Patent ID: 7242764

Claim:
A LAN having a power feeding system, comprising: a line concentrator, and a plurality of terminals including at least one telephone terminal and at least one non-telephone terminal, said plurality of terminals being connected to said line concentrator via respective cables, each of said cables including therein a signal line for delivering data signals for mutual communication between said terminals, and a power feed line, wherein said line concentrator comprises: a power feed section for feeding power to said at least one telephone terminal via the corresponding power feed line; a plurality of power feed control switching sections each for establishing or disabling connection between said power feed section and the corresponding power feed line; a current monitor section for detecting whether a value of current flowing in each of said power feed lines when each of said power feed lines is connected to said power feed section is within a preset current value range which represents a state where the telephone terminal is connected to the cable including therein the corresponding power feed line; and a control section for controlling said power feed control switching sections to connect the corresponding power feed lines to said power feed section in sequence, and for controlling each of said power feed control switching sections to stop feeding the power via the corresponding power feed line when said current monitor section detects that the value of the current flowing in the corresponding power feed line is outside said preset current value range, and to continue feeding the power via the corresponding power feed line when said current monitor section detects that the value of the current flowing in the corresponding power feed line is within said preset current value range.