Patent ID: 7855948
Filing Date: 2010-12-21
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. In a point to multipoint communication network, a method comprising: at an access point device in the network, receiving a series of orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) bursts transmitted from a subscriber unit; at the access point device, monitoring reception quality in a plurality of OFDM subchannels, wherein monitoring comprises measuring an average signal-to-noise ratio for each of a plurality of groups of subchannels for the OFDM bursts, applying a weight to the average based on time of reception such that average signal-to-noise measurements for more recently received OFDM bursts are given relatively higher weight than average signal-to-noise measurements for older OFDM bursts; at the access point device, designating a selected subchannel as below a quality threshold based on the signal-to-noise ratio measured in the plurality of subchannels; and generating a message at the access point device to be sent to the subscriber unit, the message configured to instruct the subscriber unit to not transmit payload data in said selected subchannel.