Receiver Having Integrated Spectral Analysis Capability

• US 20110013534A1
• Filed: 09/27/2010
• Published: 01/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Min, Jonathan S., Currivan, Bruce J., Eddy, Kevin, Lu, Fang
• Granted Patent: US 8,681,767 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0001 Systems modifying transmission characteristics according to link quality, e.g. power backoff adaptive data allocation for multicarrier modulation H04L5/0044; controlling transmission power for radio systems H04W52/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0002 by adapting the transmission rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0003 by switching between different modulation schemes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0009 by adapting the channel coding H04L1/1812 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0057 Block codes H04L1/0061, H04L1/0064 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0071 Use of interleaving interleaving per se H03M13/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/203 Details of error rate determination, e.g. BER, FER or WER
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/206 for modulated signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/08 Modifications for reducing interference; Modifications for reducing effects due to line faults ; Receiver end arrangements for detecting or overcoming line faults
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0823 Errors, e.g. transmission errors

Abstract

A method of managing traffic in a communications channel includes the steps of receiving a subscriber ID corresponding to a subscriber, performing a spectral analysis on a signal received from the subscriber within a time interval identified by the subscriber ID, and adjusting transmission characteristics of the subscriber based on the spectral analysis.

Claims

1. A spectrum analysis module, comprising:

an analog to digital converter (ADC) configured to sample a plurality of signals to provide a sampled digital sequence;

a tuner module configured to generate a plurality of sequences based upon the sampled digital sequence, each of the plurality of sequences being characterized as having different spectral characteristics;

a selector module configured to select one of the plurality of sequences from among the plurality of sequences to provide a single sequence; and

a spectral analysis processor configured to perform a spectral analysis of the single sequence to provide spectral measurements.

2. The spectrum analysis module of claim 1, wherein the ADC is further configured to receive the plurality of signals from a plurality of subscribers over a communications channel.

3. The spectrum analysis module of claim 2, wherein the communications channel is a shared by the plurality of subscribers.

4. The spectrum analysis module of claim 1, wherein the plurality of signals are encoded using a time-division multiple access (TDMA) scheme.

5. The spectrum analysis module of claim 1, wherein the ADC is further configured to sample the plurality of signals at greater than or equal to twice a Nqyuist sampling rate of the plurality of signals to provide the sampled digital sequence.

6. The spectrum analysis module of claim 1, wherein the plurality of sequences comprise:

a wideband sequence corresponding to a frequency spectrum occupied by the plurality of signals;

a quarter band sequences corresponding to one fourth of the frequency spectrum occupied by the plurality of signals; and

a half band sequence corresponding to one half of the frequency spectrum occupied by the plurality of signals.

7. The spectrum analysis module of claim 1, wherein the tuner module comprises:

a mixer configured to downconvert the sampled digital sequence to provide a downconverted digital sequence; and

a decimation filter stage configured to decimate the downconverted digital sequence to generate a plurality of sequences.

8. The spectrum analysis module of claim 7, wherein the mixer is configured to downconvert the sampled digital sequence to approximately baseband.

9. The spectrum analysis module of claim 7, wherein the decimation filter stage is configured to decimate the downconverted digital sequence by a factor of four.

10. The spectrum analysis module of claim 7, wherein the tuner module further comprises:

a frequency synthesizer configured to generate a clock signal, the mixer being configured to downconvert the sampled digital sequence using the clock signal.

11. The spectrum analysis module of claim 10, wherein the clock signal is characterized as having a frequency that is selected to convert desired signals within the plurality of signals to baseband.

12. The spectrum analysis module of claim 1, wherein the selector module comprises:

a multiplexer configured to select the one of the plurality of sequences from among the plurality of sequences based upon a control signal.

13. The spectrum analysis module of claim 1, wherein the spectral measurements are arranged in a plurality of bins, each bin corresponding to a respective frequency range.

14. A method, comprising:

(a) sampling a plurality of signals to provide a sampled digital sequence;

(b) generating a plurality of sequences based upon the sampled digital sequence, each of the plurality of sequences being characterized as having different spectral characteristics;

(c) selecting one of the plurality of sequences from among the plurality of sequences to provide a single sequence; and

(d) performing a spectral analysis of the single sequence to provide spectral measurements.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein step (a) comprises:

(a)(i) receiving the plurality of signals from a plurality of subscribers over a communications channel.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein step (a)(i) comprises:

(a)(i)(A) receiving the plurality of signals from a plurality of subscribers over a shared communications channel.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the plurality of signals are encoded using a time-division multiple access (TDMA) scheme.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein step (a) comprises:

(a)(i) sampling the plurality of signals at greater than or equal to twice a Nqyuist sampling rate of the plurality of signals to provide the sampled digital sequence.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein step (b) comprises:

(b)(i) generating at least one of;

a wideband sequence corresponding to a frequency spectrum occupied by the plurality of signals, a quarter band sequences corresponding to one fourth of the frequency spectrum occupied by the plurality of signals, and a half band sequence corresponding to one half of the frequency spectrum occupied by the plurality of signals.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein step (b) comprises:

(b)(i) downconverting the sampled digital sequence to provide a downconverted digital sequence; and

(b)(ii) decimating the downconverted digital sequence to generate a plurality of sequences.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein step (b)(i) comprises:

(b)(i)(A) downconverting the sampled digital sequence to approximately baseband.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein step (b)(ii) comprises:

(b)(ii)(A) decimating the downconverted digital sequence by a factor of four.

23. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

(b)(iii) generating a clock signal to be used to downconvert the sampled digital sequence.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein step (b)(iii) comprises:

(b)(iii)(A) generating the clock signal that is characterized as having a frequency that is selected to convert desired signals within the plurality of signals to baseband.

25. The method of claim 14, wherein step (c) comprises:

(c)(i) selecting the one of the plurality of sequences from among the plurality of sequences based upon a control signal.

26. The method of claim 14, wherein step (d) comprises:

(d)(i) arranging the spectral measurements in a plurality of bins, each bin corresponding to a respective frequency range.