HK1175328B - Method for operating communication equipment and communication device - Google Patents

Description

Communication device and method for operating communication equipment

Technical Field

The present invention relates to communication systems, and more particularly, to measurement and/or characterization of burst noise of a communication channel in a communication system.

Background

Data communication systems have continued to evolve over the years. For such communication systems, characterization and/or estimation of any of a variety of different parameters may be performed. For example, a communication channel is a communication link that analyzes signals transmitted between communication devices for any reason. For example, certain communication devices may perform appropriate processing of signals transmitted thereto or received therefrom based on these characterizations to improve overall operation of not only the respective communication devices but also the overall communication system. However, the need to perform these measurements and/or estimations of various parameters in a communication system is well known and by implementing these, the prior art continues to provide less than ideal solutions. In this regard, there remains a need to make characterizations and/or estimations of various parameters in a communication system in a better, more accurate, and more efficient manner.

Disclosure of Invention

According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided an apparatus comprising:

at least one input for receiving communications from a communications channel corresponding to a plurality of channels;

a first burst receiver for detecting and measuring a first burst noise event in a first channel of a plurality of channels when active communication (active communication) is performed on a second channel and a third channel of the plurality of channels during a first static time slot (critical), the second channel and the third channel of the plurality of channels both being adjacent to the first channel of the plurality of channels;

a second burst receiver for detecting and measuring a second burst noise event in a second channel of the plurality of channels when active communication is conducted on a first channel and a fourth channel of the plurality of channels during a second static time slot, the first channel and the fourth channel of the plurality of channels both being adjacent to the second channel of the plurality of channels; and

a scheduler to schedule operation of the first burst receiver to detect and measure the first burst noise event and to schedule operation of the second burst receiver to detect and measure the second burst noise event.

Preferably, at least one of the first burst receiver and the second burst receiver includes a physical layer (PHY) portion and a Medium Access Control (MAC) portion;

the PHY part is used for adding a time tag to the sudden noise event;

the MAC portion is to perform Forward Error Correction (FEC), decode at least some of the communications to identify FEC error events and to add time tags to the FEC error events; and

at least one of the first burst receiver and the second burst receiver identifies a timing correlation, if any, between the noise burst event and the FEC error event based on its corresponding time tag.

Preferably, the apparatus further comprises:

a third burst receiver for detecting and measuring a third burst noise event in an unused one of the plurality of channels when active communication is conducted on two other of the plurality of channels, both of which are adjacent to the unused one of the plurality of channels.

Preferably, an unused channel of the plurality of channels corresponds to a roll-off (roll-off) region between two other channels of the plurality of channels, both of the two other channels of the plurality of channels being adjacent to the unused channel of the plurality of channels.

Preferably, the apparatus is a communication device for use in at least one of a satellite communication system, a wireless communication system, a wired communication system, a fiber optic communication system, a mobile communication system and a cable system.

According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided an apparatus comprising:

at least one input for receiving communications from a communications channel corresponding to a plurality of channels; and

a burst receiver for detecting and measuring a burst noise event in a first channel of the plurality of channels when active communication is conducted on a second channel and a third channel of the plurality of channels, the second channel and the third channel of the plurality of channels both being adjacent to the first channel of the plurality of channels.

Preferably, the burst receiver is a first burst receiver; the device further comprises:

a second burst receiver for supporting a first active communication on a second channel of the plurality of channels; and

a third burst receiver for supporting a second active communication on a third channel of the plurality of channels; wherein:

a first channel of the plurality of channels corresponds to a roll-off region between a second channel and a third channel of the plurality of channels.

Preferably, the burst receiver includes a physical layer (PHY) portion and a Medium Access Control (MAC) portion;

the PHY part is used for adding a time tag to the sudden noise event;

the MAC portion is configured to perform Forward Error Correction (FEC), decode at least some of the communications to identify FEC error events and time-stamp the FEC error events; and

the burst receiver identifies a timing correlation between the noise burst event and the FEC error event, if any, based on their corresponding time stamps.

Preferably, the first channel of the plurality of channels is an unused channel among the plurality of channels.

Preferably, the apparatus further comprises:

at least one additional burst receiver for detecting and measuring at least one additional burst noise event in a second channel of the plurality of channels when active communication is conducted on a first channel and a fourth channel of the plurality of channels, both the first channel and the fourth channel of the plurality of channels being adjacent to the second channel of the plurality of channels.

Preferably, the apparatus further comprises:

at least one additional burst receiver for detecting and measuring at least one additional burst noise event in a second channel of the plurality of channels when active communication is conducted on a first channel and a fourth channel of the plurality of channels, both the first channel and the fourth channel of the plurality of channels being adjacent to the second channel of the plurality of channels; and

a scheduler to schedule operation of the burst receiver to detect and measure the bursty noise events and to schedule operation of the at least one additional burst receiver to detect and measure the at least one additional bursty noise events.

Preferably, the burst receiver detects and measures a burst noise event in a first channel of the plurality of channels during the static time slot.

Preferably, the apparatus is a communication device for use in at least one of a satellite communication system, a wireless communication system, a wired communication system, a fiber optic communication system, a mobile communication system, and a cable system.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of operating a communication device, comprising:

receiving, by at least one input of a communication device, communications from communication channels corresponding to a plurality of channels; and

when active communication is conducted on a second channel and a third channel of the plurality of channels, an incident noise burst is detected and measured in a first channel of the plurality of channels, the second channel and the third channel of the plurality of channels both being adjacent to the first channel of the plurality of channels.

Preferably, the method further comprises:

detecting and measuring a burst noise event using a first burst receiver;

using a second burst receiver to support a first active communication on a second channel of the plurality of channels; and

using a third burst receiver to support a second active communication on a third channel of the plurality of channels; wherein:

a first channel of the plurality of channels corresponds to a roll-off region between a second channel and a third channel of the plurality of channels.

Preferably, the method comprises:

detecting and measuring a burst noise event using a burst receiver comprising a physical layer (PHY) portion and a Medium Access Control (MAC) portion;

adding a time tag to the noise burst event using the PHY portion;

decoding at least some of the communications using the MAC portion for performing Forward Error Correction (FEC) to identify FEC error events and time-stamp the FEC error events; and

at least one of the first burst receiver and the second burst receiver identifies a timing correlation between the noise burst event and the FEC error event, if any, based on its corresponding time tag.

Preferably, the first channel of the plurality of channels is an unused channel among the plurality of channels.

Preferably, the method further comprises:

detecting and measuring a burst noise event using a first burst receiver; and

a second burst receiver is used to detect and measure a second burst noise event in a second channel of the plurality of channels when active communication is conducted on a first channel and a fourth channel of the plurality of channels, both the first channel and the fourth channel of the plurality of channels being adjacent to the second channel of the plurality of channels.

Preferably, the method further comprises:

scheduling operation of the first burst receiver to detect and measure the first burst noise event and scheduling operation of the second burst receiver to detect and measure the second burst noise event.

Preferably, the communication device is used in at least one of a satellite communication system, a wireless communication system, a wired communication system, a fiber optic communication system, a mobile communication system, and a cable system.

Drawings

Fig. 1, 2 and 3 are schematic diagrams of various embodiments of a communication system;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of communication between various communication devices in a communication system, each of which may be active, inactive, used, and/or unused;

fig. 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 are schematic diagrams of various embodiments of a communication device;

fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of respective different layers of a communication device including a Medium Access Control (MAC) and a physical layer (PHY);

FIG. 11 is a flow chart of an embodiment of a method of operation of at least one communication device;

fig. 12, 13 and 14 are schematic diagrams of various alternative embodiments of methods of operation of at least one communication device.

Detailed Description

Within a communication system, signals are transmitted between various communication devices within the communication system. The goal of digital communication systems is to transmit digital data from one location or subsystem to another location or subsystem without error or with an acceptably low error rate. As shown in fig. 1, data may be transmitted within a variety of communication systems over various communication channels, including: magnetic media, wired media, wireless media, fiber optic media, copper media, and other types of media.

Fig. 1 and 2 are schematic diagrams of various embodiments of communication systems 100, 200, respectively.

Referring to fig. 1, this embodiment of a communication system 100 is a communication channel 199 that connects a communication apparatus 110 (including a transmitter 112 with an encoder 114 and including a receiver 116 with a decoder 118) located at one end of the communication channel 199 with another communication apparatus 120 (including a transmitter 126 with an encoder 128 and including a receiver 122 with a decoder 124) at the other end of the communication channel 199. In some embodiments, either of communication devices 110 and 120 may contain only a transmitter or a receiver. There are several different types of media through which communication channels 199 may be implemented (e.g., satellite communication channel 130 using satellite dishes 132 and 134, wireless communication channel 140 using towers 142 and 144 and/or local antennas 152 and 154, wired communication channel 150, and/or fiber optic communication channel 160 using electrical-to-optical (E/O) interface 162 and optical-to-electrical (O/E) interface 164). Additionally, more than one type of media may be implemented and interfaced together to form communication channel 199.

Error correction schemes and channel coding schemes are commonly employed to reduce transmission errors that are undesirable in communication systems. Generally, these error correction schemes and channel coding schemes involve the use of an encoder at the transmitter end of communication channel 199 and a decoder at the receiver end of communication channel 199.

Any of the various types of ECC encoding described may be employed in any of the above-described desired communication systems (e.g., including those variations described with respect to fig. 1), in any information storage device (e.g., Hard Disk Drive (HDD), network information storage device and/or server, etc.), or in any application requiring information encoding and/or information decoding.

In general, when considering a communication system within which video data is transmitted from one location or subsystem to another location or subsystem, video data encoding is generally considered to be performed at the transmitting end of communication channel 199, while video data decoding is generally considered to be performed at the receiving end of communication channel 199.

Also, while the embodiment of this figure shows possible two-way communication between communication devices 110 and 120, it should of course be noted that in some embodiments communication device 110 may only include video data encoding capabilities and communication device 120 may only include video data decoding capabilities, or vice versa (e.g., in a one-way communication embodiment in accordance with a video broadcast embodiment).

It should be noted that the communication devices 110 and/or 120 may be fixed or mobile without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention. For example, one or both of communication devices 110 and 120 may be implemented in a fixed location or mobile communication device having and/or multiple network access points, e.g., different respective Access Points (APs) in the case of a mobile communication system including one or more Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs), different respective satellites in the case of a mobile communication system including one or more satellites, or, in general, different respective network access points in the case of a mobile communication system including one or more network access points through which communication with communication devices 110 and/or 120 may be performed.

Referring to the communication system 200 of fig. 2, at the transmit end of the communication channel 299, the transmitter 297 is provided with information bits 201 (e.g., corresponding in particular to video data in one embodiment) for performing encoding of these information bits 201 using an encoder and symbol mapper 220 (which may be considered as discrimination function modules 222 and 224, respectively) to generate a sequence 203 of discrete-valued modulation symbols that is provided to a transmit driver 230 that utilizes a DAC (digital-to-analog converter) 232 to generate a continuous-time transmit signal 204 and a transmit filter 234 to generate a filtered continuous-time transmit signal 205 that is substantially coincident with the communication channel 299. At the receiving end of communication channel 299, continuous-time receive signal 206 is provided to AFE (analog front end) 260, which includes receive filter 262 (which generates filtered continuous-time receive signal 207) and ADC (analog-to-digital converter) 264 (which generates discrete-time receive signal 208). A metric generator (metric generator)270 computes the metric values 209 (e.g., on a symbol and/or bit basis) employed by the decoder 280 to generate the best estimates 210 of the discrete-valued modulation symbols and information bits encoded therein.

Any desired integration of various components, modules, functional modules, circuits, etc. may be implemented within each of the transmitter 297 and receiver 298. For example, the figure shows that the processing module 280a contains the encoder and symbol mapper 220 and all the associated and corresponding components therein, and the processing module 280b shows the metric generator 270 and the decoder 280 and all the associated and corresponding components therein. These processing modules 280a and 280b may each be an integrated circuit. Of course, other demarcations and groupings may alternatively be performed without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention. For example, all components within the transmitter 297 may be included within a first processing module or integrated circuit and all components of the receiver 298 may be included within a second processing module or integrated circuit. Alternatively, other combinations of components within each of the transmitter 297 and receiver 298 may be accomplished in other embodiments.

As with the previous embodiments, such a communication system 200 may be used for communication of video data from one location or subsystem to another (e.g., from a transmitter 297 to a receiver 298 over a communication channel 299).

Referring to the communication system 300 of fig. 3, the communication system 300 may be particularly (partially) considered a cable system (cable system) that is generally referred to as a cable plant (cable), and may be implemented in at least a portion as a hybrid fiber coaxial network (HFC network) (e.g., including various wired and/or fiber optic communication segments (segments), light sources, optical or photodetection (complementary), etc.). For example, communication system 300 includes a plurality of cable modems (as shown CM1, CM2, … … CMn). Cable modem segment 399 couples a cable modem to a Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS) (340 or 340a shown and described below).

The CMTS340 or 340a is a component that exchanges digital signals with a cable modem on cable modem segment 399. Each cable modem is coupled to cable modem segment 399 and cable modem segment 399 includes a number of elements such as routers, splitters, couplers, relays, and amplifiers that may all be included within cable modem segment 399.

Cable modem segment 399 allows for communicative coupling between a cable modem (e.g., a subscriber) and cable headend transmitter 330 and/or CMTS340 or 340 a. Again, in some embodiments CMTS340a is actually contained within cable front end transmitter 330. In other embodiments, the CMTS is located outside of the cable front end transmitter 330 (CMTS 340 as shown), e.g., CMTS340 may be located outside of the cable front end transmitter 330. In an alternative embodiment, CMTS340a may be located inside cable front end transmitter 330. The CMTS340 or 340a may be located at the local cable company office or at another location within the cable system. In the following description, CMTS340 is used for illustration; however, the same functionality and capabilities described for CMTS340 may be equally applicable to embodiments in which CMTS340a is used instead. The cable front end transmitter 330 is capable of providing a number of services including audio, video, local access channels, and other services of the cable system. Each of these services may be provided to one or more cable modems (e.g., CM1, CM2, etc.). Further, it should be noted that cable headend transmitter 330 may provide any of these various cable services to a Set Top Box (STB)320, which may be coupled to a television 310 (or other video or audio output device) via cable segment 398. when set top box 320 receives information/services from cable headend transmitter 330, the functionality of set top box 320 also supports two-way communication, i.e., set top box 320 may also independently feed back communication (communications) to cable headend transmitter 330 and/or further upstream (upstream).

Additionally, the cable modem can transmit and receive data from the internet and/or any other network (e.g., Wide Area Network (WAN), intranet, etc.) through the CMTS340 to communicatively couple the CMTS 340. CMTS operation at the head-end of a cable provider (cable-provider) may be viewed as providing similar functions (analog functions) provided by a Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer (DSLAM) within a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) system. The CMTS340 takes traffic (traffic) from a group of subscribers on a single channel and routes it to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) for connection to the internet, as shown through an internet access port. Within the headend, the cable provider will have or lease space for third party ISPs to support accounting and logging services, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) to allocate and manage Internet Protocol (IP) addresses for all cable system subscribers (e.g., CM1, CM2, etc.), and a service protocol typically controlling a so-called Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS), the primary standard used by the us cable system to provide internet access to subscribers. The service may also be controlled by a protocol known as the european cable data service interface specification (EuroDOCSIS), the primary standard used by european cable systems to provide internet access to subscribers without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

Downstream to all connected cable modems (e.g., CM1, CM2, etc.), the individual network connections within cable modem segment 399 determine whether a particular data block is for an individual network connection. On the upstream side, information from the cable modem is sent to CMTS 340; in this upstream transmission, data not intended for the user is not seen at all by the user at the cable modem bank. The CMTS provides capabilities as an example, allowing up to 1000 subscribers to connect to the internet through a single 6MHz channel. Since a single channel with a total throughput of 30-40Mbps (e.g., within the current DOCSIS standard, but with a higher ratio envisioned (driven), such as following the development on the DVB-C2 standard (digital video broadcasting-second generation cable), the DVB-T2 standard (digital video broadcasting-second generation terrestrial standard, etc.), this means that users can see better performance than using a standard dial-up modem.

Also, it should be noted that in some embodiments, wired segment 398 and cable modem segment 399 may actually be identical segments. In other words, wired network segment 398 and cable modem network segment 399 require not two separate segments, but rather they may simply be a single network segment that provides a connection to a set-top box and/or cable modem. In addition, the CMTS340 or 340a may also be coupled to the cable segment 398 since the set top box 320 itself may include the functionality of a cable modem.

It should also be noted that any of the cable modems 1, 2, … … n, the cable front-end transmitter 330, CMTS340 or 340a, television 310, set-top box 320, and/or any device residing within the cable segments 398 or 399, may include a memory optimization module (memory optimization module) as described that facilitates various module configurations and operations according to any of a number of protocols.

Various communication devices operate by employing equalizers, such as adaptive equalizers. Some examples of the communication devices described herein that include Cable Modems (CMs) are included. It should be noted, however, that the presented aspects and principles may be generally applicable to communication devices within various types of communication systems. For example, some illustrative and exemplary embodiments, particularly using a CM, although indicating aspects and principles, are generally applicable to any type of communication device in any of a variety of types of communication systems.

Various communication devices (e.g., Cable Modems (CMs), Cable Modem Termination Systems (CMTS), etc.) may report information about each other and coordinate operations.

It should again be noted that the particular illustrated example of a Cable Modem (CM) is used for a number of different embodiments, schematics, etc. These architectures, functions and/or operations may generally comprise and/or be performed in any of a number of various types of communication devices, including those that are consistent with various communication system types involving more than one type of communication media, as described with reference to fig. 1, among others.

Fig. 4 is an embodiment 400 of communications between respective communication devices within a communication system and respective channels that may be active, inactive, used, and/or unused. As can be seen with respect to this figure, one or more communication channels may be implemented to perform and support coordination (mediation) between respective different communication devices within the communication system. In addition, any of the respective communication channels may be further divided into respective channels. For example, a given communication channel may be further subdivided into respective different frequency bands.

In general, each of the respective frequency bands may be referred to as a channel. The respective different channels may be active or inactive at different times. Furthermore, in particular embodiments, one or more of the respective channels may be unused. Various implementations and embodiments show that certain active channels and active channels may be within various channels of a particular implementation. For example, an inactive channel may be located between adjacent active channels. An unused channel may be located between an active channel or an inactive channel, or may be located between an active channel and an inactive channel. In general, it should be noted that characterization between active and inactive channels may be considered as channels that can be used at certain times and not used at other times. In contrast, the unused channel will not be used for communication at all. Of course, some implementations may dynamically change the characteristics of a given channel (e.g., a channel that is not used at one time may also be re-characterized for use at another time).

In general, such communication devices (e.g., burst receivers) may be implemented to detect and measure burst noise events within a given channel of active communications of adjacent channels. Further, it should be noted that the various embodiments and/or diagrams relate to embodiments that include a burst receiver, although it should be noted that the communication device may be implemented to include both reception and transmission capabilities. That is, in some embodiments, such communication devices (e.g., transceivers) may include burst receivers and transmitters.

With respect to detecting and measuring a noise burst event within a given channel between active communications of adjacent channels, in various embodiments, the channel on which the noise burst event is detected and measured may be an inactive channel or an unused channel. For example, in some embodiments, a given communication device is specifically implemented to view unused channels. The detection and measurement of the bursty noise events can be as unused channels with respect to active communications on adjacent channels.

Fig. 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 are various embodiments of a communication device.

Referring to the embodiment 500 of fig. 5, a communication device receives a signal, such as from a communication link within a communication system or network, and the signal is appropriately processed by an Analog Front End (AFE). The improved AFE may implement any of a number of operations including digital sampling, such as by analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), filters (e.g., in the analog and/or digital domains), frequency converters (e.g., converters that carry the carrier frequency of the baseband), scalers, and gain adjustments (gaineadjustment), among others. In general, such an AFE may be considered to perform reception and mediation of signals received from any communication link. Any of a variety of view circuits (perspective circuits), modules, functional modules, etc. may be implemented in various embodiments of the AFE.

It should be noted that the communication devices (e.g., one or more transmitters) depicted in this and/or other figures may receive information from one or more communication devices to provide some guidance as to the operation of one or more other communication devices in the communication system.

The signal output from the AFE is provided to a burst receiver to perform detection and measurement of burst noise events on a given channel of active communication of other channels. For example, in one embodiment, the channel to detect and measure the bursty noise events is implemented between two active channels.

It should also be noted that the communication device may be frequently selected as it is capable of adjusting and operating with respect to different frequencies, frequency bands, etc. For example, a given communication device that is rarely implemented with frequency adjustment capability may be implemented to perform detection and measurement of noise burst events with respect to respective different channels (e.g., the communication device may be adjusted or operated with respect to each of the respective communication channels consistent with respective different frequencies, frequency bands, etc.).

Reference is made to embodiment 600 of fig. 6. With respect to this figure, the AFE is implemented to distinguish received signals to respective different channels so that each of the respective channels may be provided to respective different burst receivers. Each of the respective burst receivers is implemented to detect and measure a respective burst noise event at the corresponding channel, respectively. That is, the received signal is divided or distinguished into a plurality of respective channels, and each of the respective channels is provided to a respective burst receiver to perform detection and measurement of the burst noise event of the respective channel.

Referring to embodiment 700 of fig. 7, with respect to this figure, multiple respective AFEs are implemented to receive respective different signals. In some embodiments, each of the respective received signals corresponds to a respective different channel. In alternate embodiments, any of the received signals may include multiple respective channels. A respective burst receiver implementation corresponds to each of the respective AFEs. Each of the burst receivers operates at a respective channel or channels provided by a respective AFE. As can be seen with respect to this figure, a plurality of respective burst receivers may be implemented to perform burst noise event detection and measurement with respect to respective different signals and/or respective different channels corresponding to one or more respective different signals.

Referring to the embodiment 800 of fig. 8, with respect to this figure, a channel or frequency selector or divider is implemented to divide the received signal into a plurality of respective channels. Signal portions (signalports) corresponding to respective channels are supplied to the plurality of AFEs, and signal outputs from the AFEs are respectively supplied to the burst receivers. In this particular embodiment, a plurality of respective burst receivers are implemented to respectively detect and measure respective burst noise events in respective different channels. The figure includes components implemented before multiple AFEs to perform the splitting of the received signal into multiple respective channels.

Referring to embodiment 900 of fig. 9, a scheduler (e.g., connected and/or coupled) in communication with a plurality of burst receivers is shown. Such a scheduler may be implemented in any of the various embodiments or diagrams described, or their equivalents, including more than one respective burst receiver. Such a scheduler implements operations that schedule respective different burst receivers to detect and measure one or more burst noise events. That is, it may be the case that selective operation is performed at respective different burst receivers to perform detection and measurement of burst noise events and to support active communications. Burst receivers may be used to enable detection and measurement of burst noise events at one or more channels during periods when a given burst receiver does not support active communications.

Fig. 10 is an embodiment of respective different layers of a communication device including a Medium Access Control (MAC) and a physical layer (PHY). As may be understood with respect to different operational layers corresponding to the communication device, where PHY is the lowest layer corresponding to the actual communication channel and signaling information, and MAC is a higher layer associated within the communication device that enables higher layer operation, such as ECC encoding, FEC encoding, and the like.

In some embodiments, the detection and characterization of burst noise events that may be seen by a decoder (e.g., in accordance with one or more ECC, FEC operations such as reed solomon decoder, turbo decoder, Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) decoder, trellis decoder, Turbo Trellis Coded Modulation (TTCM) decoder, etc.) is effectively achieved, with proper correlation of error events asserted at the decoding (at the MAC layer) and asserted at the PHY layer. To determine such a relationship, respective appending of time stamps, if any, for respective different events at the MAC layer and the PHY layer, respectively, may be implemented. For example, the additive time stamp for FEC errors may be implemented in the MAC layer and the additive time stamp for noise burst events may be implemented in the PHY layer. The correlation is determined based on these respective different phenomena, and it is also possible to determine or even improve the level of certainty of the sudden noise event that actually occurs.

It will be appreciated that in connection with the various aspects, and equivalents of the present invention, the virtual method shown measures the burst/impulse (impulse) noise (e.g., cable plant in some embodiments) of an upstream communication system as data is transmitted within the communication system.

Measuring burst noise in active data transmission

The burst receiver may include functionality to detect and measure burst noise events during static time slots of the channel. The following measurements may be provided for each noise burst event:

● timestamp of the occurrence of the noise burst event;

● duration of the sudden noise event;

● amplitude of the noise burst;

the above measurements are based on user-defined threshold settings.

Using the above-described burst noise measurement capabilities, one or more components (e.g., such as one or more post-processing capable analysis filters, analysis receivers, and/or other devices [ such as another burst receiver, and/or possibly less correlated than the full burst receiver functionality ] may be implemented to perform analysis filtering) may use a narrow symbol rate bandwidth (160ksps 1.28Msps) in the roll-off region between two active DOCSIS channels and analyze the burst noise events as data is transmitted in the active channels on each side.

In some embodiments, the burst receiver may be placed in an unused channel (as also described elsewhere), in an unused frequency band between active channels, or below 10MHz, even at high frequencies above 42 MHz. The latter depends on whether the duplexer (dpplexer) or anti-aliasing filter removes the higher frequencies before they reach the receiver.

More complexly, the scheduler may schedule a quiet time for an upstream channel when active transmissions occur on nearby channels and vice versa in a complementary or "checkerboard" manner. Thus, the receiver will always see burst noise events at quiet times on its channel, while other channels are active during transmission.

The same concept can be extended to S-CDMA. The unused codes may act as a burst noise detector. Since the unused codes are zero energy transmissions, any energy detected at the despreader (despreder) output of the code may be interpreted as coming at least partially from noise on the channel.

Measuring error events for FEC

A second goal is related error events between PHY (to say the time stamp of the above method) and FEC by FEC decoders (reed-solomon and/or trellis) looking at some embodiments of the straightforward design operations to detect and characterize error events.

The burst receiver as described above may implement functions including compiling FEC error event statistics. These error events may add a time tag as further processing proceeds. To correlate the times when PHY and FEC burst error events occur, time tags may be added to the respective times.

One issue to consider is how to read the FEC error counter quickly. If it can be read quickly, this is equivalent to a good time resolution when an error event occurs. For example, if the FEC error counter reads 100 times/second, it can be decided within 10ms of the error time occurring to the resolution.

In addition to the FEC error counter, where each preamble packet is sent from PHY to MAC, the preamble contains extra information, also allowing for deeper observation of erroneous FEC blocks. When an error block is transmitted, using knowledge, a comparison of error events is seen by the FEC, since the error times described are recorded.

Fig. 11 is an embodiment of a method of operation of at least one communication device.

Referring to the method 1100 of fig. 11, the method 1100 begins by receiving communications from communication channels corresponding to a plurality of channels, as represented by block 1100. For example, one or more communications from at least one additional communication device may be received via an input of the communication device. These communications may be provided over one or more of the communication channels.

The method 1100 continues with detecting and measuring the noise burst event on a first channel of the plurality of channels during active communication on a second channel and a third channel of the plurality of channels adjacent to the first channel of the plurality of channels, as shown at block 1120. For example, the channel on which the burst noise event is being detected and measured may be considered to be implemented between the other two channels. The detection and measurement of the bursty noise events may be performed between the activities of those adjacent channels.

Fig. 12, 13 and 14 are schematic diagrams of various alternative embodiments of methods of operation of at least one communication device.

Referring to the method 1200 of fig. 12, the method 1200 begins with detecting and measuring a first burst noise event on a first channel using a burst receiver, as shown at block 1210. The method 1200 continues with detecting and measuring a second burst noise event on a second channel using the burst receiver, as shown in block 1220. It is to be understood that the operations with respect to modules 1210 and 1220 are operated using the same burst receiver. These operations may continue by method 1200 then detecting and measuring an nth burst noise event on an nth channel using the burst receiver, as shown in block 1230. Method 1200 may be performed using a frequency selective and adaptive burst receiver. That is, such communication devices are capable of performing adjustments to respective different channels. Such a communication device may tune two respective different channels at respective different times, and perform detection and measurement of the noise burst event on these respective different channels, respectively.

Referring to the method 1300 of fig. 13, the method 1300 begins with detecting and measuring a first burst noise event on a first channel using a first burst receiver, as shown at block 1310. Method 1300 continues with detecting and measuring a second burst noise event on a second channel using a second burst receiver, as shown in block 1320. These operations may continue by method 1300, which may then use the burst receiver to detect and measure an nth burst noise event on an nth channel, as shown at block 1330. These operations may continue by method 1300 then detecting and measuring an nth burst noise event on an nth channel using an nth burst receiver, as shown at block 1330.

It will be appreciated with respect to these figures that these operations performed by respective different burst receivers may be scheduled (e.g., by a scheduler in conjunction with multiple burst receivers).

Referring to method 1400 of fig. 14, method 1400 begins with supporting communication on a first channel (e.g., an active channel) using a first burst receiver, as shown at block 1410. The method 1400 continues with detecting and measuring a second burst noise event on a second channel (e.g., an inactive channel, an unused channel, etc.) using a second burst receiver, as shown at block 1420. The method 1400 then supports communication on a third channel (the active channel) using a third burst receiver, as shown at block 1430. From a certain perspective, the operations associated with the method 1400 may be viewed as the detection and measurement of bursty noise events performed on inactive or unused channels using a bursty receiver. In some embodiments, the second burst receiver and the second channel correspond to channels performed between and adjacent to a first channel associated with the first burst receiver and a third channel associated with the third burst receiver.

It should also be noted that the different operations and functions described in accordance with the different methods of the present invention may be performed in any type of communication device, for example using baseband processing modules and/or processing modules implemented therein, and/or other components implemented therein. For example, such baseband processing modules and/or processing modules may be capable of generating such signals and performing such operations, processes, etc., as described herein, may also perform different operations and analyses as described herein, or any other operations and functions, etc., as described herein, or their respective equivalents.

In some embodiments, the baseband processing module and/or the processing module (which may be implemented within the same device or separate devices) may perform the above-described processes, operations, etc., in accordance with various aspects of the invention, and/or other operations and functions, etc., as described herein, or their respective equivalents. In some embodiments, these processes are performed by a first processing module within the first device and a second processing module within the second device in cooperation. In other embodiments, the processes, operations, etc., are performed entirely by baseband processing modules and/or processing modules within a given device. In still other embodiments, these processes, operations, etc. are performed using at least a first processing module and a second processing module within a single device.

As may be used herein, the term "substantially" or "about" provides an industry-accepted tolerance to the corresponding term and relativity between items. Such an industry-accepted tolerance ranges from less than 1% to 50% and corresponds to, but is not limited to, component values, integrated circuit process fluctuations, temperature fluctuations, rise and fall times, and/or thermal noise. The above relativity between items varies from a difference of a few percent to a difference of magnitude. As may be used herein, the term "operably coupled", includes direct coupling between items and/or indirect coupling through intervening items (e.g., items including, but not limited to, components, elements, circuits, and/or modules), where for indirect coupling, the intervening items do not alter the information of a signal but may adjust its current level, voltage level, and/or power level. As may be used herein, inferred coupling (i.e., where one element is coupled to another element by inference) includes direct and indirect coupling between two elements in the same manner as "operably coupled". As also used herein, the term "for" or "operatively connected" indicates that an item includes one or more of a power connection, an input, an output, etc., such that performing one or more of its corresponding function items when activated may also include an inferred connection with one or more other items. As also used herein, the term "associated with" encompasses direct and/or indirect connection of the items alone and/or one embedded within another. As used herein, the term "compares favorably", indicates that a comparison between two or more items, signals, etc., provides a desired relationship. For example, when the desired relationship is that signal 1 has a greater amplitude than signal 2, favorable comparison results may be obtained when the amplitude of signal 1 is greater than the amplitude of signal 2 or the amplitude of signal 2 is less than the amplitude of signal 1.

As may be used herein, the terms "processing module," "processing circuit," and/or "processing unit" (e.g., comprising various modules and/or circuits operable, implementable, and/or utilized for encoding, decoding, baseband processing, etc.) may be a single processing device or a plurality of processing devices. Such a processing device may be a microprocessor, microcontroller, digital signal processor, microcomputer, central processing unit, field programmable gate array, programmable logic device, state machine, logic circuitry, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or any device that manipulates signals (analog and/or digital) based on hard coding of the circuitry and/or operational instructions. A processing module, processing circuit, and/or processing unit may have associated memory and/or integrated storage elements, which may be a single storage device, multiple storage devices, and/or embedded circuitry of the processing module, processing circuit, and/or processing unit. Such a memory device may be Read Only Memory (ROM), Random Access Memory (RAM), volatile memory, non-volatile memory, static memory, dynamic memory, flash memory, cache memory, and/or any device that stores digital information. It should be noted that if the processing module, processing circuit, and/or processing unit contains more than one processing device, the processing devices may be centrally distributed (e.g., directly connected via a wired and/or wireless bus structure) or may be distributed discretely (e.g., cloud computing via indirect connections of a local area network and/or a wide area network). It should also be noted that if the processing module, processing circuit, and/or processing unit implements one or more of its functions via a state machine, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or logic circuitry, the memory and/or storage elements storing the corresponding operational instructions may be embedded within, or external to, the circuitry comprising the state machine, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or logic circuitry. It should still be noted that the memory elements may store hard-coded and/or operational instructions that are executed by the processing modules, processing circuits, and/or processing units that correspond to at least some of the steps and/or functions set forth in one or more of the figures. Such storage devices or storage elements may be included in an article of manufacture.

The description of the invention also describes the implementation of particular functions and their interrelationships by means of method steps. The boundaries and sequence of these functional blocks and method steps have been specifically defined herein for the convenience of the description. Their boundaries and sequence may also be redefined, provided that these functions are made operational. These redefinitions of boundaries and order are intended to fall within the spirit and scope of the claimed invention. Alternative boundaries and sequences may be defined so long as the specified functions and relationships are appropriately performed. Accordingly, any such alternative boundaries or sequences are within the scope and spirit of the claimed invention. Furthermore, the boundaries of these functional building blocks have been defined herein specifically for the convenience of the description. When these important functions are implemented properly, varying their boundaries is permissible. Similarly, flow diagram blocks may be specifically defined herein to illustrate certain important functions, and the boundaries and sequence of the flow diagram blocks may be otherwise defined for general application so long as the important functions are still achieved. Variations in the boundaries and sequence of the above described functional blocks, flowchart functional blocks, and steps may be considered within the scope of the following claims. Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the functional blocks described herein, and other illustrative blocks, modules, and components, may be implemented as discrete components, special purpose integrated circuits, processors with appropriate software, and the like.

As such, the present invention is described, at least in part, in terms of one or more embodiments. Herein, the embodiments of the present invention are used to explain the present invention, one aspect thereof, features thereof, concepts thereof and/or examples thereof. The physical embodiments of the apparatus, article of manufacture, machine, and/or process embodying the present invention may comprise one or more of the aspects, features, concepts, examples, etc. described with reference to one or more embodiments described herein. Further, embodiments may incorporate the same or similarly named functions, steps, modules, etc. using the same or different numbers from one figure to another, in which case the functions, steps, modules, etc. may be the same or similar functions, steps, modules, etc. or different functions, steps, modules, etc.

Unless specifically stated otherwise, in any of the various figures presented herein, signals from, to, and/or between various elements may be analog or digital, continuous-time or discrete-time, and single-ended or differential. For example, if the signal path is shown as a single ended path, it is also representative of a differential signal path. Similarly, if the signal path is shown as a differential path, it is also representative of a single-ended signal path. As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, although one or more particular architectures are described herein, other architectures may be implemented using one or more data buses that are not shown, direct connectivity between elements, and/or indirect connections between other elements.

The term "module" is used in the description of the various embodiments of the invention. Modules include functional modules implemented in hardware that perform one or more functions, such as processing one or more input signals to produce one or more output signals. The hardware implementing the modules may itself operate in conjunction with software and/or firmware. As used herein, a module may contain one or more sub-modules that are themselves modules.

Although specific combinations of features and functions are described herein, other combinations of features and functions are possible. The invention is not limited to the specific examples disclosed herein and other combinations of these are expressly included.

Cross Reference to Related Applications

This U.S. utility patent application has priority to the following U.S. provisional patent application, in accordance with U.S. code 35, item 119, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety and made a part hereof for all purposes:

1. pending U.S. provisional patent application having application date No.61/467,638, No. 2011, 25/3, entitled laser clip detection and characterization in communication devices (law office docket No. bp22966).

2. Pending U.S. provisional patent application having application date No.61/467,673, 25/3/2011 entitled "detecting and characterizing upstream burst noise during data transmission" (law office docket No. bp23005).

Is incorporated by reference

The following U.S. utility patent applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety and made a part of this U.S. utility patent application for all purposes:

1. application No. ________________ entitled "detection and characterization of laser clipping in communication devices" (law firm No. bp22966), pending U.S. utility patent application filed concurrently 3/__/2012, entitled to priority of the following U.S. provisional patent application, in accordance with U.S. code 35, article 119, the following patent applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety and made part of this U.S. utility patent application for all purposes:

1.1 pending U.S. utility patent application entitled laser clipping detection and characterization in communication devices, filed 2011, 25/3, application No.61/467,638 (law firm No. bp22966).

Claims (8)

1. A communications apparatus, comprising:

at least one input for receiving communications from a communications channel corresponding to a plurality of channels;

a first burst receiver for detecting and measuring a first burst noise event in a first channel of the plurality of channels while active communication is conducted on a second channel and a third channel of the plurality of channels during a first static time slot, the second channel and the third channel of the plurality of channels both being adjacent to the first channel of the plurality of channels;

a second burst receiver for detecting and measuring a second burst noise event in a second channel of the plurality of channels while active communication is conducted on a first channel and a fourth channel of the plurality of channels during a second static time slot, the first channel and the fourth channel of the plurality of channels both being adjacent to the second channel of the plurality of channels; and

a scheduler to schedule operation of the first burst receiver to detect and measure the first burst noise event and to schedule operation of the second burst receiver to detect and measure the second burst noise event,

wherein the content of the first and second substances,

at least one of the first burst receiver and the second burst receiver includes a physical layer part and a medium access control part;

the physical layer part is used for adding a time tag to the sudden noise event;

said medium access control portion is for performing forward error correction, decoding at least some of said communications to identify a forward error correction error event and to add a time tag to said forward error correction error event; and

if a timing correlation exists between the burst noise event and a forward error correction error event, at least one of the first burst receiver and the second burst receiver identifies the timing correlation based on a corresponding time tag.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a third burst receiver for detecting and measuring a third burst noise event in an unused one of the plurality of channels when active communication is conducted on two other of the plurality of channels, both of which are adjacent to the unused one of the plurality of channels.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising:

an unused one of the plurality of channels corresponds to a roll-off region between two other of the plurality of channels, both of the two other of the plurality of channels being adjacent to the unused one of the plurality of channels.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the apparatus is a communication device for use in at least one of a satellite communication system, a wireless communication system, a wired communication system, a fiber optic communication system, a mobile communication system, and a cable system.

5. A communications apparatus, comprising:

at least one input for receiving communications from a communications channel corresponding to a plurality of channels;

a burst receiver for detecting and measuring a burst noise event in a first channel of the plurality of channels when active communication is conducted on second and third channels of the plurality of channels, the second and third channels of the plurality of channels being adjacent to the first channel of the plurality of channels; and

a scheduler to schedule operation of the burst receiver to detect and measure the burst noise event,

wherein the content of the first and second substances,

the burst receiver comprises a physical layer part and a medium access control part;

the physical layer part is used for adding a time tag to the sudden noise event;

said medium access control portion is for performing forward error correction, decoding at least some of said communications to identify a forward error correction error event and to add a time tag to said forward error correction error event; and

if a timing correlation exists between the burst noise event and the forward error correction error event, the burst receiver identifies the timing correlation based on a corresponding time tag.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein:

the burst receiver is a first burst receiver; the device further comprises:

a second burst receiver to support a first active communication on a second channel of the plurality of channels; and

a third burst receiver to support a second active communication on a third channel of the plurality of channels; wherein:

a first channel of the plurality of channels corresponds to a roll-off region between a second channel and a third channel of the plurality of channels.

7. A method of operating a communication device, comprising:

receiving, by at least one input of the communication device, communications from communication channels corresponding to a plurality of channels;

detecting and measuring an incident noise burst in a first channel of the plurality of channels while actively communicating on a second channel and a third channel of the plurality of channels, both the second channel and the third channel of the plurality of channels being adjacent to the first channel of the plurality of channels; and

detecting and measuring a burst noise event using a burst receiver comprising a physical layer portion and a medium access control portion;

adding a time tag to the noise burst event using the physical layer portion;

decoding at least some of the communications using the medium access control portion to perform forward error correction to identify a forward error correction error event and to add a time tag to the forward error correction error event; and

if a timing correlation exists between a burst noise event and the FEC error event, the burst receiver identifies the timing correlation based on a corresponding time tag identification.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

detecting and measuring the burst noise event using a first burst receiver;

using a second burst receiver to support a first active communication on a second channel of the plurality of channels; and

using a third burst receiver to support a second active communication on a third channel of the plurality of channels; wherein:

a first channel of the plurality of channels corresponds to a roll-off region between a second channel and a third channel of the plurality of channels.