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Inline power system and method for network communications

  • US 9,401,877 B2
  • Filed: 07/15/2013
  • Issued: 07/26/2016
  • Est. Priority Date: 08/09/2007
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A two port adapter configured as power sourcing equipment (PSE) for coupling an inline powered communications device to a communications network via the two ports of the adapter, the communications device configured for sending and receiving first data in a first communications format, the adapter comprising:

  • a first port of the two ports having a device connector having both inline power and first data connections for connecting to the communications device to facilitate the communication of the first data in the first communications format and the inline power between the adapter and the communications device, the inline power for use in operating the communications device;

    a second port of the two ports having a network connector having both inline power and second data connections for connecting to a network cable for coupling to the communications network, the second port to facilitate communication of second data in a second communications format and the inline power between the network connector and the network cable, the second port coupled to the first port facilitating conduction of the inline power there-between, the network connector configured for connecting to a pair of conductors of the network cable for receiving both the inline power and the second data formatted in the second communications format, the first communications format different from the second communications format;

    a translation module positioned between the first and second ports and connected thereto, the translation module configured for processing format transformation between the first data in the first communications format and the second data in the second communications format;

    a power discovery module on board the adapter configured for implementing discovery logic by applying a power initialization process to the inline powered communications device upon connection to the first port by directly implementing a series of power checks in controlling the first port to determine whether the connected inline powered communications device is configured to receive the inline power; and

    an onboard power regulator coupled to the inline power and configured for supplying operating power to the translation module and the power discovery module by stepping down incoming voltage of the inline power to one or more levels of the operating power;

    Wherein said inline power and first data connections of the device connector are configured as two pairs of power pins for conducting the inline power and two pairs of data pins for conducting the first data.

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