1. A method performed by a first device connected to a second device via a first network path and a second network path,
where the first device includes a first node, a master second node and a backup second node, the master second node being connected to the first node and the second device via the first network path, and the backup second node being connected to the first node and the second device via the second network path, the method comprising:
receiving, by the first node and via the first network path or via the second network path, a plurality of packets, from the second device, where each of the plurality of packets includes node status information associated with the second device;
determining, by the first node, whether the plurality of packets are received via only the first network path or are received via only the second network path;
generating, by the first node, a first notification that indicates that the master second node can be safely removed when the plurality of packets are received via only the second network path;
generating, by the first node, a second notification that indicates that the backup second node can be safely removed when the plurality of packets are received via only the first network path;
generating, by the first node, a third notification that indicates that neither the master second node nor the backup second node can be safely removed when the plurality of packets are not received only via the first network path and the plurality of packets are not received only via the second network path; and
displaying information regarding the first notification, the second notification, or the third notification.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
retrieving, by the first node, alternate node status information from a memory when the plurality of packets are not received only via the first network path and the plurality of packets are not received only via the second network path, where the alternate node status information includes node status information from a previous point in time;
merging, by the first node, the alternate node status information with the node status information to create merged node status information;
determining, by the first node, that the plurality of packets can be received via only the first network path based on the merged node status information; and
sending, by the first node, a notification that a safe removal operation may be performed on the backup second node.
3. The method of claim 2, where the alternate node status information and node status information include network path information associated with each node, of a plurality of nodes associated with the second device, from which a packet, of the plurality of packets, was received; and
where merging the alternate node status information with the status information includes:
determining that the plurality of packets are received from all nodes of the plurality of nodes via the first network path; and
sending a notification that a safe removal operation may be performed on the backup second node.
4. The method of claim 2, where the alternate node status information and node status information include network path information associated with each node, of a plurality of nodes associated with the second device, from which a packet, of the plurality of packets, was received; and
where merging the alternate node status information with the status information includes:
determining that the plurality of packets are not received from all nodes, of the plurality of nodes, via the first network path and that the plurality of packets are not received from all nodes, of the plurality of nodes, via the second network path; and
sending a notification that a safe removal operation may not be performed on either the master second node or the backup second node.
5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
determining, from the node status information, a quantity of packets, of the plurality of packets, received from each node, of one or more nodes of the second device, within a particular time period;
determining that the quantity of packets received from at least one node of the one or more nodes, within the particular time period, is below a particular threshold; and
instructing the second device to perform a reboot operation when the quantity of packets received from the at least one node, within the particular time period, is below the particular threshold.
6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
determining, from the node status information, a quantity of packets, of the plurality of packets, received from each node, of one or more nodes of the second device, within a particular time period;
determining that the quantity of packets received from each node, of the one or more nodes, within the particular time period, exceeds the particular threshold; and
displaying an indicator that the second device is operational when the quantity of packets received from each node, within the particular time period, exceeds the particular threshold.
7. The method of claim 1, where the second device includes a master third node and a backup third node, the master third node being connected to the first network path, the backup third node being connected to the second network path, the method further comprising:
obtaining node status information from the plurality of packets, the node status information including source node information;
determining, from the source node information, whether each packet of the plurality of packets was sent by the master third node or by the backup third node;
generating a fourth notification that indicates that a cross-cabling condition exists when one or more packets, of the plurality of packets, sent by the master third node was received via the second network path or when one or more packets, of the plurality of packets, sent by the backup third node was received via the first network path; and
displaying information regarding the fourth notification.
8. The method of claim 1, where the second device includes a master third node and a backup third node, the master third node being connected to the first network path, the backup third node being connected to the second network path; and
where the master second node is offline, the method further comprising:
obtaining node status information from the plurality of packets, the node status information including source node information and hop count information;
determining, from the source node information, whether each packet of the plurality of packets was sent by the master third node or by the backup third node;
generating a fourth notification that indicates that a cross-cabling condition exists when one or more packets, of the plurality of packets, sent by the master third node, were received, with a non-incremented hop count, via the second network path or when one or more packets, of the plurality of packets, sent by the backup third node, were received, with an incremented hop count, via the second network path; and
displaying information regarding the fourth notification.
9. A system comprising:
a first device connected to a second device via a first network path and a second network path, the first device includes a first node, a master second node, and a backup second node;
where the master second node is connected to the first node via a first interface and to the second device via the first network path, the backup second node is connected to the first node via a second interface and to the second device via the second network path; and
where the first node is to:
receive a plurality of packets from the second device via the first interface or via the second interface, where each of the plurality of packets includes node status information associated with the second device;
retrieve alternate node status information from a memory when the plurality of packets are not received only via the first interface and the plurality of packets are not received only via the second interface;
merge the node status information with the alternate node status information to create merged node status information;
determine, from the merged node status information, whether packets can be received via only the first interface or via only the second interface;
generate a first notification that indicates that the master second node may be safely removed when packets can be received via only the second interface;
generate a second notification that indicates that the backup second node may be safely removed when packets can be received via only the first interface; and
display information regarding the first notification and the second notification.
10. The system of claim 9, where the alternate node status information and node status information include network path information corresponding to each node, of a plurality of nodes associated with the second device, from which a packet was received; and
where the first node is further to:
generate a third notification that indicates that neither the master second node nor the backup second node may be safely removed when packets cannot be received from all nodes of the plurality of nodes via only the second interface or when packets cannot be received from the all nodes via only the first interface; and
display information regarding the third notification.
11. The system of claim 9, where the alternate node status information and node status information include network path information corresponding to each node, of a plurality of nodes associated with the second device, from which a packet was received; and
where the first node is further to:
determine that packets can be received from all nodes of the plurality of nodes via the first interface and from all the nodes via the second interface;
generate a third notification that indicates that either the master second node or the backup second node can be safely removed; and
display information regarding the third notification.
12. The system of claim 9, where the alternate node status information includes node status information from a particular point in time prior to the point in time at which the plurality of packets are received.
13. The system of claim 9, where the first node is further to:
determine, from the node status information, whether the plurality of packets are received via only the first interface or are received via only the second interface;
generate a third notification that indicates that the master second node can be safely removed when the plurality of packets are received via only the second interface;
generate a fourth notification that indicates that the backup second node can be safely removed when the plurality of packets are received via only the first interface;
generate a fifth notification that indicates that neither the master second node nor the backup second node can be safely removed when the plurality of packets are not received only via the first interface and the plurality of packets are not received only via the second interface; and
display information regarding the third notification, the fourth notification, or the fifth notification.
14. The system of claim 9, where the second device includes a master third node and a backup third node, the master third node being connected to the first network path, the backup third node being connected to the second network path, and
where the first node is further to:
obtain node status information from the plurality of packets, the node status information including source node information,
determine, from the source node information, whether each packet of the plurality of packets was sent by the master third node or by the backup third node;
generate a third notification that indicates that a cross-cabling condition exists when one or more packets, of the plurality of packets, sent by the master third node was received via the second interface or when one or more packets, of the plurality of packets, sent by the backup third node was received via the first interface; and
display information regarding the third notification.
15. A system comprising:
a master device connected to a slave device via a first network path and a second network path, the master device having a master first node connected to a master second node via a primary interface and a backup second node via a secondary interface,
where the slave device includes a master third node connected to the master second node via the first network path and a backup third node connected to the backup second node via the second network path; and
where the master first node is to:
receive a plurality of packets from the slave device and via the primary interface or via the secondary interface, where each packet of the plurality of packets includes source node information and hop count information, where the source node information indicates from which node each of the plurality of packets was sent and where the hop count information indicates whether a packet sent from a node on a network path is received by the master first node via another network path;
obtain the source node information and the hop count information from the plurality of packets;
determine, from the source node information, whether each packet of the plurality of packets was received from the master third node or the backup third node;
generate a first cross-cabling condition notification when packets, of the plurality of packets, from the master third node are received with a non-incremented hop count;
generate a second cross-cabling condition notification when packets, of the plurality of packets, from the backup third node are received with an incremented hop count; and
display information regarding the first cross-cabling condition notification or the second cross-cabling condition notification.
16. The system of claim 15, where the master first node is further to:
generate a third cross-cabling condition notification when packets, of the plurality of packets, from the master third node are received, with an incremented hop count, via the primary interface;
generate a fourth cross-cabling condition notification when packets, of the plurality of packets, from the backup third node are received, with a non-incremented hop count, via the primary interface; and
display information regarding the third cross-cabling condition notification or the fourth cross-cabling condition notification.
17. The system of claim 15, where the master first node is further to:
generate a third cross-cabling condition notification when at least one of the plurality of packets from the master third node is received via the secondary interface;
generate a fourth cross-cabling condition notification when at least one of the plurality of packets from the backup third node are received via the primary interface;
display information regarding the third cross-cabling condition notification or the fourth cross-cabling condition notification.
18. The system of claim 17, where the plurality of packets further include node status information; and
where the master first node is further to:
obtain the node status information from the plurality of packets;
retrieve alternate node status information from a memory when the plurality of packets are not received only via the primary interface and the plurality of packets are not received only via the secondary interface;
merge the node status information with the alternate node status information to create merged node status information;
determine, from the merged node status information, whether packets can be received via only the primary interface or via only the secondary interface;
generate a first safe removal notification regarding the master second node when packets can be received via only the secondary interface;
generate a second safe removal notification regarding the backup second node when packets can be received via only the primary interface; and
display information regarding the first safe removal notification and the second safe removal notification.
19. The system of claim 17, where the master first device includes a backup first node, the backup first node being connected to the backup second node via the primary interface and being connected to the master second node via the secondary interface;
where the backup first node is further to:
generate a fifth cross-cabling condition notification when at least one of the plurality of packets from the master third node is received via the primary interface;
generate a sixth cross-cabling condition notification when at least one of the plurality of packets from the backup third node are received via the secondary interface;
display information regarding the fifth cross-cabling condition or the sixth cross-cabling condition.
20. The system of claim 15, where the hop count is incremented when a packet, of the plurality of packets, is sent from the master third node to the master first node via the second network path, or when a packet, of the plurality of packets, is sent from the backup third node to the master first node via the first network path.
21. The system of claim 15, where the master first device is further to:
determine whether the plurality of packets are received via only the primary interface or are received via only the secondary interface;
generate a safe removal notification regarding the master second node when the plurality of packets are received via only the secondary interface; and
display information regarding the safe removal notification.
22. A system that includes a first device connected to a second device via a first network path and a second network path, the first device includes a first node, a master second node, and a backup second node; and
where the master second node is connected to the first node and to a master third node associated with the second device via the first network path, the backup second node is connected to the first node and to a backup third node associated with the second device via the second network path, the system comprising:
means for receiving a plurality of packets from a plurality of nodes associated with the second device, where the plurality of packets include node status information;
means for determining whether a safe removal operation is permitted performed on the master second node or the backup second node based on the node status information;
means for retrieving alternate node status information, where the alternate node status information is associated with packets received from the second device at a previous point in time;
means for determining whether a safe removal operation is permitted for the master second node or the backup second node based on the node status information and the alternate node status information;
means for generating a safe removal notification based on a determination that packets can be received via only the first network path or via only the second network path;
means for determining whether a cross-cabling condition exists from the node status information, the node status information including source node information, where the source node information indicates from which node each of the plurality of packets were sent; and
means for generating a cross-cabling condition notification based on a determination that at least one of the plurality of packets from the master third node is received via the secondary interface or that at least one of the plurality of packets from the backup third node is received via the primary interface.
23. The system of claim 22, where the node status information further includes hop count information, and where the hop count information indicates whether a packet sent from a node on a network path is received by the master device via another network path, the system further comprising:
means for generating a cross-cabling condition notification based on a determination that at least one of the plurality of packets from the master third node is received via the secondary interface with a non-incremented hop count or that at least one of the plurality of packets from the backup third node is received via the primary interface with an incremented hop count.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. An electrical connector for being mounted onto a printed circuit board comprising:
an insulative housing defining a base portion sitting downwardly onto the printed circuit board, and a tongue plate extending forwardly from the base portion and being upright;
a metal shell covering the insulative housing and defining a receiving space with the tongue plate extending therein; and
a plurality of first contacts retained in the insulative housing and defining first contacting portions attached to a lateral side of the tongue plate to be exposed to the receiving space and arranged in one row along a height direction of the electrical connector, first tail portions extending outwardly beyond the insulative housing for being mounted onto the printed circuit board, and first connecting portions connecting the first contacting portions and the first tail portions, the first contacts comprising, two pairs of differential contacts and a grounding contact located inbetween, each pair of differential contacts an upper contact and a lower contact located under the upper contact;
wherein total lengths of the upper and lower contacts are substantially equal.
2. The electrical connector according to claim 1, wherein the first connecting portion comprises a first horizontal portion extending backwardly from the first contacting portion along a front-to-back direction, and a first vertical portion perpendicular to the first horizontal portion and connecting the first tail portion, the first horizontal portion of the lower contact has an offset portion offsetting horizontally and extending backwardly beyond the first horizontal portion of the upper contact.
3. The electrical connector according to claim 2, wherein the first vertical portion of the lower contact has a length shorter than that of the first vertical portion of the upper contact, the first horizontal portion of the lower contact has a length longer than that of the first horizontal portion of the upper contact.
4. The electrical connector according to claim 2, wherein the first vertical portions of the upper and lower contacts are staggered with each other in both the front-to-back direction and a transverse direction perpendicular to the front-to-back direction.
5. The electrical connector according to claim 1, wherein the first contacts further comprise a second pair of differential contacts located under the first pair of differential contacts, and a grounding contact located between the first and second pairs of differential contacts, the second pair of differential contacts include an upper contact, and a lower contact located under the upper contact and having a total length substantially equal to that of the upper contact.
6. The electrical connector according to claim 5, wherein the first vertical portions of the upper contacts of the first and second pairs of differential contacts and the grounding contact are arranged in a first row along a front-to-back direction, the first vertical portions of the lower contacts of the first and second pairs of differential contacts are arranged in a second row along the front-to-back direction and different from the first row.
7. The electrical connector according to claim 5, wherein total lengths of all of the first contacts are substantially equal.
8. The electrical connector according to claim 5, wherein all of the first horizontal portions except the first horizontal portion of the upmost first contact have offset portions offsetting horizontally in varying degrees, the lower the first contact is located, the shorter length the first vertical portion has, and the longer length the first horizontal portion has.
9. The electrical connector according to claim 8, wherein the first vertical portions of all of the first contacts are staggered with each other in both a front-to-back direction and a transverse direction perpendicular to the front-to-back direction.
10. The electrical connector according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of second contacts defining second contacting portions attached to the same side of the tongue plate as the first contacting portions and arranged in one row behind the first contacting portions, second tail portions extending outwardly beyond the insulative housing for being mounted onto the printed circuit board, and second connecting portions connecting the second contacting portions and the second tail portions; where the insulative housing comprising a first housing defining the base portion and the tongue plate, and a second housing coupled to the first housing, the first contacts being insert-molded in the first housing, the second contacts being assembled between the first and second housings.
11. The electrical connector according to claim 9, wherein the second connecting portions include second horizontal portions extending backwardly from the second contacting portions along the front-to-back direction, and second vertical portions perpendicular to the second horizontal portions and connecting the second tail portions, each second horizontal portion defines a first aperture passing therethrough along a transverse direction, each second vertical portion defines a second aperture passing therethrough along the transverse direction, the second housing has a plurality of posts protruding therefrom for being retained in holes formed on the base portion, a plurality of first protrusions arranged in one row along the height direction for being received in the corresponding first apertures, and a plurality of second protrusions arranged in one row along a front-to-back direction for being received in the corresponding second apertures.
12. An upright electrical connector for being mounted onto a printed circuit board comprising:
an insulative housing defining a base portion and a tongue plate extending forwardly from the base portion;
a plurality of first contacts defining first contacting portions retained in the tongue plate and arranged in one row along a height direction of the electrical connector, first tail portions extending outwardly beyond the insulative housing for being mounted onto the printed circuit board, and first connecting portions connecting the first contacting portions and the first tail portions, the first connecting portions having first horizontal portions extending backwardly from the first contacting portions along a front-to-back direction, and first vertical portions perpendicular to the first horizontal portions and connecting the first horizontal portions and the first tail portions, the first contacts comprising two pairs of differential contacts and a grounding contact located therebetween, each pair of differential contacts including an upper contact and a lower contact located under the upper contact;
wherein the first horizontal portion of the lower contact has a length longer than that of the first horizontal portion of the corresponding upper contact, the first vertical portion of the lower contact has a length shorter than that of the first vertical portion of the corresponding upper contact, in each pair of differential contacts, the upper contact has a total length substantially equal to that of the lower contact; and
a metal shell covering the insulative housing.
13. The upright electrical connector according to claim 12, wherein the first horizontal portion of the lower contact has an offset portion offsetting horizontally and extending backwardly beyond the first horizontal portion of the corresponding upper contact.
14. The upright electrical connector according to claim 13, wherein the first vertical portions of the upper and lower contacts are staggered with each other in both the front-to-back direction and a transverse direction perpendicular to the front-to-back direction.
15. The upright electrical connector according to claim 13, wherein the first vertical portions of all of the first contacts are staggered with each other in both the front-to-back direction and a transverse direction perpendicular to the front-to-back direction, total lengths of all of the first contacts are substantially equal.
16. A vertical type electrical connector comprising:
an insulative housing defining an upstanding mating tongue along a front-to-back direction;
a plurality of differential pairs disposed in the housing with corresponding horizontal contacting sections upon a same mating face of the mating tongue and arranged in sequence in a vertical direction perpendicular to said front-to-back direction, and with corresponding tail sections essentially extending downwardly from a rear end of the corresponding contacting sections, respectively; wherein
in each of said differential pairs, the one with the corresponding contacting section at a higher level defines the corresponding tail section closer to the corresponding contacting section in a transverse direction perpendicular to both said front-to-back direction and said vertical direction, than the corresponding tail section of the other compared to the corresponding contacting section of the other so as to have a whole length of said one is generally equal to that of the other, wherein the plurality of differential pairs comprise two pairs of differential contacts and a grounding contact located inbetween, each pair of differential contacts having an upper contact and a lower contact under the upper contact.
17. The vertical type electrical connector as claimed in claim 16, further includes another set of contacts having corresponding resilient contacting portions exposed upon the same mating face while having corresponding tail portions have a same distance with regard to the corresponding contacting portions in said transverse direction.
18. The vertical type electrical connector as claimed in claim 16, wherein said differential pairs have two differential pairs, and said two differential pairs define different whole lengths under condition that said the corresponding tail sections of the contact having the upper contacting sections are located in one same row and those of the contact having the lower contacting sections are located in another same row.
19. The vertical type electrical connector as claimed in claim 16, wherein said differential pairs have two differential pairs, and said two different pairs essentially have the same whole length under condition that the tail sections of both said contacts are located at different rows.