Various methods and apparatuses for impulse noise mitigation

• US 8,194,722 B2
• Filed: 10/11/2005
• Issued: 06/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/11/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Norrell, Andrew L., Sedarat, Hossein, Fisher, Kevin D., Artman, Douglas J., Schley-May, James T., Wiese, Brian
• Primary Examiner(s): Singh, Hirdepal
• Application Number:
  US11/248,704
• Publication Number:
  US 20060078044A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,429 Days
• Field of Search: 375135-136, 375146-147, 375/213, 375/219, 375221-222, 375/225, 375/254, 375/259, 375/316, 375/342, 375/220, 375/295, 375/299
• US Class Current: 375/222
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0007 the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A), DMT
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0046 Determination of how many bits are transmitted on different sub-channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/006 Quality of the received signal, e.g. BER, SNR, water filling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/1438 Negotiation of transmission parameters prior to communication modified according to link quality H04L1/0001

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses for reducing effects of impulse noise in a DSL transmitter receiver device are described. According to certain embodiment, the method includes using a periodicity associated with the impulse noise affecting a DSL transmitter receiver device to determine data frames that are affected by the impulse noise, and sending a reduced data rate during those frames. In certain embodiments, no data is sent during those frames. The method further includes using a high margin bits and gain table, instead of a normal bits and gain table.

Claims

1. A digital subscriber line (DSL) modem receiver, comprising:

an impulse noise predictor configured to predict whether a data frame from among a plurality of data frames will be affected by impulse noise and to identify a number of subsequent frames from among the plurality of data frames that will be affected by the impulse noise based upon a periodicity of the impulse noise; and

a demodulator configured to demodulate the plurality of data frames using parameters from at least one of a first table and a second table, the parameters from the first table being used for the data frame and the subsequent frames that are predicted to be affected by the impulse noise, and the parameters from the second table being used when the data frame is not predicted to be affected by the impulse noise,

wherein the impulse noise predictor is further configured to determine a plurality of frame numbers corresponding to the data frame and the subsequent frames and to determine a number of frames at which the demodulator is to use the first table.

2. The DSL modem receiver of claim 1, wherein the first table comprises:

a first bits and gain table characterized as having a first noise margin high enough to protect against the impulse noise.

3. The DSL modem receiver of claim 2, wherein the second table is comprises:

a second bits and gain table characterized as having a second noise margin lower than the first noise margin.

4. The DSL modem receiver of claim 3, wherein the first bits and gain table is characterized as having a lower data rate than the second bits and gain table.

5. The DSL modem receiver of claim 4, wherein the first bits and gain table has a data rate of approximately zero.

6. The DSL modem receiver of claim 1, wherein the impulse noise predictor is configured to detect the periodicity of the impulse noise and a duration of the impulse noise to predict when a next occurrence of the impulse noise will occur.

7. A digital subscriber line (DSL) modem receiver, comprising:

an impulse noise predictor configured to predict if data frames will be affected by impulse noise based upon a periodicity of the impulse noise; and

a demodulator configured to use a first table to provide data when the data frames are predicted to be affected by the impulse noise and a second table to provide the data when the data frames are not predicted as being affected by the impulse noise,

wherein the first table is a first bits and gain table characterized as having a first noise margin high enough to protect against the impulse noise, and

wherein the impulse noise predictor is further configured to determine a frame number to start using the first noise margin and a number of frames to use the first noise margin.

8. A method for impulse noise mitigation, comprising:

predicting a subset of Discrete Multiple-Tone (DMT) data frames from among a set of DMT data frames that will be affected by impulse noise using a periodicity associated with the impulse noise, the subset of DMT data frames including a data frame from among the DMT data frames that will be affected by impulse noise and a number of subsequent frames from among the DMT data frames that will be affected by the impulse noise;

determining a plurality of frame numbers, corresponding to the data frame and the subsequent frames, at which a first data rate is to be sent and a number of frames to continue to send the first data rate; and

sending the first data rate during the subset of DMT data frames, the first data rate being lower than a second data rate to be sent during DMT data frames outside of the subset of DMT data frames.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

increasing an operating noise margin on the subset of DMT data frames as compared to the DMT data frames outside of the subset of DMT data frames.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

sending blank data frames during the subset of the DMT frames.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

using Reed-Solomon coding when a repeatable periodicity cannot be established for the impulse noise.

12. A method for impulse noise mitigation, comprising:

predicting a subset of Discrete Multiple-Tone (DMT) data frames from among a set of DMT data frames that will be affected by impulse noise using a periodicity associated with the impulse noise;

sending a first data rate during the subset of DMT frames, the first data rate being lower than a second data rate to be sent during DMT data frames outside of the subset of DMT data frames;

increasing an operating noise margin on the subset of DMT data frames as compared to an operating noise margin on the DMT data frames outside of the subset of the DMT frames; and

using a first bits and gain table, the first bits and gain table being characterized as having a first noise margin high enough to protect against the impulse noise, to send the first data rate during the subset of the DMT frames.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

switching to a second bits and gain table, the second bits and gain table being characterized as having a lower noise margin than the first noise margin when the impulse noise is predicted to subside.

14. A DSL system, comprising:

a first transmitter-receiver device having a receiver, the receiver including;

an impulse noise predictor configured to determine whether a data frame from among a plurality of data frames will be affected by impulse noise and to identify a number of subsequent frames from among a plurality of data frames that will be affected by the impulse noise based upon an impulse noise periodicity to provide control parameters, the control parameters including a plurality of frame numbers corresponding to the data frame and the subsequent frames and a number of frames corresponding to a duration of the impulse noise; and

a second transmitter-receiver device having a transmitter, the transmitter being configured to reduce its transmission data rate from a first data rate to a second data rate starting at each of the plurality of frame numbers for a duration of the number of frames upon receiving the control parameters, the second data rate being lower than the first data rate which is to be sent during other data frames from among the plurality of data frames that have frame numbers not specified by the control parameters.

15. The DSL system of claim 14, wherein the second transmitter-receiver device is configured to reduce its transmission data rate using a bits and gain table to carry data, the bits and gain table being characterized as having a noise margin set to protect the data against the impulse noise.

16. The DSL system of claim 15, wherein the first transmitter-receiver device further comprises:

a second transmitter configured to communicate the control parameters and the bits and gain table over an enhanced online reconfiguration (OLR) channel to the second transmitter-receiver device.

17. The DSL system of claim 16, wherein the enhanced OLR channel is used to synchronize the bits and gain table between the first and second transmitter-receiver devices.

18. The DSL system of claim 15, wherein the control parameters further comprise at least one of a group consisting of:

(1) time relative to a beginning of a first frame predicted to be affected by the impulse noise,

(2) an impulse duration,

(3) an impulse frequency, and

(4) the frame number to start using the bits and gain table.

19. The DSL system of claim 14, wherein the receiver of the first transmitter-receiver device further comprises:

an impulse noise detector configured to detect presence of the impulse noise in the DSL system.

20. An apparatus, comprising:

means for predicting a subset of Discrete Multiple-Tone (DMT) data frames from a set of DMT data frames that will be affected by impulse noise using a periodicity associated with the impulse noise, the subset of DMT data frames including a data frame from among the subset of DMT data frames that will be affected by the impulse noise and a number of subsequent frames from among the DMT data frames that will be affected by the impulse noise;

means for determining a plurality of frame numbers corresponding to the subset of the DMT frames at which a first data rate is to be sent and a number of frames to continue to send the first data rate; and

means for sending the first data rate starting at each of the plurality of frame numbers for a duration of the impulse noise during the subset of the DMT frames, the first data rate being lower than a second data rate to be sent during DMT data frames outside of the subset of the DMT frames.