Method and apparatus for slice point determination

A method for quantizing a received signal to two or more discrete values comprising:

• monitoring a received signal to determine a peak value and phase value of the received signal;
• processing the peak value and phase value of the received signal based on prior testing to determine an optimal slice point;
• communicating the optimal slice point to a decision device;
• setting the slice point of the decision device to the optimal slice point;
• and
• analyzing the received signal with the decision device by comparing the received signal to the optimal slice point and, based on the comparison, quantizing the received signal to one of two or more discrete values.

A system for setting a slice point of a decision device in a transceiver comprising:

• an amplifier configured to modify a received signal's power level and output received signal strength indicator data representing the magnitude of the received signal;
• a clock and data recovery module configured to output phase alignment data regarding the received signal;
• a memory configured to store test data, the test data comprising optimal slice point data for two or more sets of signal strength indicator data and phase alignment data;
• a processor, in communication with the memory, configured to receive and utilize the signal strength indicator data and phase alignment data of the received signal to perform a look-up operation in the test data to determine an optimal slice point setting;
• and
• a decision device, in communication with the processor, configured to receive the optimal slice point setting and adjust one or more decision device threshold values based on the optimal slice point setting.

A method for controlling operation of one or more transceivers to reduce the bit error rate when processing a received signal comprising:

• receiving, at a receiver at a first station, a signal transmitted from a transmitter of a second station;
• analyzing the signal to determine one or more signal parameters;
• providing the one or more signal parameters to a processor;
• comparing the one or more signal parameters to optimal operational parameter data stored in a memory;
• responsive to the comparing, selecting one or more optimal operational parameter settings;
• transmitting at least one optimal operational parameter setting from the first station to the second station to control at least one aspect of operation of the transmitter at the second station;
• and
• continuing to receive and processing the signal, the signal being transmitted based on the optimal operational parameter settings, wherein the optimal operational parameter settings are selected to reduce the bit error rate during processing of the received signal.

A method for determining one or more optimal slice point settings and operational parameter settings for communication between a first station and a second station comprising:

• providing a communication system having a receiver at a first station and a transmitter at a second station;
• initiating a test routine to determine one or more optimal slice points for a decision device located in the receiver of the first station, the test routine comprising:
• generating or retrieving from memory test data;
• transmitting the test data from the second station to the first station;
• monitoring the received signal to determine one or more received signal parameters;
• concurrent with transmitting the test data and monitoring the received signal, varying the slice point and monitoring the bit error rate to determine at least one optimal slice point;
• recording at least one optimal slice point for one or more permutations of transmit operational parameters and received signal parameters in a memory;
• and
• setting the optimal slice point and optimal transmit operational parameters.

A system for evaluating an installed communication link and establishing a optimal slice point based on the evaluation of the installed communication link comprising:

• a first station comprising:
• a driver circuit configured to establish a transmit power level based on a power level control signal;
• a first station processor configured to communication with a second station and the driver circuit to thereby provide a power level control signal to the driver circuit;
• a second station comprising:
• a signal magnitude detector configured to generate data regarding a magnitude level of a received signal;
• a decision device configured to quantize a received signal to one of two or more discrete values based on a slice point;
• a memory configured to store machine readable code;
• a second station processor configured to communicate with the first station, the decision device;
• and the signal peak detector to control a slice point of the decision device and the transmit power level at the first station, and further configured to:
• execute the machine readable code stored in the memory, the machine readable code configured to initiate a test routine that generates test data defining optimal slice points.