Cisco Technology, Inc.

Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Frederick Roland Schindler

Daniel Christian Biederman

Wael William Diab

Kenneth Coley

Anoop Vetteth

Koussalya Balasubramanian

Roger Antoine Karam

Sandeep Arvindkumar Patel

Shashi Kumar

Chad M Jones

Thomas James Edsall

Robert Gregory Twiss

James P Rivers

Robert Andrew Marshall

Yu Liu

William F Edwards

Dylan Thomas Walker

Rudolph Benedict Klecka

Chris Desiniotis

Anthony L Randall

Sandeep Arvind Patel

Kamran Torabi

Johnston Reid McGaughey

John Oberstar

Asok Tiyyagura

Scott Lawrence Lennartz

John Alvin Herrmann

Yonghan Kang

Iii Rudolph B Klecka

A technique is able to direct a power signal from a port power controller to one of multiple physical ports. The technique involves activating a set of port power controllers. Each port power controller is constructed and arranged to deliver power to a device through at most one physical port at a time. The technique further involves performing a set of discovery operations to discover device presence, the set of discovery operations providing discovery data. The technique further involves providing, based on the discovery data provided by the set of discovery operations, a set of switching signals to switching circuitry which is coupled to a set of physical ports. The switching circuitry is constructed and arranged to steer power signals from the activated set of port power controllers through the set of physical ports to deliver power to a set of devices.

Directing a power signal from a port power controller to one of multiple physical ports

Techniques are provided for delivering power to powered devices. Power is received from an inline power device and the power is separated into multiple power distribution paths. The power is received at a connector jack comprising conductor pins configured to receive the power and data. A transceiver is configured to interface with the first portion and the second portion of the conductor pins of the connector jack. The power distribution paths are electrically isolated, and rectifying diodes are configured to interface with the conductor pins are also electrically isolated. The power is transmitted from the inline power device across the multiple power distribution paths.

Inline power device for multiple inline formats

A method is performed in a power sourcing device (PSD). The method includes, for each of a plurality of powered devices (PDs) configured to time-varyingly draw power from the PSD, (a) receiving a set of power requirements for that PD, (b) assigning a set of amounts of power to be allocated to that PD, each assigned amount respectively indicating an assigned power allocation to that PD at a different time slot, and (c) during each time slot, providing an amount of power to that PD in accordance with the assigned amount. The set of power requirements includes (1) a plurality of different amounts of power to be drawn by the PD, each different amount of power being associated with an operational mode in which the PD can operate and (2) a policy indicating which operational mode the PD should operate in at different times.

Techniques for network-centric scheduled power provisioning

A method and apparatus for bidirectional provision of inline power over data telecommunications cabling permits power to be received at a local powered device (PD) from remote power sourcing equipment (PSE) via at least one conductor at a first time and power to be provided by the local device to a remote device or another device at a second different time.

Bidirectional inline power port

In one embodiment, power from multiple inline power sources is collected. Power is supplied to powered network circuits from the collected power and any excess power from the collected power is supplied to downlink inline equipment. A worst-case power source loss scenario is determined based on power source and load information. Removal of an inline power source is detected and load power is reduced when the removed power source reduces the power required to operate the powered network circuits.

Power load shedding based on a voltage drop rate associated with a power source and a predetermined voltage

Techniques are provided for providing power onto multiple power distribution paths. Power controller devices receive power from a power source device and are coupled to first and second multiplexer units. The multiplexer units receive power from the power source devices via the power controller devices for first and second power distribution paths. A multiplexer control unit controls the multiplexer units to output power from the first power distribution path, the second power distribution path or both of the paths. Power subsystems are provided comprising first and second power transistor units. The first transistor unit receives power from the first multiplexer unit over the first path and the second transistor unit receives power from the second multiplexer unit over the second path. Ports are provided and are coupled to a powered device. The multiplexer control unit controls the multiplexer units to supply power to the respective ports according to the type of powered device detected at a port.

Inline power multiplexer device

An apparatus and method for transferring power in an inline switch device are provided. The method comprises drawing power from an inline power source and transferring, by the powered device subsystem, a portion of the power that is not consumed by the powered device subsystem to one or more connected powered devices. The method further comprises determining a limit of current drawn by the powered device subsystem during transfer of power by the powered device subsystem to the one or more powered devices that results in the transfer of a desired amount of power to the one or more powered devices, and adjusting the limit for the current drawn by the powered device subsystem to the determined current limit.

Power transfer in an inline switch device

An apparatus and method are provided for controlling circuit resistance values used for detection of a device in an inline powered system. The system comprises a source device, either a current source or a voltage source, associated with an inline power device. The system also comprises a resistance control circuit comprising a transistor having an emitter, a base and a collector, and a first resistor coupled between the emitter and the collector. In response to the resistance control circuit receiving a relatively low current from the source device, the transistor is configured to be in an off state so that current from the source device flows through the first resistor have a value selected in order to maintain a sufficient resistance during an inline power device detection mode.

Controlling resistance for inline power powered device detection

A system employing power over Ethernet (PoE) technology may include at least one powered device and power sourcing equipment (PSE). The powered device may include a first powered device (PD) subsystem and a second powered device (PD) subsystem that is electrically isolated from the first PD subsystem. The powered device may also include an interface connecting the first PD subsystem and the second PD subsystem. The PSE may be operable to provide power to one or more of the PD subsystems through a link connecting the PSE to the powered device. Also, the first PD subsystem may be operable to receive a communication from and transfer power to the second PD subsystem through the interface while maintaining the electrical isolation.

Facilitating communication and power transfer between electrically-isolated powered device subsystems

A system conducts a plurality of cycles on the powered device. Each cycle has a detection phase and a classification phase. A classification voltage is applied to the conductors during each cycle. The system measures a current in the conductors while the classification voltage is applied. The system determines a final class responsive to a plurality of measured currents. The final class utilized to determine an amount of inline power to deliver to the powered device.

Methods and apparatus providing advanced classification for power over ethernet

Discovering a device presence and directing a power signal to the device from a port power controller through at most one of multiple physical ports at a time

A method and apparatus are provided for determining resistive power loss through a channel between Power Sourcing Equipment (PSE) and a Powered Device (PD). The method includes (1) receiving indication that a PSE signal measurement is available from the PSE or a PD signal measurement is available from the PD, (2) selecting, as an input parameter to a processing operation, at least one of the PSE signal measurement or the PD signal measurement, (3) performing the processing operation to calculate a resistance value indicative of the resistive power loss through the channel between the PSE and PD based on the input parameter, and (4) outputting the resistive power loss value as a result of carrying out the processing operation.

Techniques for measuring network channel resistive loss between a power-sourcing apparatus and a powered device

A set of network communications devices shares available power among themselves to meet overall system power loading. An individual device is configured to include a local power supply delivering power to a local power bus at a local supply voltage varied in response to a voltage control signal. A protection component is connected between the local power bus and an external power cable used to connect the device to another device for sharing power. The protection component provides an interruptible low-impedance DC path for carrying current based on direction and magnitude of a voltage difference between the local power bus and the external power cable. Control circuitry is used to: (a) drive a current-sharing bus connected among the devices to influence a value of a system current-sharing signal indicating a level of system power loading among the devices; (b) generate a difference signal indicating a difference between local power loading of the local power supply and the system power loading reflected by the system current-sharing signal; and (c) generate the voltage control signal based on the difference signal to achieve a predetermined sharing of the system power loading by the local power supply.

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Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Frederick Roland Schindler