Patent ID: 8149683
Filing Date: 2012-04-03
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A monitoring circuit for inline power supply circuitry of a circuit board blade, the monitoring circuit comprising: a current monitor carried by the circuit board blade and configured to measure current supplied from a board level power supply carried by the circuit board blade, the circuit board blade comprising the board level power supply as an on-board power supply, to the inline power supply circuitry carried by the circuit board blade to generate a current measurement value associated with the inline power supply circuitry; a processor carried by the circuit board blade and associated with the inline power supply circuitry, the processor configured to calculate, over time and as a threshold, a total amount of current allocated to a set of active network ports of a set of network ports associated with the inline power supply control circuitry disposed on the circuit board blade, the set of network ports configured to provide power to a powered device, and the processor configured to receive the current measurement value associated with the circuit board blade from the current monitor; and a current control device carried by the circuit board blade and coupling the inline power supply circuitry disposed on the circuit board blade to the board level power supply disposed on the circuit board blade, the current control device configured to regulate current flow from the board level power supply disposed on the circuit board blade to the inline power supply circuitry disposed on the circuit board blade, the current control device controlled by the processor; wherein the processor is configured to: when the current measurement value associated with the current drawn by the set of active network ports disposed on the circuit board blade exceeds the threshold, detect a current spike having a current spike characteristic, when the current spike has a first current spike characteristic indicative of an expected increase in current drawn by one or more ports of a set of ports of the circuit board blade, maintain current flow at the current measurement value associated with the circuit board blade through the current control device, and when the current spike has a second current spike characteristic indicative of a short circuit on the circuit board blade, reduce current flow from the current measurement value associated with the circuit board blade through the current control device, wherein when calculating, over time and as the threshold, the total amount of current allocated to the set of active network ports of the set of network ports associated with the inline power supply control circuitry, the processor is configured to calculate a dynamically detected threshold by adding, at a given recurring time interval associated with operation of the monitoring circuit, the direct current allocated to each of the active network ports of the set of network ports associated with the inline power supply control circuitry, the dynamically detected threshold representing the total amount of current allocated to the set of network ports at the given time interval during a duration of operation of the monitoring circuit.