Enhanced utilization of power over ethernet

摘要

An embodiment of the invention includes a circuit to determine the power lost between a network device and a network power supply. Using this determination, an embodiment of the network device may increase its power consumption by an amount equal to the difference between the actual cable power loss and the worst-case cable power loss. This allows the network device to draw more power than allowed by network power standards without triggering the power-limiting circuitry of the network power source or overloading the network power device. The network device can determine an operating configuration that utilizes this additional power consumption to improve performance. The network device may also determine the existence of network power device or cable fault conditions, and adjust its operating configuration as necessary. Operating configurations can include enabling additional or more powerful wired or wireless network interfaces.

主权项

1. A method for determining an operating configuration of a network-powered device, the method comprising:
measuring, by the network-powered device, a total network connection power loss associated with at least one wired network connection of the network-powered device, wherein a first network connection power loss and a second network connection power loss are measured in parallel; and determining, by the network-powered device, an operating configuration of the network-powered device based on the measured total network connection power loss; wherein the network-powered device receives power from a network power supply via the at least one wired network connection, and the operating configuration is determined from a set of operating configurations comprising: a first operating configuration that causes the network-powered device to operate at a first total power consumption less than a network power specification limit based on a worst-case network power loss; and a second operating configuration that causes the network-powered device to operate at a second total power consumption greater than the network power specification limit and less than a maximum power limit of the network power supply minus the total network power loss.