Patent ID: 7570953

Claim:
A method comprising: selecting a set of active subcarriers of a multicarrier communication channel; setting a power level for each subcarrier of the set based on a number of the active subcarriers; calculating a channel capacity based on the power level and an effective subcarrier noise power for each active subcarrier; decreasing the number active subcarriers in the set and re-performing the setting and calculating to determine a final set of active subcarriers that provide a highest calculated channel capacity; and selecting a modulation level and a coding rate for the subcarriers of the active set by: calculating a mean effective subcarrier capacity based on effective subcarrier capacities for the active subcarriers; determining a first modulation level and first coding rate that provides an upper data rate at least slightly greater than the mean effective subcarrier capacity; determining a second modulation level and second coding rate that provides a lower data rate at least slightly less than the mean effective subcarrier capacity; calculating a first number of the active subcarriers with capacities higher than the upper data rate; calculating a second number of the active subcarriers with capacities lower than the lower data rate; selecting the first modulation level and the first coding rate associated with the upper data rate when a difference between the first and second numbers is greater than a predetermined percentage of the active subcarriers; and selecting the second modulation level and the second coding rate associated with the lower data rate when a difference between the first and second numbers is less than or equal to a predetermined percentage of the active subcarriers.