Method and apparatus for reliable reception of VDSL signals

• US 6,385,253 B1
• Filed: 12/10/1999
• Issued: 05/07/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: ARRIS Enterprises LLC (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.), Next Level Communications, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Next Level Communications
• Inventors: Swisher, James L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ghayour, Mohammad H.
• Application Number:
  US09/459,755
• Time in Patent Office: 879 Days
• Field of Search: 375/259, 375/222, 375/229, 375/230, 379/390, 379/402, 379/408, 379/420
• US Class Current: 375/259
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 3/06 by the transmitted signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/0266 Arrangements for providing Galvanic isolation, e.g. by means of magnetic or capacitive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/0272 Arrangements for coupling to multiple lines, e.g. for differential transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/0292 Arrangements specific to the receiver end
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/03878 Line equalisers; line build-out devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/14 Two-way operation using the same type of signal, i.e. duplex

Abstract

The present invention encompasses the reception of a Very High Speed Digital Subscriber Line (VDSL) signal from a twisted wire pair drop cable and an amplification circuit for compensating losses encountered while the signal is traversing the transmission medium. The amplification circuit receives a control signal from a microcontroller for providing selective gain to the signal based on the loop length or the power of the received signal. The amplification circuit incudes at least one resonator circuit which can be selectively switched in and out of the amplification circuit.

Claims

1. In a telephone signal transmission system, a method of reliably receiving a signal, said method comprising:

receiving the signal from a twisted wire pair drop cable;

determining when the received signal is substantially attenuated; and

selectively amplifying a portion of the received signal to compensate for frequency dependent attenuation, wherein said selectively amplifying includes using a resonator circuit which can be selectively switched in and out of an amplification module, wherein said selectively amplifying further includes at least one control circuit and each of said at least one resonator circuits is connected to a respective said at least one control circuit.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the received signal is above 1.5 MHz.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the attenuated portion of the received signal is in the range of approximately 1.8 MHz to 25 MHz.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the resonator circuit includes an inductor and a capacitor and is switched in and out of the amplification module using a field effect transistor.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said selectively amplifying is based on a length of the twisted wire pair drop cable.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said selectively amplifying is based on a power measurement of the received signal.

7. In a telephone signal transmission system where a signal is transmitted from a first location to a second location over a twisted wire pair transmission path, an apparatus for reliably receiving said signal, said apparatus comprising an amplification circuit for applying selective gain to a received digital subscriber line signal to compensate for losses in said twisted wire pair transmission path, wherein said amplification circuit includes at least one resonator circuit and said at least one resonator circuit can be selectively switched in and out of said amplification circuit, further wherein said amplification circuit further includes at least one control circuit and each of said at least one resonator circuits is connected to a respective said at least one control circuit.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the selective gain is applied in the range of 1.8 MHz to 25 MHz.

9. In a digital subscriber line transmission system where a signal is transmitted from a first location to a second location over a twisted wire pair transmission path, an apparatus for reliably receiving said signal, said apparatus comprising an amplification circuit for applying selective gain to a received digital subscriber line signal to compensate for losses in said twisted wire pair transmission path, wherein said amplification circuit includes at least one resonator circuit and said at least one resonator circuit can be selectively switched in and out of said amplification circuit, wherein said amplification circuit further includes at least one control circuit and each of said at least one resonator circuits is connected to a respective said at least one control circuit.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein each of said at least one control circuits receives a digital control signal.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein said digital control signal is a binary signal having at least one bit to activate at least one of said resonator circuits.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein said binary signal has two bits which can be set to achieve one of four individual levels of selective amplification.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the digital control signal is based on a length of said twisted wire pair transmission path.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the digital control signal is based on a power measurement of the received digital subscriber line signal.

15. In a telephone signal transmission system, a method of reliably receiving a signal, said method comprising:

receiving the signal from a twisted wire pair drop cable;

determining a gain factor to be applied to the signal; and

switching at least one resonator circuit into a gain path traversed by the signal to compensate for losses, wherein said switching includes using at least one control circuit and each of said at least one resonator circuit is connected to a respective said at least one control circuit.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein said determining a gain factor includes determining the gain factor to be applied to the signal in the range of approximately 1.8 to 25 MHz.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein said determining a gain factor includes determining the gain factor based on a power measurement performed on the received signal.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the power measurement is accomplished by processing digital samples of the received signal to determine a measured peak power which is compared to a calculated peak power.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein said determining a gain factor includes determining the gain factor based on a length of the digital subscriber line.