Patent ID: 7352802

Claim:
A circuit card comprising: a plurality of DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) modem transmitters, each of the plurality of DSL modem transmitters including first means for generating a full power physical frame when the DSL modem transmitter is provided with data to transmit, the full power physical frame including a control channel signal component and a data signal component; a control channel generating circuit responsive to the first means and operable to generate a control signal when the DSL modem transmitter has no data to transmit; second means for generating a low power physical frame having a control channel signal component and no data; and third means responsive to the control signal for selecting between the full power physical frame and the low power physical frame for transmission from the DSL modem transmitter, wherein selection of the low power physical frame for transmission from the DSL modem transmitter is based only on the DSL modem transmitter having no data to transmit; and a network processor to limit aggregate flow of data to the plurality of DSL modem transmitters such that a total power required by the plurality of DSL modem transmitters is held below a predefined target power level.