Method and apparatus for using a spectrum analyzer for locating ingress noise gaps
First Claim
1. A programmable device comprising programmable circuitry:
- operable in a first mode to receive a first signal having a frequency spectrum associated therewith, the frequency spectrum including a plurality of channels, and to determine a first noise level for each of the plurality of channels; and
operable in a second mode to filter the first signal, thereby generating a plurality of filtered signals each filtered signal corresponding to one of the plurality of channels, and to monitor a second noise level associated with each of the filtered signals;
wherein the channels associated with the filtered signals are selected for monitoring in the second mode based on the first noise levels determined in the first mode.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A device, system and method are disclosed for locating clean channels for upstream data carriers that are certain to have lower noise levels than the currently utilized channel used for carrying data upstream, thereby enabling intelligent placement of an upstream data carrier in a cable television system utilizing cable modems for two-way data transmission. A spectrum analyzer is placed in a cable modem termination system located in a headend of a cable television system. The spectrum analyzer contains a programmable device comprised of programmable circuitry. The circuitry is operable in a first mode to receive a signal having an associated frequency spectrum made up of several channels. The circuitry also determines a noise level for each of the channels. The circuitry is also operable in a second mode to receive the signal described above and filter the signal to generate several filtered signals where each filtered signal corresponds to one of the channels. The circuitry is also operable in the second mode to monitor another noise level associated with each of the filtered signals. The channels associated with the filtered signals are selected based on the noise levels determined in the first mode.
-
Citations
46 Claims
-
1. A programmable device comprising programmable circuitry:
-
operable in a first mode to receive a first signal having a frequency spectrum associated therewith, the frequency spectrum including a plurality of channels, and to determine a first noise level for each of the plurality of channels; and
operable in a second mode to filter the first signal, thereby generating a plurality of filtered signals each filtered signal corresponding to one of the plurality of channels, and to monitor a second noise level associated with each of the filtered signals;
wherein the channels associated with the filtered signals are selected for monitoring in the second mode based on the first noise levels determined in the first mode. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
-
-
12. A programmable device for receiving a first signal having a frequency spectrum associated therewith, the frequency spectrum comprising a plurality of channels, the programmable device comprising:
-
signal processing circuitry which;
in a first mode comprises frequency transformation circuitry which generates a second signal representative of a noise spectrum associated with the first signal, the noise spectrum comprising a plurality of first noise levels each associated with one of the plurality of channels; and
in a second mode comprises a plurality of filters each of which corresponds to a selected one of the plurality of channels;
noise monitoring circuitry for determining a second noise level of each of the selected channels; and
control circuitry for controlling the signal processing circuitry. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
-
21. In a cable television system, a method of locating a low-noise channel for data transmission from a subscriber to a headend including:
-
receiving a first signal having a frequency spectrum associated therewith, the frequency spectrum comprising a plurality of channels;
generating a second signal representative of a noise spectrum associated with the first signal, the noise spectrum comprising a plurality of first noise levels each corresponding to one of the plurality of channels;
selecting a first subset of the plurality of channels as selected channels based on the first noise levels;
band pass filtering the first signal in the selected channels thereby generating a plurality of filtered signals;
monitoring a plurality of second noise levels, each second noise level corresponding to one of the filtered signals; and
selecting for data transmission one of the selected channels based on a second noise level. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
-
-
27. A cable television system capable of two-way transmission of data comprising:
-
a downstream data path to subscribers on the cable television system originating from a headend;
a downstream modulator and transmitter for modulating and transmitting a downstream signal to be carried on the downstream data path to subscribers on the cable television system;
an upstream data path to the headend originating from subscribers on the cable television system;
an upstream demodulator and receiver in the headend for receiving and demodulating a first signal to be carried on the upstream data path;
a spectrum manager for receiving and monitoring the first signal carried on the upstream data path comprising;
signal processing circuitry for generating a second signal representative of a noise spectrum associated with the first signal, the noise spectrum comprising a plurality of first noise levels, each associated with one of a plurality of channels, and for determining a second noise level for selected channels of the plurality of channels, the selected channels being selected based on the plurality of first noise levels; and
control circuitry for controlling operation of the signal processing circuitry. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
-
-
37. A cable television system headend comprising:
-
a downstream transmitter for transmitting to subscriber destinations a downstream signal having a downstream frequency spectrum associated therewith;
an upstream receiver for receiving a first signal having an upstream frequency spectrum associated therewith, the upstream frequency spectrum made up of a plurality of channels;
a spectrum manager for receiving and monitoring the first signal comprising;
signal processing circuitry for generating a second signal representative of a noise spectrum associated with the first signal, the noise spectrum comprising a plurality of first noise levels each associated with one of a plurality of channels, and for determining a second noise level for selected channels of the plurality of channels, the selected channels being selected based on the first noise levels; and
control circuitry for controlling the signal processing circuitry. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
-
-
43. At least one computer readable medium including programmed instructions arranged to locate a low-noise channel for data transmission from a subscriber to a headend, comprising:
-
computer programming instructions for receiving a first signal having a frequency spectrum associated therewith, the frequency spectrum comprising of a plurality of channels;
computer programming instructions for generating a second signal representative of a noise spectrum associated with the first signal, the noise spectrum comprising a plurality of first noise levels each corresponding to one of the plurality of channels;
computer programming instructions for selecting a first subset of the plurality of channels as selected channels based on the first noise levels;
computer programming instructions for band pass filtering the first signal in the selected channels thereby generating a plurality of filtered signals;
computer programming instructions for monitoring a plurality of second noise levels, each second noise level corresponding to one of the filtered signals; and
computer programming instructions for selecting for data transmission one of the selected channels based on the second noise levels. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46)
-
Specification