Patent Document ID: 20030210885
Application ID: 10163153
Patent Flag: 0

Claim One:
1. A channel power monitor for monitoring channel power levels for each of N signal channels, each of the N signal channels being designated by an index i, where 1&lE;i&lE;N, and characterized by a channel parameter &lgr; l, each channel power level having a value designated as p(&lgr; l ); the channel power monitor comprising: a variable channel attenuator having M attenuation profiles where M&gE;N, and where a k-th attenuation profile is characterized as a function of the channel parameter &lgr; i by A k (&lgr; l ), k being a profile index corresponding to a particular attenuation profile and where 1&lE;k&lE;M a detector for measuring a k-th integrated attenuated power level, the k-th integrated attenuated power level being attenuated power integrated over the N signal channels after application of the k-th attenuation profile, the value of the k-th integrated attenuated power level being represented by P k ; and an analysis unit for receiving all of the values P k of the integrated attenuated power levels and deriving therefrom the values p(&lgr; l ) of the channel power levels by solving the following set of linear equations 10 P k = &Sum; i = 1 N &it; &it; A k &af; ( λ i ) &it; p &af; ( λ i ) for 1&lE;k&lE;M.