Patent ID: 7830858

Claim:
A local area network in a building for carrying power and digital data, said network comprising: a first node including a first data port for coupling to a first data unit, a second node including a second data port for coupling to a second data unit and a third node including a third data port for coupling to a third data unit; a first wiring segment having two ends and comprising at least one first twisted wire pair at least in part in walls of a building, wherein each end of said first wiring segment is terminated in a respective first terminating connector, at least one of the first terminating connectors is part of an outlet, said first wiring segment connects only said first and second nodes in a point-to-point connection for a first full-duplex data communication of serial digital data over said first wiring segment between the first and second nodes, and said first wiring segment concurrently carries a first DC power signal substantially without interfering with the first communication of serial digital data; and a second wiring segment having two ends and comprising at least one second twisted wire pair at least in part in walls of a building, wherein each end of said second wiring segment is terminated in a respective second terminating connector, at least one of the second terminating connectors is part of an outlet, said second wiring segment connects only said first and third nodes in a point-to-point connection for a second full-duplex communication of serial digital data over said second wiring segment between the first and third nodes, and said second wiring segment concurrently carries a second DC power signal substantially without interfering with the second communication of serial digital data; wherein: said network is operative to effect the second communication independently from the first communication, said first node is connectable to a power source to be powered from the power source, and the first and second DC power signals are provided by the power source, said second node is at least in part powered by the first DC power signal, said third node is at least in part powered by the second DC power signal, each node is operative to couple serial digital data to a connected data unit via a respective data port for coupling to the connected data unit digital data carried over said first or second wiring segment, and the first and second DC power signals are current limited.