| CPC H04L 12/10 (2013.01) [G06F 1/266 (2013.01); G06F 1/28 (2013.01); G06F 1/30 (2013.01); G06F 1/3212 (2013.01); H04L 12/40045 (2013.01)] | 20 Claims |

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1. A system comprising:
a plurality of network devices comprising a plurality of ports;
a power bus connecting said plurality of network devices; and
a controller for identifying an available power and allocating the available power to said plurality of ports;
wherein said plurality of ports comprises:
a plurality of PSE (Power Sourcing Equipment) fault management power (FMP) ports, each operable to transmit the available power to a first device connected to one of the PSE FMP ports;
a plurality of PD (Powered Device) FMP ports each operable to receive the available power from a second device connected to one of the PD FMP ports; and
a plurality of bi-directional FMP ports each configurable to operate as a PSE FMP port to transmit the available power to a third device connected to one of the bi-directional FMP ports or as a PD FMP port to receive the available power from the third device,
wherein the FMP includes a fault detection between pulses of the available power.
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