Power sourcing equipment device including a serial interface

1. A circuit device comprising:

a power sourcing equipment (PSE) circuit including a plurality of high-voltage line circuits adapted to communicate with a respective plurality of powered devices via network cables, the PSE circuit including a serial interface circuit and a common controller coupled to the serial interface circuit and to the plurality of high-voltage line circuits; and

a low-voltage circuit including a programmable controller adapted to transmit control signals to the common controller via the serial interface circuit to control operation of the plurality of high-voltage line circuits.

2. The circuit device of claim 1 , wherein the PSE circuit further comprises a measurement circuit to measure electrical parameters associated with the plurality of high-voltage line circuits.

3. The circuit device of claim 2 , further comprising a multiplexer to selectively couple the measurement circuit to a selected high-voltage line circuit of the plurality of high-voltage line circuits.

4. The circuit device of claim 2 , wherein the low-voltage circuit comprises an analog-to-digital (A/D) circuit to convert measurements related to the electrical parameters to a digital signal.

5. The circuit device of claim 1 , further comprising a memory to store instructions defining control functions executable by the programmable controller to control the plurality of high-voltage line circuits.

6. The circuit device of claim 1 , wherein the PSE circuit and the low-voltage circuit are formed on a single die.

7. The circuit device of claim 1 , wherein the PSE circuit and the low-voltage control circuit are disposed on separate dies within a single circuit package.

8. The circuit device of claim 1 , wherein the PSE circuit and the low-voltage control circuit are in different packages, and wherein the low-voltage control circuit is coupled to the serial interface circuit via a serial connection.

9. A method of controlling a power supply to a powered device, the method comprising:

receiving an analog signal at a low-voltage circuit from a measurement circuit of a high-voltage power sourcing equipment (PSE) circuit, the analog signal related to an electrical parameter associated with a high-voltage line interface circuit;

converting the analog signal to a digital signal using an analog-to-digital (A/D) circuit at the low-voltage circuit;

processing the digital signal at a programmable controller of the low-voltage circuit; and

sending a control signal from the programmable controller to the PSE circuit via a serial connection to control the high-voltage line interface circuit.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein processing the digital signal comprises determining a power classification associated with a powered device coupled to the high-voltage line interface circuit based on the digital signal.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein sending the control signal comprises controlling the high-voltage line interface circuit to provide a power supply to the powered device at a power level specified by the determined power classification.

12. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

receiving a second analog signal at the A/D circuit of the low-voltage circuit from the measurement circuit, the second analog signal related to a second electrical parameter associated with a second high-voltage line interface circuit; and

converting the second analog signal to a second digital signal using the A/D circuit;

processing the second digital signal at the programmable controller; and

sending a second control signal to the PSE circuit to control the second high-voltage line interface circuit.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein the programmable controller comprises a general-purpose processor adapted to execute instructions stored at a memory of the low-voltage circuit.

14. The method of claim 9 , wherein sending the control signal comprises sending a first control signal to a common controller of the PSE circuit to provide a first power supply to a first high-voltage line interface circuit of the multiple high-voltage line interface circuits and to provide a second power supply to a second high-voltage line interface circuit of the multiple high-voltage line interface circuits.

15. A power sourcing equipment (PSE) device comprising:

a power sourcing equipment (PSE) circuit comprising:

multiple high-voltage line interface circuits to provide power to one or more powered devices;

a common controller adapted to control operation of the multiple high-voltage line interface circuits; and

a serial interface; and

a low-voltage circuit coupled to the PSE circuit via the serial interface, the low-voltage circuit including a programmable controller to send commands to the common controller to control respective power levels supplied to the multiple high-voltage line interface circuits.

16. The PSE device of claim 15 , wherein the PSE circuit further includes a measurement circuit including a gain/level shifter circuit and an analog multiplexer to measure an electrical parameter associated with a selected high-voltage line interface circuit of the multiple high-voltage line interface circuits, the measurement circuit to produce an analog output related to the electrical parameter.

17. The PSE device of claim 16 , wherein the low-voltage circuit further includes an analog-to-digital (A/D) circuit to convert the analog output to a digital signal, the programmable controller adapted to process the digital signal to determine a power requirement of a powered device coupled to a particular high-voltage line interface circuit of the multiple high-voltage line interface circuits, the programmable controller to control the particular high-voltage line interface circuit to supply power to the powered device according to the determined power requirement.

18. The PSE device of claim 17 , wherein the programmable controller is adapted to process the digital signal to determine a parameter associated with the selected high-voltage line interface circuit, wherein the parameter comprises one of a temperature, an average current, an average voltage, a peak current, and a peak voltage.

19. The PSE device of claim 15 , wherein the low-voltage circuit further includes a memory to store instructions executable by the programmable controller.

20. The PSE device of claim 19 , wherein the programmable controller is adapted to execute the stored instructions to control the common controller, wherein the stored instructions define a plurality of PSE functions including a powered device detection function and a powered device classification function.