Patent ID: 7627398

Claim:
An apparatus for measuring characteristics of at least one Power Over Ethernet (POE) Power Sourcing Equipment (PSE) device, the apparatus comprising: a port controller; a programmable current loading circuit in communication with said port controller; a programmable resistance loading circuit in communication with said port controller; a programmable capacitance loading circuit in communication with said port controller; a load current measuring circuit in communication with said port controller; a voltage measuring circuit in communication with said port controller; and an input network connection capable of receiving power signals from a network and providing said power signals to at least one of said current loading circuit, said resistance loading circuit, said capacitance loading circuit, and said load current and voltage measuring circuit and wherein said port controller utilizes a set of test primitives which are accessed interactively in real time via a user connection to execute test sequences for characterizing PSE devices, and wherein said characterizing comprises measuring signaling protocols, signal levels, signal timing parameters, loading thresholds, and load limiting behaviors to ensure they are in compliance with IEEE 802.3 Clause 33 specification.