Patent ID: 7356049

Claim:
An apparatus for optimizing channel capacity in multi-tone communications effected by opposing sets of modems coupled to one another by a plurality of subscriber lines, and the apparatus comprising: a spectrum manager coupled to at least one of the opposing sets of modems with the spectrum manager including: a profiler to obtain from the at least one of the opposing sets of modems the spectral characteristics of each of the plurality of subscriber lines; a demand module to determine for each of the plurality of subscriber lines the subscriber demand profile; an interference module to determine for each of the plurality of subscriber lines at least a relative interference from remaining ones of the plurality of subscriber lines by effecting training on gap tones located within at least one of: cross-over regions between and boundary regions proximate to the upstream and downstream spectral regions of the multi-tone communications effected on each of the plurality of subscriber lines; and an optimizer to define target parameters for at least one of bit loading, and power spectral density (PSD) for selected tones of the multi-tone communications based on the spectral characteristics from the profile module, the demand profiles from the demand module and the relative interference determined by the interference module and to download the target parameters to the at least one of the opposing sets of modems.