US 7,890,776 B2Granted

Use of priority information to intelligently allocate power for personal computing devices in a Power-over-Ethernet system

AssigneeBroadcom Corporation

InventorsWael William Diab, Simon Assouad

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Abstract

A Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) communication system dynamically provides power and data communications over a communications link. In an enterprise environment made up of one or more personal computing devices (e.g., personal or laptop computers), a switch determines an allocated amount of power to be supplied to each device. The system includes a switch, a power supply, and one or more personal computing devices having a PoE control module. The PoE control module can be part of, for example, a Power Source Equipment/Powered Device (PSE/PD) system or a LAN-On-Motherboard/Powered Device (LOM/PD) system. A method of dynamically providing power to personal computing devices includes determining the power requirements of each device based on one or more factors, which can include, for example, battery charge status, power load, power mode, etc., of each device. Various algorithms can be used to decide priority in providing power to the devices.

Claims53

Dependent claims

In a Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) system, an automated method of dynamically supplying power to one or more personal computing devices, comprising:

(a) detecting one or more personal computing devices;
(b) determining power requirements over a Layer 2 type communication layer for each of the detected personal computing devices;
(c) receiving priority information for each of the detected personal computing devices over the Layer 2 type communication layer;
(d) determining an available amount of power in a power supply;
(e) determining a respective allocated amount of power for each of the detected personal computing devices based on the available amount of power and the power requirements of each respective personal computing device, wherein the priority information for each of the detected personal computing devices is used to determine the respective allocated amount of power for each of the detected personal computing devices when the available amount of power is less than the power requirements of all of the detected personal computing devices;
and
(f) supplying the respective allocated amounts of power from the power supply to the respective personal computing devices.

4 more elements

In a Power-over-Ethernet system, an automated system for dynamically supplying power to one or more personal computing devices, comprising:

one or more personal computing devices having a PoE control module;
a switch, connected to the one or more personal computing devices, configured to receive priority information for each of the one or more personal computing devices over a Layer 2 type communication layer;
and
a power supply connected to the switch and the personal computing devices,
wherein the switch is further configured to determine an allocated amount of power for each personal computing device over the Layer 2 type communication layer based on an available amount of power at the power supply and power requirements of each personal computing device, to determmine the allocated amount of power for each of personal computing device based upon the priority information for each personal computing device when the available amount of power is less than the power requirements of all of the personal computing devices, and to supply the allocated amount of power to each of the personal computing devices via the PoE control module.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.