Patent ID: 7720167

Claim:
A method for communication between a transmitter and a receiver using multi-carrier modulation at different power levels, comprising the steps of: at said receiver establishing a bit allocation table containing respective first bit loading values L S selected from a set of possible first bit loading values L 0 . . . L N , for a plurality of subcarriers while said subcarriers are transmitted at respective first power levels; communicating said bit allocation table from said receiver to said transmitter; defining a loading translation function f TRANS : L 0 . . . L N ->Λ 0 . . . Λ N such that f TRANS (L S )=Λ S defines, for each first bit loading value L S , a respective second bit loading value Λ S selected from a set of possible second bit loading values Λ 0 . . . Λ N to be used when said subcarriers are transmitted at respective second power levels, wherein said loading translation function specifies a single new bit loading value corresponding to each given original bit loading value in said bit allocation table, such that all said subcarriers having said given original bit loading value in said bit allocation table will have an identical corresponding new bit loading value after application of said loading translation function; responsively to a request by said transmitter to operate at said respective second power levels, establishing said second bit loading values for said subcarriers in accordance with said loading translation function; and transmitting said subcarriers from said transmitter to said receiver at said respective second power levels using said second bit loading values in said subcarriers.