Patent ID: 8499177
Filing Date: 2013-07-30
Classification: G06F,H04L

Abstract:
1. A method, comprising: activating a set of port power controllers, each port power controller being constructed and arranged to deliver power to a device through at most one physical port at a time; performing a set of discovery operations to discover device presence, the set of discovery operations providing discovery data; and based on the discovery data provided by the set of discovery operations, providing a set of switching signals to switching circuitry which is coupled to a set of physical ports, the switching circuitry being constructed and arranged to steer power signals from the activated set of port power controllers through the set of physical ports to deliver power to a set of devices; wherein the activated set of port power controllers includes a first power sourcing equipment (PSE) controller and a second PSE controller; wherein providing the set of switching signals to the switching circuitry includes: wherein selecting the switch configuration from the first group of switch configurations and selecting the switch configuration from the second group of switch configurations occur substantially concurrently; wherein selecting the switch configuration from the first group of switch configurations includes operating the switching circuitry in the first switch configuration of the first group to deliver power from the first PSE controller to a first device through the first physical port during a particular time period; wherein selecting the switch configuration from the second group of switch configurations includes operating the switching circuitry in the first switch configuration of the second group to deliver power from the second PSE controller to the first device through the first physical port during the particular time period; wherein operating the switching circuitry in the first switch configuration of the first group includes delivering up to 30 Watts of power from the first PSE controller to the first device through the first physical port; and wherein operating the switching circuitry in the first switch configuration of the second group includes delivering up to 30 Watts of power from the second PSE controller to the first device through the first physical port to provide up to 60 Watts of power to the first device through the first physical port.