Patent ID: 8040965

Claim:
In a multi-channel communication system comprising components having one or more processors, a method for determining a threshold used to select transmission channels for data transmission, the method comprising: defining, with a processor, a set of code rates, wherein each code rate is selectable for coding data prior to transmission; defining, with a processor, a set of setpoints, wherein each setpoint corresponds to a respective code rate and is indicative of a target signal-to-noise-plus-interference ratio (SNR) required at the corresponding code rate for a particular level of performance; determining, with a processor, a particular number of transmission channels supported by each code rate for achieving the setpoint corresponding to the code rate; determining, with a processor, a performance criteria for each code rate based in part on the number of supported transmission channels; and selecting, with a processor, the threshold based on the determined performance criteria for the code rates in the set, and wherein transmission channels are selected for use for data transmission based on the threshold.