Patent ID: 8174145

Claim:
Combined supply and communications system comprising: a data server; a power supply; a plurality of terminal devices, wherein each of the plurality of terminal devices comprises an input connection and an output connection; and a power supply cable for transferring data between the data server and at least a first terminal device of the plurality of terminal devices and for distributing electrical power to at least the first terminal device, wherein the data server and each of the plurality of terminal devices are each connected to the power supply cable by an incoupling/decoupling unit, and wherein the power supply cable comprises: at least four conductors, wherein two conductors correspond to a transfer channel in the downward direction; and two other conductors correspond to a transfer channel in the upward direction; wherein the power supply cable connects to respective input and output connections of each of the plurality of terminal devices such that each terminal device within the plurality of terminal devices is connected to a preceding terminal device; and wherein the first terminal device connects directly to the data server and each of the remaining plurality of terminal devices connect to the data server and the power supply through the preceding terminal device.