Patent ID: 7778346

Claim:
A method for reducing a power level of a communications signal in a communication system comprising a first transceiver configured to receive the communications signal transmitted from a second transceiver, comprising: determining a received power of the communications signal as received at the first transceiver; computing a reduced gain value for the second transceiver based on the received power; computing an estimated signal to noise ratio, expected to result from a reduced power level of the communications signal, based on the reduced gain value; modifying a bit and gain table using the estimated signal to noise ratio; and reducing a transmit power of the second transceiver in accordance with one or more entries of the bit and gain table, wherein computing the estimated signal to noise ratio comprises distinguishing between first category noise sources including noise sources whose power scales with the input signal received by the first transceiver and second category noise sources including noise sources that remain constant with received signal power changes, and wherein computing the estimated signal to noise ratio comprises calculating the estimated signal to noise ratio based on an equation S′/N′=aS/(aNp+Nc), where S′=aS represents the reduced power level of the communications signal expected to result from the reduced gain level, N′ represents an estimated noise level predicted to be present at the reduced power level, Np represents a noise level from the first category noise sources present, and Nc represents a noise level from the second category noise sources present.