Methods and apparatuses of measuring impulse noise parameters in multi-carrier communication systems

• US 20060253515A1
• Filed: 03/15/2006
• Published: 11/09/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sedarat, Hossein
• Granted Patent: US 9,374,257 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 708/446
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2647 Arrangements specific to the receiver only equalisation H04L27/01
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0044 allocation of payload

Abstract

A method and apparatus for measuring and tracking Impulse Noise parameters in a communication system are described. The method includes estimating one or more parameters of the impulse noise, the parameters including a period, an offset and duration of the impulse noise.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

detecting frames in a multi-carrier system that are affected by impulse noise; and

estimating one or more parameters of the impulse noise, wherein the one or more parameters of the Impulse Noise comprise a period, an offset and a duration of the impulse noise.

2. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more parameters of the Impulse Noise are estimated using numbers of frames that are affected by impulse noise.

3. The method recited in claim 2, wherein the duration of Impulse Noise is estimated by averaging the number of frames that are affected by impulse noise.

4. The method recited in claim 3, wherein estimating the duration of the impulse noise, further comprises the equation:

$D=\frac{1}{N}<br><br>\underset{j=0}{\overset{N-1}{\sum <br><br>}}<br><br>D_{i-j},$

where D_i represents the number of consecutive impulsive frames for an i^th detected impulse, N is an averaging window.

5. The method recited in claim 2, wherein the offset and period of the Impulse Noise are estimated using a second order feedback loop.

6. The method recited in claim 5, wherein the feedback loop forces an error between an instantaneous period value and a previous period value to zero.

7. The method recited in claim 5, wherein the feedback loop forces an error between an instantaneous offset value and a previous offset value to zero.

8. The method recited in claim 2, wherein the offset and period of the Impulse Noise are estimated using one of a minimum mean square error algorithm or a least means square algorithm.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a signal-to-noise ratio based at least on the detected frames that are affected by impulse noise; and

performing bit-loading based on the signal-to-noise ratio.

10. An apparatus, comprising:

a multi-tone transceiver to detect data in a multiple tone signal, the transceiver comprising;

a detector module to detect frames of the multiple tone signal that are affected by impulse noise, and an Impulse Noise parameter measurement module coupled to the detector module to estimate one or more parameters of the impulse noise, wherein the one or more parameters of the Impulse Noise comprise a period, an offset and a duration of the impulse noise.

11. The apparatus recited in claim 10, wherein the one or more parameters of the Impulse Noise are estimated using numbers of frames that are affected by impulse noise.

12. The apparatus recited in claim 11, wherein the duration of Impulse Noise is estimated by averaging the number of frames that are affected by impulse noise.

13. The apparatus recited in claim 12, wherein estimating the duration of the impulse noise, further comprises the equation:

$D=\frac{1}{N}<br><br>\underset{j=0}{\overset{N-1}{\sum <br><br>}}<br><br>D_{i-j},$

where D_i represents the number of consecutive impulsive frames for an i^th detected impulse, N is an averaging window.

14. The apparatus recited in claim 10, wherein the offset and period of the Impulse Noise are estimated using a feedback loop.

15. The apparatus recited in claim 14, wherein the feedback loop forces an error between an instantaneous period value and a previous period value to zero.

16. The apparatus recited in claim 14, wherein the feedback loop forces an error between an instantaneous offset value and a previous offset value to zero.

17. The apparatus recited in claim 10, wherein the offset and period of the Impulse Noise are estimated using one of a minimum mean square error algorithm or a least means square algorithm.

18. The apparatus recited in claim 10, further comprising:

a signal to noise ratio module coupled to the detector to determine a signal-to-noise ratio based at least on the detected frames that are affected by impulse noise; and

a bit-loading module coupled to the signal to noise ratio module to determine a bit rate based on the signal-to-noise ratio.

19. A set top box employing a digital subscriber line modem comprising the apparatus of claim 10.