Hardware assisted automatic gain control for digital subscriber line modems

An analog front end for a modem, comprising:

• a plurality of serially coupled amplification stages, wherein each of said amplification stages has a plurality of incremental gain settings;
• a plurality of comparators each having an input adapted to couple to a respective amplification stage output and operable to activate a signal when a saturation condition occurs on said respective amplification stage output;
• and
• a plurality of indicator devices each having an input adapted to coupled to a respective comparator output and operable to latch a readable indicator when a saturation signal is detected.

A method for selecting gain settings for a plurality of interleaved programmable gain amplifiers in a digital subscriber line system, comprising the sequential acts of:

• resetting a gain stage register;
• initiating each of said programmable gain amplifiers to respective minimal gain settings, wherein each programmable gain amplifier has a plurality of incremental gain settings;
• and
• determining a highest nonsaturation incremental gain settings for each of said programmable gain amplifiers in an order defined by said gain stage register.