Patent ID: 7686653

Claim:
An outlet that is part of a local area network in a building, the network including at least part of an existing telephone wire pair that is at least in part in walls of the building and is terminated at an outlet opening, the telephone wire pair being connected for carrying an analog telephone signal in an analog telephone frequency band frequency multiplexed with a digital data signal in a digital data frequency band that is distinct from, and higher than, the analog telephone frequency band, said outlet comprising: a wiring connector for connecting said outlet to the telephone wire pair; a telephone line modem for bidirectional digital data communication with one or more additional modems of the same type as said telephone line modem over the telephone wire pair; a high pass filter coupled between said telephone line modem and said wiring connector for substantially passing only signals in the digital data frequency band; a power port connectable to receive a power signal from a power signal source; a power supply comprising an AC/DC converter or a DC/DC converter, coupled between said power port and said telephone line modem for DC powering said telephone line modem by the power signal; a data port for coupling the digital data signal to a first unit; a multi-port unit including one of: a hub; a switch; a router; and a gateway, coupled to pass data between said data port and said telephone line modem; and first and second enclosures each containing power-consuming circuits connected to be powered from said power supply; wherein: each of said wiring connector, said telephone line modem, said high pass filter, said power port, said power supply, said data port and said multi-port unit is housed in a respective one of said enclosures; said outlet is mountable into a wall opening or outlet cavity; said first and second enclosures are removably mechanically attached to each other and electrically connected to each other to enable power to be passed between them; and said outlet is addressable in the local area network.