opening of at least some of the plurality of card slots, such that an electronics card having a key-receiving opening formed in a front panel thereof of appropriate size and position can be fully disposed within one of the card slots while an electronics card not having such a key-receiving opening will be at least partially blocked from being fully disposed within the card slot.
An electronic card adapted and configured for disposition within a card slot in a card cage, wherein the card slot includes a card-receiving opening and further wherein a key is at least partially disposed within the card-receiving opening, the electronic card comprising:
- a components-bearing member;
- a front panel operably coupled to the components-bearing member, wherein the front panel includes a key-receiving opening sized and positioned such that the key will pass substantially unobstructed through the key-receiving opening upon moving the electronic card into an operating position within the card slot.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.