Time-multiplexed transmission on digital-subscriber lines synchronized to existing TCM-ISDN for reduced cross-talk

• US 5,991,311 A
• Filed: 10/25/1997
• Issued: 11/23/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Ikanos Communications Incorporated (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Centillium Technology Corporation
• Inventors: Long, Guozhu, O'Toole, Anthony J. P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu, Huy D.
• Assistant Examiner(s): BOAKYE, ALEXANDER O
• Application Number:
  US08/958,763
• Time in Patent Office: 759 Days
• Field of Search: 370/201, 370/524, 379/90.01, 379/100.15, 379/88.17, 379/242, 379/399, 379/417, 455/295, 345/58, 386/22
• US Class Current: 370/524
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/023 Multiplexing of multicarrier modulation signals multicarrier modulation H04L27/2601
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/143 for modulated signals H04L5/1469 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/1484 operating bytewise
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0435 Details

Abstract

Pulp-insulated telephone cables common in Japan and other countries have higher cross-talk interference than plastic-insulated cables common in the United States. Deployment of newer xDSL systems in Japan has been limited by the high cross-talk interference in those pulp cables, especially the near-end cross-talk (NEXT) from ISDN services using time-compression multiplexing (TCM). A TCM-DSL that can share pulp-cable bundles with TCM ISDN lines eliminates the NEXT interference by synchronizing transmission and reception with the TCM ISDN equipment for the same cable bundle. The TCM-DSL line uses TCM that is synchronized with the ISDN transmit and receive windows so that the TCM-DSL is transmitting but not receiving when the ISDN modems at the same side are transmitting. When ISDN at the same side are receiving and not transmitting, NEXT interference does not exist. Thus higher-speed TCM-DSL data can be received during the ISDN receive windows with reduced interference. A passband modulation technique such as Carrierless-amplitude/phase modulation (CAP) with advanced signal processing techniques such as trellis encoding and pre-coding achieve higher data rates for TCM-DSL. The TCM-DSL transmitted signal occupies a pass-band that is separate from a low-frequency POTS band for voice-band services. The voice calls use full-duplex continuously without regard to the TCM-DSL data transmitted simultaneously with the POTS voice calls over the same phone line. TCM-DSL is synchronized to an ISDN clock that is routed to the TCM-DSL line card, or a burst-timing extractor that detects burst timing from either the ISDN line signal or cross-talk from the ISDN line signals.

Claims

1. A Digital-Subscriber-Line (DSL) system for high-speed data transmission using passband modulation over a copper-pair telephone line, for reducing an effect of crosstalk interference with Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) on closely-located copper pairs, wherein ISDN devices are Time Compression Multiplexing (TCM) systems that transmit data from a central office side but not from remote sites during a downstream time-window, and wherein the ISDN devices receive but not transmit at the central office side during an upstream time-window, the DSL system comprising a central-office-side device comprising:

a data network interface for connecting to a data network;

a burst-clock input for receiving a burst clock indicating the downstream time-window when the ISDN devices at the central office side are transmitting from the central office side to the remote sites, and for indicating the upstream time-window when the ISDN devices at the central office side are receiving remotely-transmitted data from the remote sites;

a telephone-line interface for connecting to a copper-pair telephone line connected to customer-premises DSL equipment at a remote customer site, the copper-pair telephone line being a DSL line sharing a cable bundle with TCM-ISDN lines driven by the ISDN devices; and

a DSL processor, coupled to the telephone-line interface, to the data-network interface, and to the burst clock input, for receiving the burst clock synchronized to the TCM-ISDN lines, the burst clock for controlling the DSL processor to transmit during the downstream time-window and receive during the upstream time-window, the DSL processor for receiving a data stream from the data network and for generating a downstream passband signal to represent the data stream, the DSL processor for transmitting the downstream passband signal to the customer-premises DSL equipment at the remote customer site over the DSL line, the DSL processor for receiving an upstream passband signal from the customer-premises DSL equipment and for extracting from the upstream passband signal a represented data signal for transmission to the data network,

wherein the DSL system provides a higher data rate than the ISDN devices but the DSL system is synchronized to the IDSN devices to reduce the effect of the crosstalk interference.

2. The DSL system of claim 1 wherein the customer-premises DSL equipment at the remote customer site comprises:

a remote telephone-line interface for connecting to the copper-pair telephone line that is connected to the central-office-side device, the copper-pair telephone line being the DSL line sharing the cable bundle with the ISDN lines;

a burst-clock detector for generating a remote burst clock; and

a remote DSL processor, coupled to the remote telephone-line interface and receiving the remote burst clock from the burst-clock detector, the remote burst clock for controlling the remote DSL processor to transmit during the upstream time-window and receive during the downstream time-window, the remote DSL processor for receiving a remote data stream from a customer data equipment and for generating the upstream passband signal that represents the remote data stream, the remote DSL processor for transmitting the upstream passband signal to the central-office-side device over the DSL line, the remote DSL processor for receiving the downstream passband signal from the central-office-side device and for extracting from the downstream passband signal a represented data signal for transmission to the customer data equipment.

3. The DSL system of claim 2 wherein the DSL processor and the remote DSL processor each further comprise:

symbol encoding means for combining a sequence of binary bits from the data stream into a symbol representing multiple binary bits for transmission as a passband signal over the copper-pair telephone line; and

a carrierless amplitude/phase modulator (CAP) filter for generating a transmitted signal representing the sequence of binary bits within a frequency passband,

wherein the sequence of binary bits are encoded by both an amplitude and a phase of the upstream passband signal and the downstream passband signal, for transmission by the DSL line card.

4. The DSL system of claim 3 further comprising:

a trellis encoder, coupled to the symbol encoding means, for trellis-code modulation of data for transmission, and

a viterbi decoder, coupled to receive data from the copper-pair telephone line, for decoding symbols encoded by a trellis encoder at the remote customer site.

5. The DSL system of claim 1 wherein the central-office-side device further comprises:

a frequency splitter, coupled to the copper-pair telephone line, for separating a low-frequency voiceband signal from the upstream passband signal both simultaneously received from the remote customer site over the copper-pair telephone line, and

a voice encoder, receiving the low-frequency voiceband signal from the frequency splitter, for coding the voiceband signal for transmission to another central office over a voice telephone network,

wherein the voiceband signal and the upstream passband signal are carried over the copper-pair telephone line, the upstream passband signal not overlapping a frequency range of the voiceband signal.

6. The DSL system of claim 1 wherein the burst clock input receives a burst clock connected to the ISDN devices,

whereby the DSL system is directly synchronized to the ISDN devices.

7. The DSL system of claim 1 further comprising:

a burst-clock generator, coupled to the burst-clock input, for generating the burst clock, the burst clock generator comprising;

an ISDN-line input coupled to an ISDN telephone line driven by an ISDN device;

a timing extractor for detecting when data is transmitted from the central office on the ISDN telephone line and for generating the burst clock in synchronization to a data burst on the ISDN telephone line.

8. The DSL system of claim 1 wherein the burst-clock detector comprises:

a TCM-DSL-line input coupled to the DSL line;

an interference detector for detecting crosstalk interference on the DSL line from the ISDN devices when the downstream and upstream passband signals for DSL are disabled; and

a burst clock generator, coupled to the interference detector, for generating a burst clock that is synchronized to detected crosstalk interference.

9. The DSL system of claim 8 wherein the burst clock generator further comprises:

a reference clock input, receiving a reference clock, the reference clock having a period equal to a nominal period of an ISDN burst clock; and

phase-locking means, coupled to the burst clock generator, for locking a phase of the reference clock to a phase of the detected crosstalk interference to enable the burst clock generator to generate the burst clock synchronized to the detected crosstalk interference.

10. A central office receiving digital-data and voice calls comprising:

plain-old-telephone-system (POTS) line cards for terminating telephone lines carrying low-frequency voice calls;

Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) line cards for terminating telephone lines carrying medium-rate digital-data calls, the ISDN line cards transmitting data to remote ISDN terminals at customer premises during a downstream time-window, but the ISDN line cards receiving but not transmitting during a upstream time-window;

Digital-Subscriber-Loop (DSL) line cards for terminating telephone lines carrying high-rate digital-data calls, the DSL line cards transmitting data to remote DSL modems at customer premises during the downstream time-window, but the DSL line cards receiving but not transmitting during the upstream time-window;

wherein the DSL line cards transmit and receive data at a higher rate than the ISDN line cards,

wherein an effect of crosstalk interference among the ISDN line cards and the DSL line cards is reduced by the DSL line cards using the downstream and upstream time windows synchronized to the downstream and upstream time windows of the ISDN line cards for the same cable bundle;

a high-speed data pathway for data transmission to other central offices and to international data networks, the high-speed data pathway connected to the ISDN line cards and to the DSL line cards; and

a voice network for voice-call transmission to other central offices and to international voice networks, the voice network connected to the POTS line cards and to the DSL line cards;

wherein telephone lines connected to the DSL line cards are bundled together at the central office with telephone lines connected to the ISDN line cards;

wherein cross-talk interference among DSL telephone lines and ISDN telephone lines occurs in a shared cable bundle outgoing from the central office;

wherein the DSL line cards each further comprise a frequency splitter, coupled to the telephone line, for passing low-frequency signal components to the voice network, but for passing high-frequency signal components to the high-speed data pathway;

wherein the low-frequency signal components comprise a low-frequency voiceband having a frequency range down to zero hertz, but the high-frequency signal components comprise a pass band having a lower frequency limit above the low-frequency voiceband;

wherein the higher rate of the DSL line cards is at least two times the medium rate of the ISDN line cards,

whereby the DSL line cards are connected to both the high-speed data pathway and to the voice network, the DSL line cards each terminating a telephone line carrying both voice calls and data transmission and whereby signal components from the telephone line are split by frequency into voice calls and high-speed data transmissions and whereby the low-frequency voiceband for voice calls does not overlap the high-frequency band for data transmission of the DSL line cards.

11. The central office of claim 10 wherein the low-frequency voiceband has bounds of 0 and about 4 kHz, while the high-frequency band has a lower bound of 30 kHz and an upper bound of at least 100 kHz.

12. A central office receiving digital-data and voice calls comprising:

plain-old-telephone-system (POTS) line cards for terminating telephone lines carrying low-frequency voice calls;

Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) line cards for terminating telephone lines carrying medium-rate digital-data calls, the ISDN line cards transmitting data to remote ISDN terminals at customer premises during a downstream time-window, but the ISDN line cards receiving but not transmitting during a upstream time-window;

Digital-Subscriber-Loop (DSL) line cards for terminating telephone lines carrying high-rate digital-data calls, the DSL line cards transmitting data to remote DSL modems at customer premises during the downstream time-window, but the DSL line cards receiving but not transmitting during the upstream time-window;

wherein the DSL line cards transmit and receive data at a higher rate than the ISDN line cards;

wherein an effect of crosstalk interference among the ISDN line cards and the DSL line cards is reduced by the DSL line cards using the downstream and upstream time windows synchronized to the downstream and upstream time windows of the ISDN line cards for the same cable bundle;

a high-speed data pathway for data transmission to other central offices and to international data networks, the high-speed data pathway connected to the ISDN line cards and to the DSL line cards; and

a voice network for voice-call transmission to other central offices and to international voice networks, the voice network connected to the POTS line cards and to the DSL line cards;

wherein telephone lines connected to the DSL line cards are bundled together at the central office with telephone lines connected to the ISDN line cards;

wherein cross-talk interference among DSL telephone lines and ISDN telephone lines occurs in a shared cable bundle outgoing from the central office;

wherein the DSL line cards each further comprise a frequency splitter, coupled to the telephone line, for passing low-frequency signal components to the voice network, but for passing high-frequency signal components to the high-speed data pathway;

wherein the low-frequency signal components comprise a low-frequency voiceband having a frequency range down to zero hertz, but the high-frequency signal components comprise a pass band having a lower frequency limit above the low-frequency voiceband;

wherein the DSL line cards each further comprise;

symbol encoding means for combining a sequence of binary bits into a symbol representing multiple binary bits for transmission over the telephone line;

a carrierless amplitude/phase modulator (CAP) filter for generating a transmitted signal representing transmitted data bits within a frequency passband;

a trellis encoder, coupled to the symbol encoding means, for trellis-code modulation of the data for transmission; and

a viterbi decoder, coupled to receive data from the telephone line, for decoding symbols encoded by a trellis encoder at the customer premises,

whereby the DSL line cards are connected to both the high-speed data pathway and to the voice network, the DSL line cards each terminating a telephone line carrying both voice calls and data transmission and whereby signal components from the telephone line are split by frequency into voice calls and high-speed data transmissions and whereby the low-frequency voiceband for voice calls does not overlap the high-frequency band for data transmission of the DSL line cards and whereby data is compressed for transmission by the DSL line cards.

13. The central office of claim 12 wherein the telephone lines comprise pulp-insulated cables passing more cross-talk interference than plastic-insulated cables of a similar thickness and size,

whereby the DSL line cards operate with inferior pulp-insulated cables.

14. The central office of claim 13 further comprising:

a reference clock generator for generating a reference clock, the reference clock indicating when the downstream time-window begins and when the upstream time-window begins;

a reference-clock input on each of the ISDN line cards, the ISDN line cards transmitting in response to the reference clock indicating the downstream time-window, but receiving and not transmitting in response to the reference clock indicating the upstream time-window;

a reference-clock input on each of the DSL line cards, the DSL line cards transmitting in response to the reference clock indicating the downstream time-window, but receiving and not transmitting in response to the reference clock indicating the upstream time-window,

whereby the DSL line cards and the ISDN line cards are synchronized by the reference clock.

15. A Time-Compression-Multiplexing Digital-Subscriber-Line (TCM-DSL) modem for use with pulp-insulated cables, the TCM-DSL modem comprising:

a telephone-line input for terminating a telephone line;

a frequency splitter for separating low-frequency voice signals from high-frequency data signals, the low-frequency voice signals sent to voice-telephone equipment;

a receiver receiving the high-frequency data signals in a passband from the frequency splitter, the receiver including a symbol decoder for converting symbols into sequences of bits;

a transmitter for transmitting high-frequency data signals in the passband to the telephone line input, the transmitter including a symbol encoder for converting sequences of bits into symbols, wherein each symbol represents multiple bits using one of the points in a constellation carrying a phase and an amplitude component;

a carrierless-amplitude/phase (CAP) filter, coupled to the symbol encoder in the transmitter, for generating the high-frequency data signals in the passband representing transmitted data bits within a desired frequency band;

a burst-clock input for receiving a burst clock, the burst clock indicating a downstream time-window when ISDN lines at the central office are transmitting during an upstream time-window when the ISDN lines are receiving remotely-transmitted data at the central office;

timing control means, responsive to the burst clock, for transmitting a frame of data in response to the burst clock during the downstream time-window when the TCM-DSL modem is at a central office, but for transmitting the frame during the upstream time-window when the TCM-DSL modem is at a remote customer site,

whereby TCM-DSL transmission is synchronized to ISDN transmission to reduce an effect of cross-talk interference.

16. The TCM-DSL modem of claim 15 wherein the burst-clock input is coupled to a burst clock signal of ISDN devices sharing a same cable bundle.

17. The TCM-DSL modem of claim 15 further comprising:

a burst-clock generator, coupled to the burst-clock input, for generating the burst clock, the burst clock generator comprising;

an ISDN-line input coupled to an ISDN telephone line;

a timing extractor for detecting when data is transmitted from the central office on the ISDN telephone line and for generating the burst clock in synchronization to a data burst on the ISDN telephone line.

18. The TCM-DSL modem of claim 15 further comprising:

a burst-clock generator, coupled to the burst-clock input, for generating the burst clock, the burst clock generator comprising;

a TCM-DSL-line input coupled to the telephone line;

an interference detector for detecting crosstalk interference on the DSL line from the ISDN devices; and

a burst clock generator, connected to the interference detector, for generating a burst clock that is synchronized to bursts of detected crosstalk interference.

19. The TCM DSL modem of claim 18 wherein the burst clock generator further comprises:

a reference clock input receiving a reference clock, the reference clock having a period equal to a nominal period of a transmit cycle on the ISDN lines; and

a phase-locker for locking a phase of the reference clock to a phase of the bursts of detected crosstalk interference.