Patch panel apparatus and system including patch cord path tracing

• US 20070286411A1
• Filed: 05/26/2006
• Published: 12/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nsgdatacom Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Nsgdatacom Incorporated
• Inventors: King, Graham, Tiley, Simon, Russ, Robert, Davis, Lehi
• Granted Patent: US 8,014,518 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/442
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 1/032 power failure protection
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 1/136 having patch field management or physical layer management arrangements

Abstract

A patch panel apparatus, system, method and computer program product for patch cord path tracing is provided.

Claims

1. A patch panel apparatus comprising:

a plurality of first ports;

a plurality of patch ports;

an electronic monitor of at least one of said plurality of said first ports and/or said plurality of said patch ports, for existence of a patch cord in at least one of said patch ports.

2. The patch panel of claim 1, wherein said plurality of said first ports and said plurality of said patch ports are part of at least two separate patch panels.

3. The patch panel of claim 1, wherein said plurality of said first ports are part of a first portion of a first patch panel and said plurality of said patch ports are part of a second portion of at least one of said first patch panel and/or a second patch panel.

4. The patch panel of claim 3, wherein said first portion comprises at least one of a panel, a first panel, a second panel, a front panel, a back panel, a left section, a right section, a top section, a bottom section, a rear portion, a front portion, a top portion, a bottom portion, a left portion, and/or a right portion, and wherein said second portion comprises at least one of a panel, a first panel, a second panel, a front panel, a back panel, a left section, a right section, a top section, a bottom section, a rear portion, a front portion, a top portion, a bottom portion, a left portion, and/or a right portion.

5. The patch panel of claim 1, further comprising an indicator.

6. The patch panel of claim 5, wherein said indicator comprises at least one of:

a light emitting diode (LED);

a single color indicator;

a multicolor indicator;

at least one pixel, an alphanumeric textual indication;

an liquid crystal display (LCD) indicator;

a cathode ray tube (CRT);

an indicator on a patch cord;

a lamp;

a bulb;

a remote indication;

a local indication;

a database field;

a display; and

/or a light.

7. The patch panel of claim 5, wherein said indicator is operative to indicate at least one of:

activity on at least one of said plurality of said first ports;

an indication of existence of a patch cord in at least one of said plurality of said patch ports;

an indication of a powered on status of the panel; and

/or an indication of a power over ethernet (POE) enabled port.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of first indicators corresponding to said plurality of first ports, and

a plurality of second indicators corresponding to said plurality of patch ports.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a first indicator is adapted to indicate when activity exists on a corresponding one of said first ports.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least one of said patch ports and/or said first ports comprise at least one of:

an equipment port;

a line port;

a premises wiring port;

a 110-type punch-down block;

an RJ-45 connection port;

an RJ-46 connection port,

an IBM Cabling System-type port;

a port;

an RJ-11 connection port;

a building wiring port;

a host computer port;

a private branch exchange port;

a data port;

a telephony port;

a DB-25 port;

an RJ-68 port; and

/or

an electronic connector port.

11. The patch panel of claim 1, further comprising a requester adapted to request a trace of a patch cord;

wherein said electronic monitor is adapted to determine at least one of a first end and/or a second end of the patch cord, and upon receipt of said request of said trace adapted to indicate the location of at least one of the first end and/or the second end of the patch cord.

12. The patch panel of claim 11, wherein said requester comprises:

a button, an electronic request, a trace request, an icon, a software application, and/or a switch.

13. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said patch panel further comprises:

a plurality of buttons corresponding to said plurality of patch ports, wherein said plurality of first buttons are adapted to upon depression indicate locations of a first end and a second end of a patch cord.

14. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said patch panel comprises a controller adapted to control power from a DC voltage power supply and to inject power over ethernet (POE) in a direction toward customer premises equipment (CPE), of at least one of said plurality of said first ports.

15. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said power is injected onto pins of said plurality of said first ports.

16. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said power is injected onto pins of said plurality of said first ports and onto said plurality of said second ports.

17. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the patch panel comprises an electronic coupling between a first of said plurality of said first patch ports and a first of said plurality of said first ports.

18. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein said electronic coupling comprises at least one of:

a relay;

a switched relay;

a latched switched;

a connection;

an electrical connection;

an electronic connection;

a cross-bar switch;

an integrated circuit (IC);

a chip;

a gate;

a matrix switch;

an electromechanical connection;

a software controlled connection; and

/or a coupling.

19. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein said electronic coupling comprises a coupler adapted to at least one of retain and/or go to a predefined position of coupling in the event of a power failure.

20. The apparatus according to claim 19, wherein said electronic coupling comprises a means for coupling comprising at least one of a means for retaining and/or a means for going to a predefined position of coupling in the event of a power failure.

21. The apparatus according to claim 20, wherein said electronic coupling comprises at least one of a switched relay, a latching switched relay, a matrix switch, an integrated circuit (IC), a chip, a gate, a low impedance pass, and/or a crossbar switch.

22. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein said patch panel comprises being adapted to automatically switch from a pre-defined coupling to a patched coupling upon electrically recognizing via said electronic monitoring, insertion of said inserted patch cord.

23. The apparatus according to claim 22, wherein said pre-defined coupling is decoupled only upon insertion of a later of the first and second ends of said inserted patch cord.

24. A method of tracing an inserted patch cord through a patch panel having a plurality of patch ports comprising:

monitoring electronically a plurality of patch ports for insertion of an inserted patch into at least one of first and/or second patch ports;

receiving a request for a trace of a patch; and

providing an indication corresponding to a first and a second patch port associated with said patch.

25. The method according to claim 24, wherein said receiving a request for said trace comprises:

receiving a depression of at least one of a first button corresponding to said first patch port of said patch and/or a second button corresponding to said second patch port of said patch.

26. The method according to claim 24, wherein said providing an indication comprises:

illuminating a pair of indicators corresponding said first and said second patch ports.

27. A method of providing power over Ethernet (POE) to a plurality of ports comprising:

providing a patch panel having a plurality of ports, said patch panel comprising a controller adapted to control a DC voltage power supply;

injecting controlled DC voltage power from said patch panel in a direction toward a customer premises equipment (CPE), of at least one of said plurality of ports, wherein said ports are electronically monitored for insertion of an inserted patch cord into at least one of first and/or second patch ports.

28. The method according to claim 27, further comprising:

receiving a request for a trace of a patch; and

providing an indication corresponding to the two patch ports associated with said patch.

29. A machine-readable medium that provides instructions, which when executed by a computing platform, cause said computing platform to perform operations comprising a method of tracing an inserted patch cord through a patch panel having a plurality of patch ports comprising:

monitoring electronically a plurality of patch ports for insertion of an inserted patch into at least one of first and/or second patch ports;

receiving a request for a trace of said patch; and

providing an indication corresponding to at least one of said first and/or second patch ports.