METHOD FOR MONITORING THE QUALITY OF A TRANSMISSION CHANNEL AND A DIGITAL RECEIVER

• US 20030119449A1
• Filed: 07/01/1999
• Published: 06/26/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/1998
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technology GmbH (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Technology GmbH (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: TALMOLA, PEKKA
• Application Number:
  US09/346,376
• Publication Number:
  US 20030119449A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/67.11
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/20 using signal quality detector

Abstract

The invention pertains to a method for monitoring the quality of a transmission channel in a digital system, wherein a signal is received from a transmission network (12), various data related to the operation of the transmission channel are measured from the received signal, said data are stored in the memory (25) of the receiver unit (20) and the data stored in the memory (25) are transferred through a return channel (27) to a transmission center. In addition, the invention pertains to a digital receiver (20) comprising means (21, 22) for measuring data related to the operation of a transmission channel from a received signal and means (24) for storing the data related to the operation of a transmission channel in a memory (25) and transferring the data stored in the memory (25) through a return channel (27) to a transmission center (11).

Claims

1. A method (30) for monitoring the quality of a transmission channel in a digital system, wherein

a signal is received (31) from a transmission network,

various data related to the operation of the transmission channel are measured (32) from the signal received,

characterized in that

said data are transferred (36) through a return channel to a transmission center.

2. The method (30) of claim 1, characterized in that the receiver establishes (35) a connection between the receiver and transmission center on the basis of a command included in a signal received (31) from the transmission network.

3. The method (30) of claim 1, characterized in that said data related to the operation of the transmission channel are measured (32) from a signal normally traveling in the transmission network.

4. The method (30) of claim 1, characterized in that said system is a digital TV system.

5. The method (30) of claim 1, characterized in that the return channel is a telephone network.

6. The method (30) of claim 1, characterized in that said data are stored (33) in the memory of the receiver unit.

7. The method (30) of claim 6, characterized in that the stored data are transferred (35) to the transmission center at certain predetermined intervals through a return channel.

8. The method (30) of claim 6, characterized in that a code indicating the time of the measurement is stored (30) in the memory together with said data to be transferred to the transmission center.

9. The method (30) of claim 1 or 6, characterized in that said data related to the operation of the transmission channel are measured (32), sent (36) to the return channel and, if necessary, stored (33) using the same receiver unit that is used for decoding information received normally from the transmission network.

10. A digital receiver (20) comprising means (21, 22) for measuring data related to the operation of a transmission channel from a received signal and a modem (26) or the like, characterized in that the apparatus (20) comprises means for transferring the measured data through a modem (26) or the like to a transmission center (11) via a return channel (27).

11. The digital receiver (20) of claim 10 which comprises a memory (25), characterized in that the apparatus (20) comprises means (24) for storing the data related to the operation of a transmission channel in the memory (25).

12. The digital receiver (20) of claim 11, characterized in that the receiver (20) comprises means (24) for storing a time code indicating the time of each measurement in the memory (25) and means (24) for transferring said time code to a transmission center (11).

13. The digital receiver (20) of any one of claims 10 to 12, characterized in that at least some of said means (21, 22, 24, 25) are the same as the means used for decoding the received signal proper.

14. The digital receiver (20) of claim 10, characterized in that the receiver (20) is a digital TV receiver.

15. The digital receiver (20) of claim 10, characterized in that the return channel (27) is a telephone network.