Patent ID: 7545055

Claim:
A system for providing power from a line termination (LT) to an end station at a network termination (NT), the system comprising: a plurality of power transmitting circuits at the LT configured to transmit power over a plurality of conducting pairs; a power receiving circuit at the NT configured to receive power from any two or more selected conducting pairs of the plurality of conducting pairs, wherein the power receiving circuit is configured to provide aggregated power from the two or more conducting pairs to the end station; a microcontroller at the LT coupled to the plurality of power transmitting circuits, wherein the microcontroller is configured to receive a current sense signal from the power receiving circuit; one or more current limiters coupled to the first and second conducting pairs, the one or more current limiters operable to limit the power from the first and second conducting pairs based on power demand information of the end station; and a load controller coupled to the one or more current limiters, wherein the load controller selectively activates the one or more current limiters based on a determination by the microcontroller that the end station is allowed to receive a full power demand, said determination being a function of a demand current profile of the end station.