Patent ID: 8774311

Claim:
In a system including a network terminal and a remote terminal connected by one or more communication links, wherein each communication link includes one or more modem transmitters connected to one or more corresponding modem receivers, the method comprising: activating the one or more modem transmitters and corresponding modem receivers to achieve a desired bitrate; and performing at least once on at least one of the one or more communication links: obtaining a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) margin for the one or more modem receivers on the respective communication link, determining an excess SNR margin based on an excess of the obtained SNR margin over a desired SNR margin for the one or more modem receivers of the respective communication link, modifying constellation size of the corresponding modem transmitter of the communication link to a next available constellation size based on a comparison of the excess SNR margin to a first threshold value, and reducing transmission power of the corresponding modem transmitter of the communication link if the excess SNR margin is greater than a second threshold value.