Patent ID: 8092258

Claim:
An outlet that is part of a local area network (LAN) in a building, the network including at least part of an existing LAN wiring, the LAN wiring being connected for concurrently carrying a DC power signal and a packet-based digital data signal, said outlet comprising: a first LAN connector for connecting said outlet to the LAN wiring; a first transceiver for point-to-point full-duplex digital data communication with a transceiver of the same type as said first transceiver over the LAN wiring; a power supply comprising a DC/DC converter, coupled to said first LAN connector to receive the DC power signal and coupled to supply DC power to said first transceiver; a data port for coupling the digital data signal to a first unit; and a multi-port packet-based unit including one of: a hub; a switch; a router; and a gateway, coupled to pass data between said data port and said first transceiver; first and second enclosures each containing power-consuming circuits powered from said power supply, wherein: each of said first LAN connector, said first transceiver, said power supply, said data port and said multi-port packet-based unit is housed in a respective one of said enclosures; said first and second enclosures are removably mechanically attached to each other and electrically connected to each other to enable power to be passed between them; and said outlet is addressable in the local area network.