OPTIMIZED POWER OVER ETHERNET POWER DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

• US 20140245031A1
• Filed: 02/25/2013
• Published: 08/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Hamdi, Rabah S., Nagalla, Srinivasa Rao, Thottakkara, Benny
• Granted Patent: US 9,727,110 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/300
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/26 Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof for memories G11C
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/266 Arrangements to supply power to external peripherals either directly from the computer or under computer control, e.g. supply of power through the communication port, computer controlled power-strips
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/28 Supervision thereof, e.g. detecting power-supply failure by out of limits supervision
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3209 Monitoring remote activity, e.g. over telephone lines or network connections
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3027 where the computing system component is a bus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3062 where the monitored property is the power consumption power management in a computing system G06F1/3203
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/10 Current supply arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/40045 Details regarding the feeding of energy to the node from the bus
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/00 Systems for electrical power generation, transmission, distribution or end-user application management characterised by the use of communication or information technologies, or communication or information technology specific aspects supporting them

Abstract

A power distribution system includes a manager provided on a network controller and an agent provided on a line module. The manager is operable to receive a configuration for a port on the line module. A connection to the port is then detected by the agent and communicated to the manager. At least one of the manager and the agent determines that the connection is for a powered device that is operable to receive power and data through the port. The manager then classifies the powered device. If the manager determines that the classification of the powered device corresponds to the configuration of the port, the manager provides power to the powered device through the port according to an allocation for the powered device from a global power budget.

Claims

1. A power distribution system, comprising:

a manager provided on a network controller; and

an agent provided on a line module, wherein at least one of the manager and the agent are operable to;

receive a configuration for a port on the line module;

detect a connection to the port;

determine that the connection is for a powered device that is operable to receive power and data through the port;

classify the powered device; and

determine that the classification of the powered device corresponds to the configuration of the port and, in response, power the powered device through the port according to an allocation for the powered device from a global power budget.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the manager and the agent are operable to:

monitor a dynamic power use by the powered device.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the monitoring includes determining that the power used by the powered device is lower than the allocation for the powered device from the global power budget, and wherein at least one of the manager and the agent are operable to:

power the powered device through the port according to the dynamic power use of the powered device and return unused power to the global power budget.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the manager and the agent are operable to:

determine the global power budget.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the manager and the agent are operable to:

determine that the port is activated and, in response, add the port to an activated port list; and

determine that the port is deactivated and, in response, add the port to a deactivated port list.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the manager and the agent are operable to:

determine there is not enough power in the global power budget to power the powered device through the port; and

determine that there is a lower priority port on the line module through which power is being provided from the global power budget and, in response, cease providing power through the lower priority port and power the powered device through the port.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the manager and the agent are operable to:

determine there is enough power in the global power budget to power the powered device through the port; and

determine that there is a higher priority port on the line module though which power is not being provided from the global power budget and, in response, cease providing power to the powered device through the port and provide power through the higher priority port.

8. A information handling system (IHS), comprising:

at least one line module including a plurality of ports that are each operable to provide power and data to a powered device;

at least one processing system coupled to the at least one line module; and

at least one memory system coupled to the processing system and including instructions that, when executed by the processing system, cause the processing system to provide a manager and an agent, wherein at least one of the manager and the agent are operable to;

receive a configuration for each of the plurality of ports on the at least one line module;

detect a connection to a first port and a second port of the plurality of ports;

determine that the connection to the first port is for a first powered device that is operable to receive power and data through the first port;

determine that the connection to the second port is for a second powered device that is operable to receive power and data through the second port;

classify the first powered device and the second powered device; and

determine that the classification of the first powered device corresponds to the configuration for the first port and that the classification of the second powered device corresponds to the configuration for the second port and, in response, power the first powered device through the first port according to an allocation for the first powered device from a global power budget, and power the second powered device through the second port according to an allocation for the second powered device from the global power budget.

9. The IHS of claim 8, wherein at least one of the manager and the agent are operable to:

monitor a dynamic power use by the first powered device and the second powered device.

10. The IHS of claim 9, wherein the monitoring includes determining that the power used by the first powered device is lower than the allocation for the first powered device from the global power budget, and wherein at least one of the manager and the agent are operable to:

power the first powered device through the first port according to the dynamic power use of the first powered device and return unused power to the global power budget.

11. The IHS of claim 8, wherein at least one of the manager and the agent are operable to:

determine the global power budget.

12. The IHS of claim 8, wherein at least one of the manager and the agent are operable to:

determine that the first port and the second port are activated and, in response, add the first port and the second port to an activated port list; and

determine that the first port and the second port are deactivated and, in response, add the first port and the second port to a deactivated port list.

13. The IHS of claim 8, wherein at least one of the manager and the agent are operable to:

determine there is not enough power in the global power budget to power the first powered device through the first port; and

determine that the second port is a lower priority port than the first port through which power is being provided from the global power budget to the second powered device and, in response, cease providing power through the second port to the second powered device and power the first powered device through the first port.

14. The IHS of claim 8, wherein at least one of the manager and the agent are operable to:

determine there is enough power in the global power budget to power the first powered device through the first port; and

determine that the second port is a higher priority port though which power is not being provided to the second powered device from the global power budget and, in response, cease providing power to the first powered device through the first port and provide power through the second port to the second powered device.

15. A power distribution method, comprising:

receiving a configuration for a port on a line module;

detecting a connection to the port;

determining that the connection is for a powered device that is operable to receive power and data through the port;

classifying the powered device; and

determining that the classification of the powered device corresponds to the configuration of the port and, in response, power the powered device through the port according to an allocation for the powered device from a global power budget.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

monitoring a dynamic power use by the powered device.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the monitoring includes determining that the power used by the powered device is lower than the allocation for the powered device from the global power budget, and the method further comprises:

powering the powered device through the port according to the dynamic power use of the powered device and returning unused power to the global power budget.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

determining the global power budget.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

determining that the port is activated and, in response, adding the port to an activated port list; and

determining that the port is deactivated and, in response, adding the port to a deactivated port list.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

determining whether there is enough power in the global power budget to power the powered device through the port; and

in response to determining that there is not enough power in the global power budget to power the powered device through the port, ceasing providing power through a lower priority port on the at least one line module and powering the powered device through the port in response to determining that the lower priority port is being provided power from the global power budget; and

in response to determining that there is enough power in the global power budget to power the powered device through the port, ceasing providing power to the powered device through the port and providing power through a higher priority port on the at least one line module in response to determining that the higher priority port is not being provided power from the global power budget.