IoT panel for diagnostics and monitoring of LAN cable conductors
AssigneeNflexon, LLC
InventorsRichard Y. Mei, George W. Brooks
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A LAN cable conductor validation system includes controllable relays in-line with a portion of the twisted pair wires of the Ethernet cables. By temporarily open circuiting some of the Ethernet cable twisted pairs a drop in transmission speed can be detected for an active network component. This allows the active component's MAC address to be verified at a given physical location within the cable conductor network system.
Claims15
An active component validation apparatus for a cable network system including a network end device, the apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of relay switches including a first relay switch and a second relay switch, each of the plurality of relay switches being controllable with control signals;
- the first relay switch having a first terminal conductively coupled to the network switch, the first relay switch having a second terminal conductively coupled to the network end device via a wire of a twisted pair;
- a first control line communicatively coupling the first relay switch to a control unit;
- wherein the first relay switch is set to either an open state or to a closed state by first control signals sent by the control unit on the first control line communicatively coupling the first relay switch to the control unit;
- and
- wherein upon setting the first relay switch to an open state the active component validation apparatus validates a physical location of the network end device by receiving an indication of a reduction in transmission speed to the network end device from the network switch.
A method of active component validation for a cable network system including a network end device, the method comprising:
- providing a plurality of relay switches including a first relay switch and a second relay switch, each of the plurality of relay switches being controllable with control signals;
- conductively coupling a first terminal of the first relay switch to the network switch;
- conductively coupling a second terminal of the first relay switch to the network end device via a wire of a twisted pair;
- communicatively coupling the first relay switch via a first control line to a control unit;
- sending first control signals from the control unit to controllably set the first relay switch to an open state;
- and
- upon setting the first relay switch to the open state, the active component validation apparatus validates a physical location of the network end device by receiving an indication of a reduction in transmission speed to the network end device from the network switch.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.