# US 12,759,487 B2 · Detecting automotive communication cable degradation without interrupting normal operations > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,759,487 B2 - Document ID: US12759487B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 19/169,967 - Filed: 2025-04-03 - Published: 2026-10-08 - Granted: 2026-10-13 - Earliest claimed: 2025-04-03 - Assignees: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte. Limited - Applicants: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte. Limited - Inventors: Chung Ming Tu - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12759487B2 ## CPC - B60R 16/0234: {related to maintenance or repairing of vehicles} - G07C 5/006: {Indicating maintenance} - B60R: VEHICLES, VEHICLE FITTINGS, OR VEHICLE PARTS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR - G07C: TIME OR ATTENDANCE REGISTERS; REGISTERING OR INDICATING THE WORKING OF MACHINES; GENERATING RANDOM NUMBERS; VOTING OR LOTTERY APPARATUS; ARRANGEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS FOR CHECKING NOT PROVIDED FOR ELSEWHERE ## Abstract A computer system of a vehicle comprising a physical layer (PHY) device, is configured to perform the following steps to detect degradation in a cable: communicating with another component of the vehicle using the PHY device and the cable at a first timing; capturing first characteristics of at least one first signal communicated with the other component, and determining a first degradation parameter using the first characteristics; communicating with the other component of the vehicle using the PHY device and the cable at a second timing that is after the first timing; capturing second characteristics of at least one second signal communicated with the other component, and determining a second degradation parameter using the second characteristics; and comparing the first degradation parameter with the second degradation parameter, and generating a degradation warning if a difference between the first and second degradation parameters indicates degradation in the cable. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A computer system of a vehicle, comprising a processor and a physical layer (PHY) device that is configured to communicate with other components of the vehicle via at least a first cable, wherein the computer system is configured to perform the following steps to detect degradation in the first cable: communicating with another component of the vehicle using the PHY device and the first cable at a first timing; capturing first characteristics of at least one first signal communicated with the other component at the first timing, and determining a first degradation parameter using the first characteristics; communicating with the other component of the vehicle using the PHY device and the first cable at a second timing that is after the first timing; capturing second characteristics of at least one second signal communicated with the other component at the second timing, and determining a second degradation parameter using the second characteristics; and comparing the first degradation parameter with the second degradation parameter, and generating a degradation warning if a difference between the first and second degradation parameters indicates degradation in the first cable. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The computer system of claim 1, wherein the first cable is a duplex cable, communicating with the other component of the vehicle at the first timing includes transmitting a first transmitted signal and receiving a first received signal via the first cable, and communicating with the other component of the vehicle at the second timing includes transmitting a second transmitted signal and receiving a second received signal via the first cable. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The computer system of claim 1, wherein the first cable is a simplex cable, communicating with the other component of the vehicle at the first timing includes transmitting a first transmitted signal via the first cable and receiving a first received signal via a second cable separate from the first cable, and communicating with the other component of the vehicle at the second timing includes transmitting a second transmitted signal via the first cable and receiving a second received signal via the second cable. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The computer system of claim 1, wherein the first cable is a simplex cable, communicating with the other component of the vehicle at the first timing includes transmitting a first transmitted signal via a second cable separate from the first cable and receiving a first received signal via the first cable, and communicating with the other component of the vehicle at the second timing includes transmitting a second transmitted signal via the second cable and receiving a second received signal via the first cable. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The computer system of claim 1, wherein an adaptive filter of the PHY device captures the first and second characteristics and determines the first and second degradation parameters. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The computer system of claim 1, wherein the steps further include: storing the first characteristics in a debug memory space of the PHY device and reading the first characteristics from the debug memory space for determining the first degradation parameter; and storing the second characteristics in the debug memory space and reading the second characteristics from the debug memory space for determining the second degradation parameter. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The computer system of claim 1, wherein the steps further include: waiting, by the PHY device, a predetermined time period after capturing one of the first characteristics before capturing another one of the first characteristics; and waiting, by the PHY device, the predetermined time period after capturing one of the second characteristics before capturing another one of the second characteristics. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The computer system of claim 1, wherein capturing the first characteristics includes capturing a value of a raw version of a first received signal received by the PHY device via the first cable, and capturing the second characteristics includes capturing a value of a raw version of a second received signal received by the PHY device via the first cable. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The computer system of claim 1, wherein capturing the first characteristics includes capturing a value of a first version of a first received signal received by the PHY device via the first cable, a first echo being canceled in the first version of the first received signal, and capturing the first characteristics further includes capturing a value of a second version of the first received signal that has been interpreted after being adjusted based on a distortion of the first received signal, and capturing the second characteristics includes capturing a value of a first version of a second received signal received by the PHY device via the first cable, a second echo being canceled in the first version of the second received signal, and capturing the second characteristics further includes capturing a value of a second version of the second received signal that has been interpreted after being adjusted based on a distortion of the second received signal. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The computer system of claim 1, wherein capturing the first characteristics includes capturing a value for estimating a channel for a first received signal received by the PHY device via the first cable, and capturing the second characteristics includes capturing a value for estimating the channel for a second received signal received by the PHY device via the first cable. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The computer system of claim 1, wherein comparing the first and second degradation parameters includes one of: (1) comparing an echo cancellation (EC) vector for estimating and canceling a first echo from a first transmitted signal transmitted by the PHY device via the first cable, with an EC vector for estimating and canceling a second echo from a second transmitted signal transmitted by the PHY device via the first cable, (2) comparing a channel estimation (CE) vector for estimating a first impulse response of a communication channel based on a first received signal received by the PHY device via the first cable, with a CE vector for estimating a second impulse response of the communication channel based on a second received signal received by the PHY device via the first cable, (3) comparing a first signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) associated with the first received signal, with a second SNR associated with the second received signal, and (4) determining that a rate of encountering forward error correction (FEC) errors over a second time interval is greater than a rate of encountering FEC errors over a first time interval. ### Claim 12 A method of detecting degradation in a first cable over which a physical layer (PHY) device of a computer system of a vehicle is configured to communicate with other components of the vehicle, the method comprising: communicating with another component of the vehicle using the PHY device and the first cable at a first timing; capturing first characteristics of at least one first signal communicated with the other component at the first timing, and determining a first degradation parameter using the first characteristics; communicating with the other component of the vehicle using the PHY device and the first cable at a second timing that is after the first timing; capturing second characteristics of at least one second signal communicated with the other component at the second timing, and determining a second degradation parameter using the second characteristics; and comparing the first degradation parameter with the second degradation parameter, and generating a degradation warning if a difference between the first and second degradation parameters indicates degradation in the first cable. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, wherein the first cable is a duplex cable, communicating with the other component of the vehicle at the first timing includes transmitting a first transmitted signal and receiving a first received signal via the first cable, and communicating with the other component of the vehicle at the second timing includes transmitting a second transmitted signal and receiving a second received signal via the first cable. ### Claim 14 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, wherein the first cable is a simplex cable, communicating with the other component of the vehicle at the first timing includes transmitting a first transmitted signal via the first cable and receiving a first received signal via a second cable separate from the first cable, and communicating with the other component of the vehicle at the second timing includes transmitting a second transmitted signal via the first cable and receiving a second received signal via the second cable. ### Claim 15 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, wherein the first cable is a simplex cable, communicating with the other component of the vehicle at the first timing includes transmitting a first transmitted signal via a second cable separate from the first cable and receiving a first received signal via the first cable, and communicating with the other component of the vehicle at the second timing includes transmitting a second transmitted signal via the second cable and receiving a second received signal via the first cable. ### Claim 16 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, further comprising: storing the first characteristics in a debug memory space of the PHY device and reading the first characteristics from the debug memory space for determining the first degradation parameter; and storing the second characteristics in the debug memory space and reading the second characteristics from the debug memory space for determining the second degradation parameter. ### Claim 17 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, further comprising: waiting, by the PHY device, a predetermined time period after capturing one of the first characteristics before capturing another one of the first characteristics; and waiting, by the PHY device, the predetermined time period after capturing one of the second characteristics before capturing another one of the second characteristics. ### Claim 18 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, wherein capturing the first characteristics includes capturing a value of a raw version of a first received signal received by the PHY device via the first cable, and capturing the second characteristics includes capturing a value of a raw version of a second received signal received by the PHY device via the first cable. ### Claim 19 A non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising instructions that are executable in a computer system of a vehicle, wherein the instructions when executed cause the computer system to carry out a method of detecting degradation in a first cable over which a physical layer (PHY) device of the computer system is configured to communicate with other components of the vehicle, and wherein the method comprises: identifying first characteristics of at least one first signal communicated between the PHY device and another component of the vehicle at a first timing using the first cable, and determining a first degradation parameter using the first characteristics; identifying second characteristics of at least one second signal communicated between the PHY device and the other component at a second timing that is after the first timing, using the first cable, and determining a second degradation parameter using the second characteristics; and comparing the first degradation parameter with the second degradation parameter, and generating a degradation warning if a difference between the first and second degradation parameters indicates degradation in the first cable. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein comparing the first and second degradation parameters includes one of: (1) comparing an echo cancellation (EC) vector for estimating and canceling a first echo from a first transmitted signal transmitted by the PHY device via the first cable, with an EC vector for estimating and canceling a second echo from a second transmitted signal transmitted by the PHY device via the first cable, (2) comparing a channel estimation (CE) vector for estimating a first impulse response of a communication channel based on a first received signal received by the PHY device via the first cable, with a CE vector for estimating a second impulse response of the communication channel based on a second received signal received by the PHY device via the first cable, (3) comparing a first signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) associated with the first received signal, with a second SNR associated with the second received signal, and (4) determining that a rate of encountering forward error correction (FEC) errors over a second time interval is greater than a rate of encountering FEC errors over a first time interval.