Method and apparatus for spectrum monitoring

• US 10,063,436 B2
• Filed: 11/02/2017
• Issued: 08/28/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Entropic Communications, LLC (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Maxlinear Incorporated
• Inventors: Gallagher, Timothy, Tierney, Patrick, Huang, Jun
• Primary Examiner(s): Natnael, Paulos M
• Application Number:
  US15/802,291
• Publication Number:
  US 20180054368A1
• Time in Patent Office: 299 Days
• Field of Search: 348180-192
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/309 Measuring or estimating channel quality parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 17/00 Diagnosis, testing or measuring for television systems or their details

Abstract

A receiver is configured to be coupled to a television and data service provider headend via a hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) network. The receiver comprises front-end circuitry operable to receive a signal that carries a plurality of television and/or data channels, and digitize the received signal to generate a digitized signal. The receiver comprises channelizer circuitry operable to select a first portion of the digitized signal, and select a second portion of the digitized signal. The receiver comprises processing circuitry operable to process the selected second portion of the digitized signal to recover information carried in the plurality of channels. The receiver comprises monitoring circuitry operable to analyze the selected first portion of the digitized signal to measure a characteristic of the received signal; and control the transmission of network management messages back to the headend based on the measured characteristic of the received signal.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

an analog-to-digital converter operable to digitize a plurality of channels comprising one or both of television channels and data channels;

a channelizer operable to select a first portion and a second portion of the digitized plurality of channels;

analysis circuitry operable to measure a characteristic of the plurality of channels according to the first portion of the digitized signal;

processing circuitry operable to recover information carried in the plurality of channels according to the second portion of the digitized signal; and

a transmitter operable to control a transmission of a network management message according to the measured characteristic, wherein the measured characteristic is different than the network management message.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of channels are received from a television and data service provider headend via a hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) network.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the network management message indicates whether a parameter is outside of acceptable bounds.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the parameter is a modulation parameter of the plurality of channels.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the parameter is a transmit power of the plurality of channels.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein the parameter is a frequency offset of the plurality of channels.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the characteristic is signal power vs. frequency.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the characteristics is signal phase vs. frequency.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the characteristic is one of:

signal-to-noise ratio, peak-to-average ratio, noise levels, bit error rate, and symbol error rate.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the channelizer is operable to configure a bandwidth and/or center frequency of the first portion of the digitized plurality of channels while the plurality of channels are being digitized.

11. A method comprising:

digitizing a plurality of channels comprising one or both of television channels and data channels by using an analog-to-digital converter;

selecting a first portion and a second portion of the digitized plurality of channels by using a channelizer;

measuring a characteristic of the plurality of channels according to the first portion of the digitized signal by using analysis circuitry;

recover information carried in the plurality of channels according to the second portion of the digitized signal by using processing circuitry; and

controlling a transmitter that transmits a network management message according to the measured characteristic, wherein the measured characteristic is different than the network management message.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of channels are received from a television and data service provider headend via a hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) network.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the network management message indicates whether a parameter is outside of acceptable bounds.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the parameter is a modulation parameter of the plurality of channels.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the parameter is a transmit power of the plurality of channels.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the parameter is a frequency offset of the plurality of channels.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the characteristic is signal power vs. frequency.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the characteristics is signal phase vs. frequency.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the characteristic is one of:

signal-to-noise ratio, peak-to-average ratio, noise levels, bit error rate, and symbol error rate.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein the method comprises configuring a bandwidth and/or center frequency of the first portion of the digitized plurality of channels while the plurality of channels are being digitized.