Abstract: A power supply comprising a hardware interface having conductive contacts and conforming to a power supply design standard comprising a pin-out definition specifying that a first conductive contact is to be dedicated to communicating first information of a first type. The power supply comprises first, second, and third circuitry. The first circuitry is to determine the first information. The second circuitry is to determine second information of a second type, wherein the second type of information is other than the first type. The third circuitry is to send, via the first conductive contact, a communication comprising the first information and the second information. In embodiments, a PCB comprises a connector to couple the PCB to the power supply via an interconnect to be coupled to the hardware interface, and an IC to receive the communication, and identify the first and second information.

Abstract: A method and device are provided for managing a group of electrical devices, e.g., coder/decoders (codecs) in a computer system. Members of a group of electrical devices may be located on the motherboard of the computer system, or off the motherboard, such as on a riser card. An address ID module assigns a primary address to designate one of the devices as a primary device. The primary device performs certain functions that are only performed by a single device. Other devices are designated as secondary devices. A signal indicates whether a member of the group of electrical devices is located on the motherboard. If no device is located on the motherboard, the address ID module designates a primary device and secondary devices from among the devices located on the riser card. A routing module routes output signals from the devices to input pins of a controller.