Patent ID: 7583976

Claim:
A method for controlling the transmit power of a first data transceiver, comprising: determining the distance between said first data transceiver and a second or more such transceiver with which communication is to occur; determining the approximate radio frequency path loss expected given said distance between transceivers; and adjusting the transmit power of said first data transceiver responsive to said path loss so as to transmit at a modified power level substantially as low as possible while still enabling reliable data communication comprising: transmitting, at said modified power level, a first data packet from said first data transceiver to said second or more data transceiver; receiving said first data packet in said second or more data transceiver; computing in said second or more data transceiver a figure of merit indicative of quality of the data received by said second or more data transceiver; comparing in said second or more data transceiver said figure of merit with desirable limits for said figure of merit; determining in said second or more data transceiver, responsive to said comparing step, whether an increase or decrease in transmit power level from said first data transceiver would improve said figure of merit; transmitting from said second or more data transceiver to said first data transceiver a command to increase or decrease as appropriate the transmit power level of said first data transceiver; modifying in said first data transceiver the transmit power level responsive to said command from said second or more data transceiver; and repeating the above process as needed to optimize the transmit power level of said first data transceiver.