Method of selecting a profile of a broadband communication line

• US 8,159,942 B2
• Filed: 03/31/2005
• Issued: 04/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sbc Knowledge Ventures, L.P.
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wu, Xidong, Krishnamuthi, Ganesh, Savoor, Raghvendra G., Shrikhande, Kapil
• Primary Examiner(s): Moe, Aung S
• Assistant Examiner(s): PASIA, REDENTOR M
• Application Number:
  US11/096,206
• Publication Number:
  US 20060221849A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,574 Days
• Field of Search: 370229-236, 370251-252, 370/465, 370/468, 370/477, 370493-495, 709220-225
• US Class Current: 370/230.1
• 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 application discloses a system and a method of selecting a profile of a digital subscriber line. In a particular embodiment, the method includes setting a threshold for voice quality and determining a number of acceptable code violations that can occur without compromising the voice quality of the digital subscriber line. When the actual number of code violations exceeds the determined number of code violations an alternate profile is selected for the DSL line.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining, at an aggregation node, a number of code violations resulting from transmissions communicated via a broadband link during a first period of time in accordance with a first interleaved profile associated with a first transmission delay;

comparing, at the aggregation node, the number of code violations against a code violation threshold value;

selecting a different profile for the broadband link responsive to the number of code violations exceeding the code violation threshold value, wherein the different profile is a second interleaved profile associated with a second transmission delay that is greater than the first transmission delay;

after selecting the different profile, prompting a user of the broadband link as to whether a voice quality on the broadband link improved; and

modifying the code violation threshold value when the user indicates that the voice quality on the broadband link did not improve after selecting the different profile.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising repeating, at the aggregation node, the determining and the comparing a plurality of times prior to selecting a second interleaved profile for the broadband link.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the code violation threshold value is further selected based on a voice quality threshold value and a communication standard of the broadband link.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the code violation threshold value is determined based on a link configuration of the broadband link.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the selection of the different profile is at least partially based on stored profile data related to the performance of a plurality of available profiles from which the different profile is selected.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the code violation threshold value is further selected based on a mean opinion score , wherein the mean opinion score is determined at least in part by a poll to obtain a quantitative indicator of voice quality.

7. A method comprising:

selecting, at an aggregation node, a code violation threshold value corresponding to an acceptable voice quality, wherein the acceptable voice quality is associated with a perceptional speech quality measurement that is greater than 2 and less than 3;

determining, at the aggregation node, a number of code violations resulting from voice over internet protocol user datagram protocol packet transmissions communicated via a broadband link during a first period of time, wherein the voice over internet protocol user datagram protocol packet transmissions utilize a non-interleaved profile;

comparing, at the aggregation node, the number of code violations against the code violation threshold value;

selecting, at the aggregation node, an interleaved profile for the broadband link when the number of code violations exceeds the code violation threshold value; and

altering, at the aggregation node, an interleaving depth and a transmission delay responsive to the code violation threshold value.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the perceptional speech quality measurement associated with the acceptable voice quality is equal to 2.25.

9. A system comprising:

at least one digital subscriber line configurable between a first profile and a second profile;

a code violation detector coupled to the at least one digital subscriber line and configured to track code violations occurring on the at least one digital subscriber line;

a voice quality estimator coupled to the at least one digital subscriber line and configured to;

select a code violation threshold value corresponding to an acceptable voice quality, wherein the acceptable voice quality is associated with a perceptional speech quality measurement that is greater than 2 and less than 3; and

estimate a voice quality of the at least one digital subscriber line by comparing the tracked code violations to the code violation threshold; and

a digital subscriber line profiler responsive to the code violation detector and operable to output a reconfigured signal indicating that the at least one digital subscriber line is to be reconfigured from the first profile to the second profile, wherein the first profile is a first interleaved profile associated with a first transmission delay and the second profile is a second interleaved profile associated with a second transmission delay that is greater than the first transmission delay.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the first profile has a greater line speed than the second profile.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein a voice quality on the digital subscriber line and a bandwidth usage on the digital subscriber line are modified by changing to the second profile.

12. A method comprising:

selecting, at an aggregation node, a broadband line having a first profile from a plurality of broadband lines;

determining, at the aggregation node, an acceptable voice quality value for the selected broadband line;

relating a code violation threshold value to the determined acceptable voice quality value;

monitoring code violations as an indicator of voice quality provided to a subscriber;

implementing, at the aggregation node, a second profile when the selected broadband line incurs code violations in excess of the code violation threshold value, wherein the first profile is a first interleaved profile associated with a first transmission delay and the second profile is a second interleaved profile associated with a second transmission delay that is greater than the first transmission delay

after implementing the second profile, prompting a user of the broadband line to determine whether the implementation of the second profile improved a voice quality on the broadband line; and

modifying the code threshold value when the user indicates that the implementation of the second profile did not improve the voice quality on the broadband line.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein at least one of the first profile and the second profile is selected based at least in part on code violations and delay.

14. A digital subscriber line control system comprising:

a controller including memory and a processor;

a code violation measurement unit responsive to digital subscriber lines, the code violation measurement unit to provide code violation data associated with each of the digital subscriber lines;

a profile database to store a plurality of profiles including a first profile and a second profile;

a terminal device responsive to the controller, the terminal device configured to display a graphical report, the graphical report including a first profile curve illustrating voice quality with respect to code violation data for the first profile and a second profile curve illustrating voice quality with respect to code violation data for the second profile; and

a computer readable medium storing processor executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

select a code violation threshold value corresponding to an acceptable voice quality, wherein the acceptable voice quality has a perceptional speech quality measurement that is greater than 2 and less than 3;

determine a number of code violations resulting from transmissions communicated via a particular digital subscriber line during a first period of time in accordance with a first interleaved profile associated with a first transmission delay;

compare the number of code violations against the code violation threshold value; and

select a different profile for the particular digital subscriber line if the number of code violations exceeds the code violation threshold value, wherein the different profile is a second interleaved profile associated with a second transmission delay that is greater than the first transmission delay.

15. The digital subscriber line control system of claim 14, wherein the controller includes a profile selection routine, wherein the profile selection routine automatically initiates collection of code violation data and comparison of the voice quality for selection of a profile for application to each of the digital subscriber lines.