Method and apparatus for monitoring connector degradation

A line card for use in a high availability chassis connectable thereto by a backplane connector comprising:

• a connector connectable to the backplane connector, said connector including a plurality of connector terminals for transmitting electrical power and electrical signals, a subset of said plurality of connector terminals being connected to an insertion monitoring circuit of the line card, said insertion monitoring circuit including:
• a power conductor connected to a first terminal of said subset;
• one or more pull up resistors connected to said power conductor;
• one or more sense lines connected to respective one or more second terminals of said subset, wherein said first terminal is positioned on said line card so as to be connectable to the backplane connector before said one or more second terminals;
• an insertion detection device for detecting an insertion of said line card;
• a state device connected to said insertion detection device for calculating a primary insertion count from said detection of said insertion;
• and
• a non-volatile memory device connected to said state device, said non-volatile memory device for storing said primary insertion count.

A system for monitoring the insertion of an application card into a backplane connector of a host system, comprising:

• a female connector connected to the application card, said female connector including an insulative housing defining a space;
• a male connector connected to the host system, said male connector sized and shaped to be received by said space of said female connector;
• an insertion detection device connected to said female connector for detecting an insertion of said male connector into said female connector and generating and storing an insertion count therefrom;
• and
• a plurality of conductive terminals extending from said female connector for electrical communication with the backplane connector including a first conductor positioned on the application card for providing power to at least said insertion detection device and a second conductor positioned on said application card electrically connected to said insertion detection device, wherein said first conductor and said second conductor are offset with respect to each other such that during insertion of the application card into the backplane connector an insertion sequence is performed wherein said first conductor mates with the backplane connector before said second conductor, and wherein said insertion sequence causes an incremental increase in said insertion count.

A method of generating an insertion count of a line card to a backplane connector comprising:

• providing the line card with an insertion monitoring circuit for detecting, incrementing and storing the insertion count;
• connecting a first terminal of said insertion monitoring circuit to the backplane connector to produce a high state;
• connecting a second terminal of said insertion monitoring circuit to the backplane connector to transition said high state to a low state;
• detecting the transition to said low state;
• retrieving a current primary insertion count in response to said detection of the transition;
• incrementing said current primary insertion count to produce an updated primary insertion count;
• and
• storing said updated primary insertion count as the current primary insertion count.

A method of generating a removal count of a line card from a backplane connector comprising:

• providing the line card with a removal monitoring circuit for detecting, incrementing and storing the removal count;
• maintaining said removal monitoring circuit at a low state;
• removing a first terminal of said removal monitoring circuit from the backplane connector;
• removing a second terminal of said removal monitoring circuit from the backplane connector to transition said low state to a high state;
• detecting the transition to said high state;
• retrieving a current primary removal count in response to said detection of the transition;
• incrementing said current primary removal count to produce an updated primary removal count;
• and
• storing said updated primary removal count as the current primary removal count.