Patent ID: 7317793

Claim:
A network for coupling a telephone set to a telephone service, comprising: a wire pair connected for concurrently carrying an analog telephone signal to and from the telephone service and a DC power signal; a connection point for connecting the network to the telephone service; a power supply coupler DC coupled at a point of said wire pair for coupling DC power into said wire pair; an AC Pass and DC Stop device connected in series between said wire pair and said connection point for substantially conducting only AC telephony signals and blocking DC flow from the telephone service into said wire pair, said AC Pass and DC Stop device being connected between the point at which said power supply coupler is DC coupled to said wire pair and said connectiom point; a load coupler DC coupled to said wire pair for coupling DC power to a load from said wire pair, independently of the hook state of the telephone set; and a telephone coupler for coupling the telephone set to said wire pair for passing only analog telephony signals between said wire pair and the telephone set while limiting the DC power supplied to the telephone set to a level suitable for proper telephone operation, an off-hook signaling circuit connected to bypass said AC Pass and DC Stop device for supplying an off-hook signal to the telephone services when the telephone set is off-hook, wherein said power supply coupler supplies all of the power required by the load and the telephone set.