ADVANCED PoE POWER CONTROL

A power over Ethernet (PoE) system, comprising:

• a plurality of powered devices (PDs);
• a power sourcing equipment (PSE) device coupled to each of the plurality of PDs through a respective Ethernet cable, wherein the PSE device is operable to:
• supply power to each of the plurality of PDs at a respective static power level;
• determine an actual power consumption of each of the plurality of PDs;
• send a first Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) packet that includes first proposed power level information to a first PD of the plurality of PDs, wherein the LLDP packet is sent in response to the actual power consumption of the first PD being different from the respective static power level of the first PD;
• and
• supply power to the first PD at a first power level that is different from the respective static power level of the first PD.

A method for providing power, comprising:

• supplying power at a first power level from a power sourcing equipment (PSE) device to a powered device (PD);
• determining an actual power consumption of the PD by the PSE device;
• sending a first Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) packet from the PSE device to the PD that includes first proposed power level information that is based on the actual power consumption of the PD;
• and
• supplying power from the PSE device to the PD at a second power level that is different from the first power level.