Abstract: A power supply circuit includes a line voltage forming circuit and a supply voltage forming circuit. The line voltage forming circuit forms a voltage that is proportional to a line voltage provided by a telecommunication line, and the supply voltage forming circuit forms a second voltage from the first voltage. A sensing circuit senses the telecommunication line and provides a sensor signal that is representative of the power provided by the telecommunication line. The line voltage forming circuit is controlled by the sensor signal such that the slope of a load line characteristic of the line voltage forming circuit is modified when the sensor signal is above a predetermined threshold signal. The load line characteristic defines an increase of the line voltage with an increase of the line current provided by the telecommunication line.

Abstract: A current distribution circuit for application in a communication device, such as a telephone subscriber circuit comprises a first current sinking branch, which is connected in parallel to a second current sinking branch. Both branches sink at least the DC current on the telephone line, whereas an excess current in the DC line is taken up by the second current sinking branch, which is provided with a current sinking transistor, whose collector/emitter voltage is relatively large. This leads to a reduced effectively needed chip area. The DC line-current can be measured by means of a low pass filter, preferable connected to a current mirror means.