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US 7,627,002 B1Granted
Mechanism for deploying an access point within a WLAN using a single interconnect
AssigneeAruba Networks, Inc.
InventorsMerwyn B. Andrade, Kent H. Headrick
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In one embodiment, the invention relates to utilization of a single interconnect to support the transmission of data, power and serial control information to an access point. The interconnect comprises at least three and perhaps four twisted pairs such as a CAT-5 cable.
Claims17
A system comprising:
- an access point;
- and
- a single interconnect coupled to the access point to transfer data, control signals and power, the interconnect includes at least four twisted pairs of which (i) a first twisted pair carries both data and a negative power voltage, (ii) a second twisted pair carries both data and a positive power voltage, and (iii) at least one twisted pair of the at least four twisted pairs to transfer the control signals in accordance with a serial communication protocol that differs from a communication protocol associated with the first twisted pair, the at least one twisted pair being used for troubleshooting functional problems with the access point by a switch with determinative routing functionality and supporting the serial communication protocol having a higher latency than the communication protocol associated with the first twisted pair, the serial communication protocol being one of a plurality of serial communication protocols including a Recommended Standard 232 (RS-232) communication protocol, a Recommended Standard 422 (RS-422) communication protocol and a Recommended Standard 485 (RS-485) communication protocol.
A wireless local area network comprising:
- an access point;
- a combination module coupled to the access point through a second interconnect and a third interconnect, the second interconnect to exchange data between the combination module and the access point and the third interconnect to exchange serial control information between the combination module and the access point, the serial control information being configured in accordance with one of a Recommended Standard 232 (RS-232) serial format, a Recommended Standard 422 (RS-422) serial format and a Recommended Standard 485 (RS-485) serial format;
- and
- a first interconnect coupled to the combination module and differing from the second interconnect and the third interconnect, the first interconnect to transfer the data and power over at least a first and second twisted pairs and the serial control information over at least a third and fourth twisted pairs to the combination module with the transfer of the serial control information being in accordance with a RS-232 communication protocol having a higher latency than communication protocol used for transfer of the data and power over the first and second twisted pairs, the first interconnect being substantially longer in length than either the second interconnect or the third interconnect.
1 more element
A method comprising:
- providing an access point and a switch having a plurality of ports from which data, power and serial control information is selectively routed;
- and
- coupling a single interconnect between the access point and the switch, the single interconnect to transfer the data, power and serial control information from the switch to the access point, the serial control information being configured in accordance with one of a Recommended Standard 232 (RS-232) serial format, a Recommended Standard 422 (RS-422) serial format and a Recommended Standard 485 (RS-485) serial format having a latency higher than a latency of a communication protocol supporting the transfer of data and power, the coupling of the single interconnect comprises (1) coupling the switch to a first end of a cable including at least four twisted pairs, (2) coupling the access point to a second end of the cable, and (3) supplying (i) data in accordance with an Ethernet frame format over a first twisted pair and a second twisted pair, (ii) power over the first twisted pair and the second twisted pair, and (iii) serial control information over a third twisted pair and a fourth twisted pair, the serial control information being used for controlling an initial configuration of the access point and for troubleshooting functional problems with the access point.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.