Patent ID: 7421015

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: a multi-tone receiver to detect data in a multiple tone signal, the receiver having a detector module to measure a noise power level present in the system, and the detector module to detect for an asymmetric Gaussian noise source in the background noise, and a gain module coupled to the multi-tone receiver to determine a total noise power level for a tone in the multi-tone signal based upon an equivalent noise power algorithm, the gain module to use the equivalent noise power algorithm to compensate the measured noise power level when the detector module indicates that the asymmetric Gaussian noise source exists in the background noise, wherein the detector module generates a scatter plot of noise error over time and the detector analyses a shape of the distribution of the noise error in the scatter plot, and wherein the equivalent noise power algorithm alters the measured noise power level to model a noise power level of a symmetric noise source with a radius equal to a major axis of the shape of the distribution of an asymmetric Gaussian noise error in the scatter plot.