System and Method for Controlling Power Delivered to a Powered Device Based on Cable Characteristics
AssigneeBroadcom Corporation
InventorsWael William Diab, Minshine Shih
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method for discovering a cable type and resistance for Power over Ethernet (PoE) applications. Cabling power loss in PoE applications is related to the resistance of the cable itself. A PHY can be designed to measure electrical characteristics (e.g., insertion loss, cross talk, length, etc.) of the Ethernet cable to enable determination of the cable resistance. The determined resistance can be used in powering decisions and in adjusting power budgets allocated to power source equipment ports.
Claims20
A power over Ethernet method, comprising:
- identifying a type of Ethernet cable that connects a powered device to a power source equipment;
- determining whether said identified type of Ethernet cable indicates that said Ethernet cable is qualified for a transmission of power over said Ethernet cable, said qualification being determined relative to a cabling specification for said transmission of power over said Ethernet cable;
- and
- if it is determined that said identified type of Ethernet cable is not qualified for said transmission of power, then validating said non-qualified type of Ethernet cable based on an analysis of characteristics of a port installation that includes said Ethernet cable and said powered device, said validation representing a condition to an initial provisioning of power to said powered device by said power source equipment.
A power over Ethernet method, comprising:
- identifying a length of Ethernet cable that connects a powered device to power source equipment;
- determining whether said identified length of Ethernet cable is greater than 100 meters;
- and
- if it is determined that said identified length of Ethernet cable is greater than 100 meters, then validating said Ethernet cable for a transmission of power from said power source equipment to said powered device, said validation being based on an analysis of characteristics of a port installation that includes said Ethernet cable and said powered device, said validation representing a condition to an initial provisioning of power by said power source equipment to said powered device over said Ethernet cable.
A power over Ethernet system that delivers power to a powered device via an Ethernet cable, comprising:
- a transceiver that measures one or more electrical characteristics of said Ethernet cable;
- and
- a controller that identifies performance characteristics of said Ethernet cable based on said one or more electrical characteristics, said identified performance characteristics being indicative of a type of said Ethernet cable, said controller determining whether said identified performance characteristics indicate that said Ethernet cable is qualified for a transmission of power over said Ethernet cable, said qualification being determined relative to a cabling specification for said transmission of power over said Ethernet cable, wherein if it is determined that said identified performance characteristics indicate that said Ethernet cable is not qualified for said transmission of power, then said controller validating said non-qualified type of Ethernet cable based on an analysis of characteristics of a port installation that includes said Ethernet cable and said powered device, said validation representing a condition to an initial provisioning of power to said powered device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.