Communications: electrical – Visual indication
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-25
2002-09-10
Hofsass, Jeffery (Department: 2632)
Communications: electrical
Visual indication
C340S635000, C340S657000, C340S315000, C340S315000, C439S654000, C439S131000, C439S142000, C439S719000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06448899
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to networking, and in particular, to a power indicating Ethernet outlet and method therefor.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Local area networks (LANs) have grown tremendously in the last few years. And, leading the way in the growth of LANs is the Ethernet type LAN. Ethernet was first developed in the mid 1970s. By the early 1980s, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) developed a standard for Ethernet designated as IEEE 802.3, which has been universally adopted by the network industry. From the early 1980s until the present, the IEEE 802.3 standard has undergone many revisions, including the addition of new features such as switched Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, and others. The present invention relates to a proposed new addition to the IEEE 802.3 standard project (P802.3af) of transmitting power over Ethernet transmission lines, as explained below.
FIG. 1
illustrates a current exemplary Ethernet network system
100
as may be employed in an office environment, home, or other establishment. The network system
100
typically comprises at least one network core device
128
, such as a hub, router, bridge, repeater, etc., and at least one network device
102
, such as a network telephone, clock, light switch, desktop computer, laptop computer, personal digital assistants, and other devices that can interface with a network system. The network core device
128
and the network device
102
are data coupled together via a data transmission line
120
, such as those specified by IEEE 802.3 (e.g. 10BASE-T, 10BASE-F, 100BASE-TX etc.).
The network core device
128
may comprise network interfaces
130
, data processing circuits
134
, and memory
136
all data coupled together for performing the designated functions of the network core device. The network core device
128
may also include a power supply
132
for supplying direct current (DC) power to the each of the elements of the network core device
128
, such as the network interfaces
130
, the data processing circuits
134
, and the memory
136
. The power supply
132
may, in turn, receive alternating current (AC) power from a standard AC outlet
126
mounted on a wall
122
or, alternatively from an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS). The network interfaces
130
may be coupled to one or more cable transmission lines which are connected to work area telecommunications outlets
124
mounted on the wall
122
for communicating with one or more network devices, such as network device
102
by way of data transmission line
120
. A specification for cabling infrastructure, cable transmission lines and work area telecommunications outlets is called out at reference ISO/IEC 11801.
The network device
102
may also comprise a network interface
108
, data processing circuit
104
, and memory
106
all data coupled together for performing its various functions. The network device
102
may also include a power supply
110
for supplying direct current (DC) power to the each of the elements of the network device
102
, such as the network interface
108
, the data processing circuit
104
, and the memory
106
. The power supply
110
may, in turn, receive alternating current (AC) power from a standard AC outlet
118
mounted on a wall
112
, or alternatively some other sources of uninterruptible power. The network interface
108
may be coupled to a cable transmission line connected to a work area telecommunications outlet
114
mounted on the wall
112
for communicating with one or more network core devices, such as network core device
128
by way of data transmission line
120
.
One drawback of the current Ethernet network system
100
is that typically each device requires its own power supply for supplying power to its various functional elements. Thus, there is a lot of redundancy in the current Ethernet network system
100
. Furthermore, each network device requires two sets of cabling for operation. For instance, network device
102
has a cabling for connecting to the work area telecommunications outlet
114
and another cabling for connection to the AC outlet
118
. Noting the redundancy and the cabling drawbacks of the current Ethernet network system
100
, the IEEE is proposing an addition to the. IEEE 802.3 standard to allow transmission of power by way of the specified Ethernet cabling from a network core device to one or more network devices. This would eliminate the requirement of a power supply for each network device and also reduce cabling since each network device need only connect to a work area telecommunications outlet, and not additionally to an AC outlet.
FIG. 2
illustrates an exemplary Ethernet network system
200
that may incorporate the transfer of power across Ethernet cabling as being proposed by the IEEE. The network system
200
comprises at least one network core device
228
having a network interface
230
, a data processing circuit
234
, memory
236
, and a power supply
232
coupled to an AC outlet
226
mounted on wall
222
. The network interface
230
, in turn, comprises a data interface and a power insertion circuit. The network interface
230
is coupled to one or more cables connected to a work area telecommunications outlet
224
mounted on wall
222
. Similarly, the network device
202
comprises a network interface
208
, data processing circuit
204
, memory
206
, and a DC-to-DC converter
210
. The network interface
208
, in turn, comprises a data interface and a power removal circuit. The network interface
208
of the network device
202
is coupled to a cable for connecting to work area telecommunications outlet
214
mounted on wall
212
. In this case, however, the network system
200
includes a cabling
220
for communicating not only data, but also power for supplying power from the network core device
228
to one or more network devices
202
.
More specifically, the power generated by the power supply
232
is sent to the power insertion circuit of the network interface
230
for transmission to the network device
202
by way of the cabling
220
. The power removal circuit of the network interface
208
of the network device
202
receives this power from the telecommunications outlet
214
, and sends it to the DC-to-DC converter
210
for generating the appropriate power level for each of its elements. In this way, the network device
202
need not have its own AC-powered internal power supply, but merely draws the power coming from the work area telecommunication outlet
214
. It is proposed that the power may be transmitted on an unused twisted pair of wires which are available in some of the IEEE 802.3 compliant cabling, or with the addition of a phantom circuit to the two twisted pairs of wires currently in some IEEE 802.3 compliant cabling.
It is also proposed that the power on the transmission line
220
remains off when the network device
202
is not connected to the work area transmission outlet
214
. Instead, the network core device
228
generates and transmits a load verification signal through the transmission line
220
when there is no qualified network device connected to the work area telecommunications outlet
214
. The network core device
228
uses the load verification signal to determine whether there is a qualified network device connected to the work area telecommunications outlet
214
, and possibly the type of network device connected for the purpose of transmitting the appropriate power level to the network device. It is proposed that this load verification signal is a relatively low power and low duty cycle pulsed signal. Once the network core device
228
senses a qualified network device connected to the outlet
214
, it ceases transmitting the load verification signal, and transmits instead the power level required by the network device.
With this new proposed addition to the IEEE 802.3 standard, a user will need to know whether a particular work area telecommunications outlet is capable of supplying power. Such a need is met with the apparatus and
Blakely , Sokoloff, Taylor & Zafman LLP
Hofsass Jeffery
Nguyen Hung
Nortel Networks Limited
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