Communications patch panel systems and methods

• US 20050159036A1
• Filed: 11/23/2004
• Published: 07/21/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panduit Corporation
• Original Assignee: Panduit Corporation
• Inventors: Nordin, Ronald A., Caveney, Jack E.
• Granted Patent: US 7,207,846 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 439/188
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 24/64 for high frequency, e.g. RJ 45
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 29/00 Coupling parts for selective co-operation with a counterpart in different ways to establish different circuits, e.g. for voltage selection, for series-parallel selection, programmable connectors
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 4/2425 Flat plates, e.g. multi-layered flat plates

Abstract

An active jack, which is a powered device, is installed as the network connection at a workstation which provides the capability to determine the physical location of a destination device, such as a VOIP phone, in real time. Uninterruptible power supplies may be used to provide power to network components, for example during an emergency. Power-and-data deployments are shown for powering network components and destination devices.

Claims

1. A patch panel comprising:

a motherboard having a plurality of contact carriers thereon, each contact carrier supporting a plurality of electrical contacts;

at least one insert that accepts at least a portion of the motherboard; and

a modular jack that removably attaches to the at least one insert and that is electrically connected with at least one electrical contact supported by one of said plurality of contact carriers, wherein the motherboard has circuitry that provides the modular jack with electrical power via the electrical connection.

2. The patch panel of claim 1, wherein the motherboard has circuitry that communicates with the modular jack via the electrical connection.

3. The patch panel of claim 1, wherein the motherboard provides electrical power to a network powered device via the modular jack over a pair of network cable conductors.

4. The patch panel of claim 1, wherein the motherboard receives a plurality of modular jacks and wherein the modular jacks may vary with respect to the types of cables that are patched by the respective modular jacks.

5. The patch panel of claim 4, wherein the motherboard has circuitry that provides a common function to the plurality of modular jacks.

6. The patch panel of claim 1 wherein the modular jack is an RJ-45 jack.

7. A modular jack that mounts within a patch panel, the modular jack comprising:

a latch that removably attaches the modular jack within the patch panel;

at least one electrical contact that forms an electrical connection with an electrical contact on a motherboard within the patch panel; and

a modular jack circuit board having electronic components that support interaction between the modular jack and the patch panel motherboard via the electrical connection, the modular jack circuit board further having circuitry that receives electrical power from the motherboard.

8. The modular jack of claim 7, wherein the modular jack circuit board has circuitry that communicates with the motherboard via the electrical connection.

9. The modular jack of claim 7, wherein the modular jack circuit board has circuitry that supports patching a network connection between two different types of cable connected to the modular jack.

10. The modular jack of claim 7, wherein the modular jack circuit board has circuitry that provides power to a power device over a pair of conductors within a network cable connected to the modular jack.

11. The modular jack of claim 7, wherein the modular jack is an active jack and the modular jack circuit board has circuitry that communicates with a network information system over a network cable connected to the modular jack.

12. The modular jack of claim 11, wherein the active jack transmits a MAC ID in response to a query received from the network information system.

13. A modular jack that mounts within a wall plate, the modular jack comprising:

a latch that removably attaches the modular jack within the wall plate; and

a modular jack circuit board having circuitry that supports patching a network connection between two different types of cables connected to the modular jack and further having circuitry that provides power to a powered device over a pair of conductors within a network cable connected to the modular jack.

14. The modular jack of claim 13, wherein the modular jack is an active jack and the modular jack circuit board further has circuitry that communicates with a network information system over a network cable connected to the modular jack.

15. The modular jack of claim 14, wherein the active jack transmits a MAC ID in response to a query received from the network information system.

16. The modular jack of claim 13 wherein a network-side connection of said modular jack is a fiber optic connection and wherein a user-side connection of said modular jack is an electrically conductive connection.

17. The modular jack of claim 16 wherein said modular jack receives power from a local power supply and is adapted to forward power required by a local device to the local device via said electrically conductive connection.

18. The modular jack of claim 14 wherein said active jack sends an address resolution protocol message to a network management system in response to the loss and revival of power to the active jack.