Patent ID: 8543008
Filing Date: 2013-09-24
Classification: H04B,H04M

Abstract:
1. A method for electrically powering a network element for a wide area network, the network element having at least one optical port for coupling respectively to at least one optical fiber for communicating with a service provider and having at least one electrical port for coupling respectively to at least one electrical wire pair or cable for communicating with a subscriber terminal, and the network element having at least one electrical coupling device coupled to an electrical port for separating an electrical power signal and an electrical data communications signal from a combined electrical WAN signal, and the network element having a communication device electrically coupled to each electrical coupling device for receiving, aggregating and transmitting the electrical data communication signals, and the network element having at least one power converter coupled respectively to an electrical coupling device for accepting the electrical power signal and for converting the electrical power signal for use by the network element, the method for electrically powering the network element comprising the steps of: (a) accepting through at least one electrical wire pair or cable the combined electrical WAN signal including the electrical power signal and the electrical data communication signal; (b) decoupling the electrical power signal and the electrical data communication signal from the combined electrical WAN signal by an electrical coupling device; (c) providing the decoupled electrical data communication signal to the communication device which is disposed to electrically aggregate the electrical data communication signal with the electrical data communication signals from a plurality of subscriber terminals as an aggregated data communication signal; (d) transmitting an optical representation of the aggregated data communication signal optically through an optical port; (e) providing the decoupled electrical power signal to the power converter; and (f) converting the electrical power signal to electrical power by the power converter for use by the network element, whereby the network element is capable of electrically aggregating communications from subscriber terminals and communicating the electrically aggregated communications to the service provider over the optical fiber and the network element is capable of being electrically powered over the electrical wire pair or cable by a subscriber and the network element is capable of communicating with the subscriber over the same electrical wire pair or cable.