Echo canceler-based mechanism for performing and reporting fault diagnostic testing of repeatered telecommunication line
AssigneeAdtran, Inc.
InventorFred T. Chu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A repeater-installed fault location mechanism conducts parametric measurements on a segment of wireline to which the repeater is connected, and adjusts taps of an echo cancellation operator in the repeater transceiver equipment, in accordance with the response of the wireline to an electrical stimulus imparted to the wireline segment. Information representative of the echo canceler tap coefficients is then transmitted over an overhead to a processor, to determine fault the location of a fault.
Claims17
A method of determining the location of a fault along an electrically conductive and repeatered wireline serving digital subscriber equipment at a location remote with respect to a central office facility, said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) applying a wideband electrical stimulus in accordance with a digital data signal to said electrically conductive and repeatered wireline from a repeater installed in said electrically conductive wireline;
- (b) at said repeater, measuring a response of said electrically conductive and repeatered wireline to said wideband electrical stimulus applied in step (a), adjusting parameters of a digital echo canceler in accordance with the measured response of said electrically conductive and repeatered wireline to said wideband electrical stimulus, and generating an output representative of said parameters of said digital echo canceler and from which the distance from said repeater to said fault is to be determined;
- and
- (c) processing said output generated in step (b) to determine where, in said electrically conductive and repeatered wireline, said fault is located.
A system for determining the location of a fault along an electrically conductive and repeatered wireline serving digital subscriber equipment at a location remote with respect to a central office facility, comprising:
- an electrical stimulus generator contained within a repeater installed in said electrically conductive and repeatered wireline, and being operative to apply to said electrically conductive and repeatered wireline a wideband electrical stimulus in accordance with said digital data signal;
- a measurement unit, contained within said repeater, and being operative to measure a response of said electrically conductive and repeatered wireline to said wideband electrical stimulus applied thereto by said electrical stimulus generator, and to adjust parameters of a digital echo canceler in accordance with the measured response of said electrically conductive and repeatered wireline to said wideband electrical stimulus, and to generate information representative of said parameters of said digital echo canceler and from which the distance from said repeater to said fault is to be determined;
- and
- a processing unit that is operative to process said information representative of said parameters of said digital echo canceler so as to determine where in said electrically conductive and repeatered wireline said fault is located.
A method comprising the steps of:
- (a) at a repeater unit installed in an electrically conductive and repeatered wireline,
- measuring a response of said electrically conductive and repeatered wireline to a wideband electrical stimulus applied thereto, said wideband electrical signal being generated in accordance with a digital data signal,
- adjusting parameters of a digital echo canceler in accordance with said response,
- generating an output representative of said parameters of said digital echo canceler and from which the distance from the repeater to the fault is to be determined, and
- reporting said output to a processing unit separate from said repeater;
- and
- (b) at said processing unit,
- processing said output reported in step (b) to determine the location of a fault in said wireline.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.