Methods for canceling interfering wireless signals in cable customer premises equipment devices and outside plant

A device for use with a cable signal distributed by an outside plant of a cable system, and an interfering radio frequency (“RF”) signal generated by one or more external wireless signal sources and received by the outside plant, the outside plant combining the interfering RF signal with the cable signal to produce a noisy cable signal, the device comprising:

• an antenna configured to receive the interfering RF signal as a copy signal;
• at least one signal adjustment component configured to adjust at least one signal parameter of the copy signal to produce a processed copy signal;
• a signal processing chain configured to receive and combine the noisy cable signal and the processed copy signal to produce a combined signal;
• at least one processor;
• and
• a memory connected to the at least one processor, the memory storing instructions executable by the at least one processor that when executed thereby implement a method comprising:
• determining error rate values for the combined signal;
• determining when the error rate values are increasing;
• determining when the copy signal comprises more than a threshold amount of signal energy;
• and
• when it is determined that the error rate values are increasing, and the copy signal comprises more than a threshold amount of signal energy, instructing the at least one signal adjustment component to adjust the at least one signal parameter of the copy signal such that the error rate values for the combined signal decrease.

A cable system for use with interfering radio frequency (“RF”) signals generated by one or more external wireless signal sources, the cable system comprising:

• an outside plant, each of a plurality of different portions of the outside plant combining at least a portion of the interfering RF signals with the cable signal to produce a noisy cable signal, each of the plurality of different portions of the outside plant comprising a corresponding different noise reduction device comprising:
• an antenna configured to receive a portion of the interfering RF signals as a copy signal;
• and
• a signal processing system comprising:
• a signal processing chain configured to receive the copy signal from the antenna, and the noisy cable signal produced by the portion of the outside plant corresponding to the noise reduction device,
• at least one signal adjustment component configured to modify at least one signal parameter of the copy signal to produce a processed copy signal, the signal processing chain being configured to combine the noisy cable signal received thereby with the processed copy signal to produce a combined signal,
• an error detection component configured to determine error rate values for the combined signal,
• a monitoring component configured to monitor the error rate values of the combined signal, and determine when the error rate values are increasing and the copy signal comprises more than a threshold amount of signal energy, the monitoring component being further configured to instruct the at least one signal adjustment component to adjust the at least one signal parameter of the copy signal to reduce the error rate values of the combined signal after the monitoring component has determined that the error rate values are increasing, and the copy signal comprises more than the threshold amount of signal enemy.

A method for use with a cable signal provided by a cable system, and an interfering radio frequency (“RF”) signal generated by one or more external wireless signal sources, the cable system comprising an outside plant that combines the interfering RF signal with the cable signal to produce a noisy cable signal, the method being performed by a device connected to the outside plant, the device comprising a memory, a processor, signal processing components, and an antenna, the method comprising:

• receiving, at the antenna of the device, the interfering RF signal as a copy signal;
• processing, by at least a first portion of the signal processing components, the copy signal to produce a processed copy signal;
• receiving, by at least a second portion of the signal processing components, the noisy cable signal;
• combining, by at least a third portion of the signal processing components, the cable signal and the processed copy signal to produce a combined signal;
• outputting the combined signal to the outside plant;
• determining, by the processor, error rate values for the combined signal;
• determining, by the processor, whether the error rate values are increasing;
• determining, by the processor, whether the copy signal comprises more than a threshold amount of signal energy;
• and
• when the processor determines that the error rate values are increasing and the copy signal comprises more than the threshold amount of signal energy, instructing, by the processor, the first portion of the signal processing components to modify the processing of the copy signal to change a value of at least one signal parameter of the copy signal to reduce the error rate values of the combined signal.