Patent ID: 8285148

Claim:
A coherent optical receiver comprising a coherent optical reception unit, operable to receive an optical signal sent by a corresponding optical transmitter over a first optical transmission channel of an optical transmission network; an optical-to-digital converter, operable to convert the optical signal into a digital signal; and a digital post-processing unit operable to perform linear equalization of distortions incurred by the optical signal during transmission over the first channel; provide measured data by measuring the inverse signal-to-noise ratio of the first channel for a plurality of input power levels used by the first channel and a second optical transmission channel of the optical transmission network, which is affecting the first channel; determine a contribution of the second channel to the inverse signal-to-noise ratio of the first channel based on the measured data; and determine the input power level to the second channel, such that an overall throughput of the first and second channel is maximized.