Patent ID: 7573856

Claim:
A method of channel data rate adaptation in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: setting a data rate for a communication channel to be used for transmitting data to a remote receiver at a variable transmit power that is controlled upward and downward by the remote receiver as needed to achieve a desired received data quality at the remote receiver; monitoring transmit power information for the communication channel as an indication of current radio conditions at the remote receiver by generating filtered values of the transmit power, including generating a first filtered value for use in determining whether to initiate a downward rate change and generating a second filtered value for use in determining whether to initiate an upward rate change, and further comprising using a longer filter time constant to generate the second filtered value as compared to the first filtered value; changing the data rate for the communication channel based on the transmit power information by comparing the first and second filtered values against defined upper and lower power limits.