Patent ID: 9451655
Filing Date: 2016-09-20
CPC Classification: H04B,H04W

Claim Text:
1. An apparatus, comprising: a first port having at least a portion disposed within a housing, the first port configured to be operably coupled to a cable having a first communication medium, the first port configured to receive via the cable a first data unit having a first communication format associated with the first communication medium; a processor including a format conversion module having at least a portion disposed within the housing, the format conversion module operably coupled to the first port, the format conversion module including a plurality of conversion sub-modules, each conversion sub-module from the plurality of conversion sub-modules configured to convert data of a communication format that is different from a communication format of each remaining sub-modules from the plurality of conversion sub-modules, the format conversion module configured to receive the first data unit from the first port, the format conversion module configured to convert the first data unit from the first communication format to a second communication format associated with a second communication medium, using a conversion sub-module from the plurality of conversion sub-modules that is associated with the first communication format, to produce a second data unit, the first communication format being a communication format incompatible with Power-over-Ethernet (PoE), and the second format being a PoE-compatible format; and a second port having at least a portion disposed within the housing, the second port operably coupled to the format conversion module, the second port configured to be operably coupled to a wireless access point (WAP) physically distinct from the housing, the second port configured to receive the second data unit from the format conversion module and send the second data unit to the WAP.