Patent ID: 7627002
Filing Date: 2009-12-01
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. 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.