LOCAL AREA NETWORK

• US 20070047525A1
• Filed: 08/23/2006
• Published: 03/01/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ziqiang He
• Original Assignee: Ziqiang He
• Inventors: He, Ziqiang
• Granted Patent: US 8,064,473 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/10 Current supply arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/407 with decentralised control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/00 Packet switching elements

Abstract

A local area network that includes multiplexing means for establishing out-of-band channels along with corresponding Ethernet channels over shared network cabling; the out-of-band channels are configured dedicatedly for operating an IP telephony system including IP phones; a power sourcing equipment (PSE) may be further provided for remotely supplying power to the IP phones over shared network cabling; and means for access control and device location tracking may be further implemented for the IP telephony system.

Claims

1. A local area network (LAN), comprising:

a first switch;

a second switch; and

multiplexing means for establishing an out-of-band channel along with an Ethernet channel of each selected LAN cable of the network cabling, the out-of-band channel operative for transmission of one or more digitized voice/video signals;

the Ethernet channel configured as a communication link between the first switch and a data terminal device, and the out-of-band channel configured as a communication link between the second switch and a voice terminal device,

whereby data traffic associated with the first switch is separated from data traffic associated with the second switch.

2. The local area network of claim 1, wherein the first and second switches are Ethernet switches, the data terminal device is a computer and the voice terminal device is an IP phone.

3. The local area network of claim 1, further comprising a power sourcing equipment (PSE) for providing inline power to the voice terminal device over two twisted pairs of the LAN cable.

4. The local area network of claim 1, wherein the multiplexing means further comprises voltage polarity adjusting means for properly coupling and transmitting externally applied inline power to the voice terminal device over two twisted pairs of the LAN cable.

5. The local area network of claim 1, wherein the Ethernet channel is a 10/100Base-T Ethernet link operating over two twisted pairs of the LAN cable and the out-of-band channel is a 10/100Base-T Ethernet link operating over the other two otherwise unused twisted pairs of the LAN cable.

6. The local area network of claim 1, wherein the Ethernet channel is a gigabit Ethernet link compatible with 1000Base-T operating over four twisted pairs of the LAN cable and the out-of-band channel is implemented by transferring out-of-band data during inter-frame periods of the gigabit Ethernet link.

7. The local area network of claim 1, wherein the second switch further comprises means for location tracking and network access control.

8. A networking apparatus for implementing a local area network, comprising:

at least one multiplexing module, the multiplexing module including;

a first network I/O port connectable to a first switch operating as a data switch;

a second network I/O port connectable to a second switch operating a voice switch;

a third network I/O port for connecting over an LAN cable with a remote multiplexing apparatus, the remote multiplexing apparatus further connectable to a data terminal device and a voice terminal device; and

a multiplexing circuitry connected intermediately with the first, second and third network I/O ports, the multiplexing circuitry operative with the corresponding remote multiplexing apparatus for establishing an out-of-band channel along an the Ethernet channel of the LAN cable, the out-of-band channel operative for transmission of one or more digitized voice/video signals;

the Ethernet channel configured as a communication link between the first switch and the data terminal device, and the out-of-band channel configured as a communication link between the second switch and the voice terminal device,

whereby data traffic associated with the first switch is separated from data traffic associated with the second switch.

9. The networking apparatus of claim 8, further comprising a power sourcing equipment (PSE) for providing inline power to the voice terminal device over two twisted pairs of the LAN cable.

10. The networking apparatus of claim 8, wherein the multiplexing module further comprises voltage polarity adjusting means for properly coupling and transmitting externally applied inline power to the voice terminal device over two twisted pairs of the LAN cable.

11. The networking apparatus of claim 8, wherein the Ethernet channel is a 10/100Base-T Ethernet link operating over two twisted pairs of the LAN cable and the out-of-band channel is a 10/100Base-T Ethernet link operating over the other two otherwise unused twisted pairs of the LAN cable.

12. The networking apparatus of claim 8, wherein the Ethernet channel is a gigabit Ethernet link compatible with 1000Base-T operating over four twisted pairs of the LAN cable and the out-of-band channel is implemented by transferring out-of-band data during inter-frame periods of the gigabit Ethernet link.

13. The networking apparatus of claim 9, further comprising an Ethernet switch operating as the second switch, being integrated as a single device.

14. The networking apparatus of claim 9, further comprising two Ethernet switches operating as the first switch and second switch respectively, being integrated as a single device.

15. The networking apparatus of claim 8, wherein the second switch further comprises means for location tracking and network access control.

16. A method for implementing a local area network, comprising:

implementing an out-of-band channel along with an Ethernet channel of each selected LAN cable of the network cabling by transferring out-of-band data during inter-frame periods associated with the Ethernet channel, the out-of-band channel operative for transmission of one or more digitized voice/video signals;

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the Ethernet channel is configured as a communication link between a first Ethernet switch and a computer, the out-of-band channel is configured as a communication link between a second Ethernet switch and an IP phone, whereby data traffic associated with the first Ethernet switch is separated from data traffic associated with the second Ethernet switch.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the Ethernet channel is a gigabit Ethernet link compatible with 1000Base-T operating over four twisted pairs of the LAN cable, the out-of-band channel is implemented by transferring the out-of-band data during inter-frame periods of the Ethernet channel by using at least one scrambled bit selected from a set of scrambled bits including bit Sd_n[2] and bit Sd_n[3], where bit Sd_n[2] and bit Sd_n[3] are two bits of the 9-bit scrambled data Sd_n[8:

0] associated with the Ethernet channel as specified in IEEE Standard 802.3.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising the step of encoding the out-of-band data by an encoding method and generating bit Sd_n[2] and bit Sd_n[3] accordingly in accordance with the follow equations:

$\begin{array}{c}{\mathrm{Sd}}_n<br><br>\left[2\right]=-[\begin{array}{c}{\mathrm{Sc}}_n<br><br>\left[2\right]^{\mathrm{TXD}}_n<br><br>\left[2\right]<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\mathrm{if}<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\left({\mathrm{tx\_enable}}_{n-2}=1\right)\\ {\mathrm{Sc}}_n<br><br>\left[2\right]^{\mathrm{OOB\_D}}_n<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\mathrm{else}<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\mathrm{if}<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\left(\mathrm{tx\_mode}=\mathrm{SEND\_N}\right)\\ {\mathrm{Sc}}_n<br><br>\left[2\right]^1<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\mathrm{else}<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\mathrm{if}<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\left(\mathrm{loc\_rcvr}<br><br>\mathrm{\_status}=\mathrm{OK}\right)\\ {\mathrm{Sc}}_n<br><br>\left[2\right]<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\mathrm{else}\end{array}\\ {\mathrm{Sd}}_n<br><br>\left[3\right]=-[\begin{array}{c}{\mathrm{Sc}}_n<br><br>\left[3\right]^{\mathrm{TXD}}_n<br><br>\left[3\right]<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\mathrm{if}<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\left({\mathrm{tx\_enable}}_{n<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}-\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>2}<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}=\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>1\right)\\ {\mathrm{Sc}}_n<br><br>\left[3\right]^\left(!{\mathrm{OOB\_D}}_n\right)<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\mathrm{else}<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\mathrm{if}<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\left(\mathrm{tx\_mode}=\mathrm{SEND\_N}\right)<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}\\ {\mathrm{Sc}}_n<br><br>\left[3\right]<br><br>\text{\hspace{1em}<br><br>}<br><br>\mathrm{else}\end{array}\end{array}$

where OOB_D_n represents the encoded out-of-band data at time n, “

!”

represents “

NOT”

logic operator, and all the other signals, operators and parameters are defined in IEEE Standard 802.3.

20. The method of claim 20, wherein the encoding method is a mB/nB encoding method including 4B/5B encoding method, where m and n are integers and m<

n.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising the step of decoding “

loc_rcvr_status”

signal from the received encoded out-of-band data, where “

loc_rcvr_status”

signal is defined in IEEE Standard 802.3.