System and method for a family of digital subscriber line (XDSL) signal processing circuit operating with an internal clock rate that is higher than all communications ports operating with a plurality of port sampling clock rates
First Claim
1. A system for processing a family of digital subscriber line (xDSL) communications comprising:
- a plurality of individual communications ports operating with a plurality of unique port sampling clock rates during a normal data transmission with a plurality of remote transceivers;
an xDSL signal processing circuit for performing signal processing operations for all of said plurality of individual communication ports, said xDSL signal processing circuit operating with an internal clock rate that is higher than any of said plurality of unique port clock sampling rates.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A communications system operates with an internal pipeline clock rate that is higher than that of any port used in the system. In an xDSL environment, this rate is higher than a DMT symbol rate used in the channel. In this manner, communications for the various ports can be synchronized and pipelined for transmit/receive operations. In addition, the higher rate results in idle processing periods, during which stuffing symbols are generate to maintain synchronism and/or pass along control information. The internal pipeline clock rate is selected to be higher than rate that may be encountered as well during an initialization routine and normal transmissions. The pipeline clock is also programmable so as to permit power management of the system.
103 Citations
32 Claims
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1. A system for processing a family of digital subscriber line (xDSL) communications comprising:
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a plurality of individual communications ports operating with a plurality of unique port sampling clock rates during a normal data transmission with a plurality of remote transceivers; an xDSL signal processing circuit for performing signal processing operations for all of said plurality of individual communication ports, said xDSL signal processing circuit operating with an internal clock rate that is higher than any of said plurality of unique port clock sampling rates. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A digital subscriber line (xDSL) processing pipeline for processing a family of xDSL communications based on discrete multi-tone (DMT) symbols transmitted and received through a channel during a data transmission at a first DMT symbol rate T for a plurality of individual ports, the pipeline comprising:
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a plurality of individual pipeline stages, each of said individual stages being adapted for performing a processing operation associated with an xDSL communications link for one or more of the plurality of individual ports; a pipeline clock for clocking said plurality of individual pipeline stages, said pipeline clock operating at a rate equal to the first DMT symbol rate multiplied by a constant greater than one, so that said pipeline operates at a rate faster than said first DMT symbol rate T. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9)
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10. A system for processing a family of digital subscriber line (xDSL) communications involving discrete multi-tone (DMT) symbols transmitted and received through a channel during a normal data transmission at a nominal sampling clock rate, the system comprising:
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a plurality of individual communications ports, each of said plurality of individual communications ports having an associated port sampling clock rate that can vary from the nominal DMT symbol rate, such that a plurality of port operational sampling clock rates are possible during the normal data transmission; wherein said plurality of port operational sampling clock rates can also vary from each other so as to cause each of said plurality of individual communications ports to be asynchronous with respect to other of said plurality of individual communications ports; a pipeline for performing processing operations for said plurality of individual communication ports, said pipeline operating with a pipeline clock at a pipeline clock rate that is higher than the nominal sampling clock rate and higher than any of said plurality of port operational sampling clock rates so that said plurality of individual communications ports can be processed in a synchronous manner. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A system for processing a family of digital subscriber line (xDSL) communications involving discrete multi-tone (DMT) symbols transmitted and received through a channel during a normal data transmission at a nominal DMT symbol rate T, the system comprising:
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a plurality of individual communications ports, each of said plurality of individual communications ports using a continuous sequence of DMT symbols for communicating data; and a pipeline for performing processing operations during a processing interval on said continuous sequence of DMT symbols for said plurality of individual communication ports, said pipeline having a plurality of pipeline stages that operate within said processing interval at a pipeline clock rate that is higher than the nominal DMT symbol rate; and said pipeline being further configured so that it supports one or more idle processing intervals, said idle processing intervals consisting of processing intervals during which processing operations for one or more of said individual communication ports is skipped. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method of processing a family of digital subscriber line (xDSL) communications within a multi-port communication system comprising the steps of:
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operating a plurality of individual communications ports with a plurality of port sampling clock rates during a normal data transmission with a plurality of remote transceivers; and performing signal processing operations for all of said plurality of individual communication ports with an internal clock rate that is higher than any of said plurality of port sampling clock rates. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A method of processing a family of digital subscriber line (xDSL) communications for a multi-port system using discrete multi-tone (DMT) symbols transmitted and received through a channel during a normal data transmission at a nominal sampling clock rate specified by an xDSL communications protocol, the method comprising the steps of:
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operating a plurality of individual communications ports in the multi-port system with an operational clock rate during the normal data transmission which can exhibit some variation from the nominal sampling clock rate, such that a plurality of port operational sampling clock rates are possible during the normal data transmission; wherein said plurality of port operational sampling clock rates can also vary from each other so as to cause each of said plurality of individual communications ports to be asynchronous with respect to other of said plurality of individual communications ports; synchronizing said plurality of individual communication ports by using a pipeline which operates with a pipeline clock at a pipeline clock rate that is higher than the nominal clock rate and higher than any of said plurality of port operational sampling clock rates to perform signal processing operations for said plurality of individual communication ports. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27)
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28. A method of processing a family of digital subscriber line (xDSL) communications involving discrete multi-tone (DMT) symbols transmitted and received through a channel during a normal data transmission at a nominal DMT symbol rate T, the method comprising the steps of:
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operating each communication port from a plurality of individual communications ports using a continuous sequence of DMT symbols for communicating data; and performing processing operations during a processing interval on said continuous sequence of DMT symbols for said plurality of individual communication ports, said pipeline having a plurality of pipeline stages that operate within said processing interval at a pipeline clock rate that is higher than the nominal DMT symbol rate; and skipping processing operations for one or more communications ports from said plurality of individual communications ports during an idle processing interval, said idle processing interval consisting of one or more processing intervals. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32)
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Specification