Patent ID: 7773354

Claim:
A device to provide power to one or more powered devices via a network, the device comprising: an interface adapted to be communicatively coupled to a network connection to provide power and data to a power over Ethernet (PoE) powered device via the network connection; and an integrated circuit coupled to the interface, the integrated circuit comprising: a power over Ethernet (PoE) controller; a detection and classification module coupled to the interface to detect and classify a power level of the PoE powered device; and a voltage protection circuit coupled to the interface to detect a power event comprising a power level that exceeds a threshold power level, the voltage protection circuit to limit power supplied to the interface and provide an alert to the PoE controller in response to the detected power event, wherein the PoE controller is configured to deactivate a switch turning off power to the interface and to shut down associated circuitry on the integrated circuit in response to the alert.