Patent ID: 8923459

Claim:
A method for use in a wireless modem, the wireless modem comprising a first receiver and a second receiver, the method comprising: detecting whether or not user data transmission via the wireless modem is taking place; and in response to user data transmission being detected, continuously executing the following: estimating a first channel quality value of a first channel using the first receiver; estimating a second channel quality value of a second channel using the second receiver; and calculating a difference between the first channel quality of the first channel and the second channel quality value of the second channel, thereby obtaining a difference value in channel quality; else in response to no user data transmission being detected, executing the following: shutting off the second receiver; continuously estimating the first channel quality value of the first channel using the first receiver; and continuously estimating the second channel quality value of the second channel using the first channel quality value of the first channel estimated by the first receiver; wherein when no user data transmission is detected, the second channel quality value of the second channel is estimated by adding the difference value to the first channel quality value of the first channel estimated by the first receiver when no user data transmission is detected.