Receivers, methods, and computer program products for an analog modem that receives data signals from a digital modem

• US 7,003,030 B2
• Filed: 08/06/2003
• Issued: 02/21/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Lenovo Singapore Pte Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo Singapore Pte Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Ye, Hua, Ware, Malcolm Scott, Dholakia, Ajay, Davis, Gordon Taylor, Eleftheriou, Evangelos Stavros, Abdelilah, Youssef, Derby, Jeffrey Haskell, Neeser, Fredy D., Hwang, Dongming, Fischer, Robert F. H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ghayour, Mohammed
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kumar, Pankaj
• Application Number:
  US10/635,194
• Publication Number:
  US 20040028159A1
• Time in Patent Office: 930 Days
• Field of Search: 375/234, 375/219, 375/220, 375/229, 375/230, 375/232, 375/340, 375/233, 375/242, 375/286, 375/287, 375/295, 375/316, 375/331, 375/332, 375/222, 375/285, 375/346, 375/350, 700/189, 700/186, 379/400, 379/399.01, 379/229, 379/230, 708/290, 708/200, 708/100
• US Class Current: 375/234
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2025/03363 Multilevel H04L2025/03369 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2025/0342 QAM
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2025/0349 as a feedback filter
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 7/0029 interpolation of received data signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 7/0062 detection of error based on data decision error, e.g. Mueller type detection

Abstract

Receivers, methods, and computer program products can be used to demodulate a data signal transmitted from a digital source, which has a network sampling rate that is synchronized with a network clock. In an illustrative embodiment, a receiver includes a two-stage interpolator that receives digital samples of the data signal as an input and produces an interpolated digital sample stream to be filtered by an adaptive fractionally spaced decision feedback equalizer. The digital samples received in the interpolator are synchronized with a local clock; however, the interpolated sample stream is synchronized with the network clock. A slicer generates symbols for the samples output from the decision feedback equalizer by comparing the samples with a reference signaling alphabet. The receiver can be used in a V.90 client modem to demodulate pulse code modulated (PCM) data transmitted as pulse amplitude modulated (PAM) signals from a digital network. In addition, the receiver is compatible with legacy analog modem front ends and transmitters. The two-stage interpolator allows the timing synchronization to be performed with extremely fine granularity, which can be useful in PCM modems that typically require relatively high signal to noise ratios.

Claims

1. A receiver for demodulating a data signal transmitted from a digital source at a network sampling rate that is synchronized with a network clock, comprising:

a two-stage interpolator, responsive to digital samples of the data signal, that generates interpolated digital samples in response thereto, the digital samples having a first local sample rate that is synchronized with a local clock and the interpolated digital samples having a second local sample rate that is synchronized with the network clock, the two-stage interpolator comprising;

a polyphase interpolator, responsive to the digital samples of the data signal, that generates first and second estimates for each of the digital samples of the data signal; and

a linear interpolator, responsive to the first and second estimates, that generates the interpolated digital samples;

an adaptive fractionally spaced decision feedback equalizer, responsive to the interpolated digital samples, that generates equalized digital samples at the network sampling rate in synchronization with the network clock; and

a slicer, responsive to the equalized digital samples, that generates detected symbols therefrom corresponding to data from the data signal.

2. A receiver as recited in claim 1, wherein the adaptive fractionally spaced decision feedback equalizer has a tap spacing given by pT/q where T is a modulation interval associated with the network sampling rate and p and q are integers.

3. A receiver as recited in claim 1, further comprising a clock synchronizer responsive to the detected symbols and generating a sampling index signal, the two-stage interpolator being responsive to the sampling index signal.

4. A receiver as recited in claim 1, wherein the two-stage interpolator further comprises:

a time converter, responsive to the sampling index signal, that generates first and second integers in response thereto, the polyphase interpolator being responsive to the first integer and the linear interpolator being responsive to the second integer.

5. A receiver as recited in claim 1, further comprising an echo canceller that couples a transmitter to the receiver, the echo canceller being responsive to transmit symbols from the transmitter that have a third local sample rate that is synchronized with the local clock and generating echo cancellation samples in response thereto at the first local sample rate in synchronization with the local clock.

6. A receiver as recited in claim 5, further comprising an adder that combines the echo cancellation samples with the digital samples of the data signal.

7. A receiver as recited in claim 5, wherein the echo canceller comprises an adaptive digital filter, responsive to the transmit symbols from the transmitter, that generates echo cancellation samples at the first local sample rate in synchronization with the receiver clock, which are complementary to a portion in each of the digital samples of the data signal that can be attributed to an echo signal from the transmitter.

8. A receiver as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

means for identifying a signaling alphabet used by the slicer to generate the detected symbols.

9. A receiver as recited in claim 8, wherein the means for identifying comprises:

means for establishing a plurality of alphabet thresholds corresponding to valid data symbols;

means for computing an average value for the equalized digital samples corresponding to a particular alphabet threshold; and

means for updating the particular alphabet threshold with the average value.

10. A receiver as recited in claim 1, wherein the detected symbols are pulse code modulation (PCM) codewords.

11. A method for demodulating, in a receiver, a data signal transmitted from a digital source at a network sampling rate that is synchronized with a network clock, comprising the steps of:

sampling the data signal to produce digital samples at a first local sample rate that is synchronized with a local clock;

interpolating the digital samples to produce first and second estimates for each of the digital samples using a polyphase interpolator;

interpolating, using a linear interpolator, the first and second estimates to produce interpolated digital samples having a second local sample rate that is synchronized with the network clock;

equalizing the interpolated digital samples to produce equalized digital samples; and

decoding the equalized digital samples to generate detected symbols therefrom.

12. A method as recited in claim 11, wherein the equalizing step comprises the step of:

using an adaptive fractionally spaced decision feedback equalizer that has a tap spacing given by pT/q where T is a modulation interval associated with the network sampling rate and p and q are integers to produce the equalized digital samples.

13. A method as recited in claim 11, further comprising the step of:

maintaining the synchronization between the second local sample rate and the network clock via a sampling index signal.

14. A method as recited in claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

coupling a transmitter to the receiver with an echo canceller;

receiving at an input of the echo canceller transmit symbols from the transmitter that have a third local sample rate that is synchronized with the local clock; and

generating at an output of the echo canceller echo cancellation samples at the first local sample rate in synchronization with the local clock.

15. A method as recited in claim 11, further comprising the step of identifying a signaling alphabet for use in the decoding step to generate the detected symbols.

17. A method as recited in claim 11, wherein the detected symbols are pulse code modulation (PCM) codewords.

16. A method as recited in 15, wherein the identifying step comprises the steps of:

establishing a plurality of alphabet thresholds corresponding to valid data symbols;

computing an average value for the equalized digital samples corresponding to a particular alphabet threshold; and

updating the particular alphabet threshold with the average value.

18. A computer program product for demodulating, in a receiver, a data signal transmitted from a digital source at a network sampling rate that is synchronized with a network clock, comprising:

a computer readable storage medium having computer readable code means embodied therein, the computer readable code means comprising;

first logic configured to sample the data signal to produce digital samples at a first local sample rate that is synchronized with a local clock;

second logic configured to interpolate the digital samples to produce first and second estimates for each of the digital samples, the second logic configured to interpolate comprising;

third logic configured to use a polyphase interpolator to produce the first and second estimates;

fourth logic configured to interpolate the first and second estimates to produce interpolated digital samples having a second local sample rate that is synchronized with the network clock, the fourth logic configured to interpolate comprising;

fifth logic configured to use a linear interpolator to produce the interpolated digital samples;

sixth logic configured to equalize the interpolated digital samples to produce equalized digital samples; and

seventh logic configured to decode the equalized digital samples to generate detected symbols therefrom.

19. A computer program product as recited in claim 18, wherein the sixth logic configured to equalize comprises:

eighth logic configured to use an adaptively fractionally spaced decision feedback equalizer that has tap spacing given by pT/q where T is a modulation interval associated with the network sampling rate and p and q are integers to produce the equalized digital samples.

20. A computer program product as recited in claim 18, further comprising:

eighth logic configured to maintain the synchronization between the second local sampling rate and the network clock via a sampling index signal.

21. A computer program product as recited in claim 18, wherein the receiver further includes an echo canceller coupling a transmitter to the receiver, further comprising:

eighth logic configured to receive at an input of the echo canceller transmit symbols from the transmitter that have a third local sample rate that is synchronized with the local clock; and

ninth logic configured to generate at an output of the echo canceller echo cancellation samples at the first local sample rate in synchronization with the local clock.

22. A computer program product as recited in claim 18, further comprising:

eighth logic configured to identify a signaling alphabet, the seventh logic configured to decode being responsive to the logic configured to identify.

23. A computer program product as recited in claim 22, wherein the eighth logic configured to identify comprises:

ninth logic configured to establish a plurality of alphabet thresholds corresponding to valid data symbols;

tenth logic configured to compute an average value for the equalized digital samples corresponding to a particular alphabet threshold; and

eleventh logic configured to update the particular alphabet threshold with the average value.

24. A computer program product as recited in claim 18, wherein the detected symbols are pulse code modulation (PCM) codewords.