Automated DSL performance adjustment

• US 7,920,677 B2
• Filed: 08/07/2007
• Issued: 04/05/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Van Slyke, John Porter, Otsuka, Jim Tidashi, Wu, Xidong, Jiang, Baofeng Frank
• Primary Examiner(s): TRAN, QUOC DUC
• Application Number:
  US11/890,995
• Publication Number:
  US 20070274458A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,337 Days
• Field of Search: 379/1.01, 379/1.03, 379/1.04, 379/9.02, 379/9.03, 379/15.03, 379/22, 379/24, 379/26.01, 379/27.04, 379/28, 379/29.09, 375/224, 375/230
• US Class Current: 379/1.04
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/062 using different frequency bands for speech and other data
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/304 and using xDSL modems xDSL line qualification H04M3/306
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/306 for frequencies above the voice frequency, e.g. xDSL line qualification test methods, test equipment and test arrangements for subscriber lines using xDSL modems H04M3/304; systems modifying transmission characteristics according to link quality H04L1/0001; monitoring and/or testing of line transmission systems H04B3/46

Abstract

The present application discloses an automated digital subscriber line performance control system comprising a computer system including a logic module to evaluate performance of a plurality of DSL lines and to automatically select a set of DSL lines from the plurality of DSL lines, a line profile database responsive to the computer system, the line profile database providing a plurality of line profiles in response to a request from the computer system, and a digital subscriber line access multiplexer coupled to the computer system.

Claims

1. A method of adjusting digital subscriber line (DSL) performance, the method comprising:

automatically selecting a set of DSL lines from a plurality of DSL lines, the set of DSL lines having degraded performance characteristics based on historical performance data;

measuring a performance parameter for each DSL line of the set of DSL lines;

removing from the set of DSL lines at least one DSL line that has suitable performance based on the measured performance parameter to create a revised set of DSL lines with degraded performance, wherein each DSL line in the revised set of DSL lines is associated with a corresponding physical DSL line; and

performing a profile application process by applying a line profile of a plurality of line profiles to at least one DSL line of the physical DSL lines identified by the revised set of DSL lines.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising retrieving the line profile from a profile database and storing data associated with the set of DSL lines.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising reporting the stored data using a remote internet browser reporting tool.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the data reported includes a list of problem lines selected, a list of lines that fail during the profile application process, an identity of lines that are adjusted, and performance data before and after application of the line profile to the at least one DSL line.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein each DSL line of the set of DSL lines is associated with one of the plurality of line profiles before measuring the performance parameter for each DSL line of the set of DSL lines.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein at least some of the plurality of line profiles associated with the set of DSL lines are the same line profiles that are applied to the at least one DSL line of the physical DSL lines identified by the revised set of DSL lines.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising reporting an error when the at least one DSL line does not have suitable performance after performing the profile application process.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of line profiles is an interleaved channel profile.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein a second of the plurality of line profiles is a reduced speed profile.

10. A system comprising:

a computer system including a logic module to evaluate a performance of each digital subscriber line (DSL) line of a plurality of DSL lines and to automatically select a set of DSL lines from the plurality of DSL lines, wherein the set of DSL lines has degraded performance characteristics based on historical performance data;

a line profile database responsive to the computer system, the line profile database configured to provide one or more line profiles in response to a request from the computer system; and

a digital subscriber line access multiplexer (DSLAM) configured to measure a performance parameter associated with a first physical DSL line of a plurality of physical DSL lines of the set of DSL lines, wherein each DSL line in the set of DSL lines is associated with a corresponding physical DSL line, the DSLAM further configured to perform a profile application process by applying a line profile selected from a plurality of line profiles retrievable from the line profile database to the first physical DSL line.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising a remote reporting system, the remote reporting system to provide DSL performance data to a user.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the DSL performance data includes an identification of each of the DSL lines selected, a first set of data for the DSL lines selected, and a second set of data for the DSL lines selected.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the first set of data is captured before application of the line profile and the second set of data is captured after application of the line profile.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein at least one line profile of the plurality of line profiles is an interleaved channel profile.

15. The system of claim 10, further comprising a display to report stored performance data using a remote internet browser reporting tool.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the stored performance data that is reported includes a list of problem lines selected, a list of lines that fail during the profile application process, an identity of lines that are adjusted, and performance data before and after application of the line profile to the first physical DSL line.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the DSLAM is further configured to apply the line profile when a measured performance parameter indicates that the first physical DSL line has degraded performance characteristics.

18. A method of adjusting digital subscriber line (DSL) performance, the method comprising:

evaluating a performance of each DSL line of a plurality of DSL lines;

selecting a set of DSL lines from the plurality of DSL lines, the set of DSL lines having degraded performance characteristics based on historical performance data;

measuring a performance parameter for each DSL line of the set of DSL lines;

removing, from the set of DSL lines, any DSL line that has suitable performance based on the corresponding measured performance parameter to create a revised set of DSL lines with degraded performance, wherein each DSL line in the revised set of DSL lines is associated with a corresponding physical DSL line;

applying a line profile to each DSL line identified by the revised set of DSL lines;

storing data associated with the revised set of DSL lines; and

reporting the stored data.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the stored data that is reported includes a list of problem lines.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the stored data that is reported further includes a list of lines that do not have suitable performance after applying the line profile to each of the physical DSL lines identified by the revised set of DSL lines, and wherein the stored data that is reported further includes performance data before and after applying the line profile to each DSL line identified by the revised set of DSL lines.