Patent ID: 7903809

Claim:
A method for managing an inline power relationship between a first device, a second device and a third device in a wired data telecommunications network, the first device configured as power sourcing equipment (PSE), the second device having a first power requirement and configured as a powered device (PD) and coupled via at least a first pair of conductors to the first device, and the third device having a second power requirement and coupled via at least a second pair of conductors to the second device, the method comprising: communicating from the third device to the second device a representation of a magnitude of the second power requirement; calculating a representation of a combination of the first and second power requirements; and communicating a representation of the combination to the first device; wherein: communicating from the third device to the second device a representation of a magnitude of the second power requirement comprises communicating from the third device to the second device the magnitude of the second power requirement needed by the third device for operation; and calculating the representation of the combination of the first and second power requirements comprises calculating the combination of the first power requirement as needed by the second device for operation and the second power requirement as needed by the third device for operation; and further comprising receiving, by the second device, the combination of the first and second power requirements from the first device.