Method and apparatus for automatic activation of bus termination on a fast ethernet repeater stack

Abstract

An automatically activated bus termination circuit in a repeater which is suitable for inclusion in a repeater stack including an end unit determination circuit. The end unit determination circuit includes a local input connector having an input sense pin. The input sense pin is configured to be connected to an input sense potential when the local input connector is connected to a remote output connector having an output sense pin. The output sense pin is configured to be connected to an output sense potential when the local output connector is connected to a remote input connector. The bus termination circuit is configured to be active when either the input sense pin is not connected to the input sense potential or the output sense pin is not connected to the output sense potential. As a result, the bus termination circuit is activated when a stack bus connection cable is not connected from the local output connector to a remote input connector or when a stack bus connection cable is not connected from the local input connector to a remote output connector.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.