Adaptive Spectrum and Signal Alignment, Incorporated

AT&T Intellectual Property I, LP

Humanity X Technologies

Bin Hong Lee

John Matthew Cioffi

Wonjong Rhee

Georgios Ginis

Iker Almandoz

Seong Taek Chung

Peter Joshua Silverman

Richard Dennis Hart

George Ginis

C Thomas Sylke

Kacie McCollum

Pat Pataranutaporn

Jordan T Bates

Ram N Polur

Systems and methods for monitoring one or more social media accounts of one or more users to process potentially relevant or important activity. The system can employ automated filtering methods to select from all social media activity the data that is most likely to be relevant for review. The systems and methods can be employed with user accounts or services not associated with social media.

Social media monitoring system and method

Estimates of a communication system configuration, such as a DSL system, are based on operational data collected from a network element management system, protocol and users. The operational data collected from the system can include performance-characterizing operational data that typically is available in the OSL system via element-management-system protocols. Generated estimates and/or approximations can be used in evaluating system performance and directly or indirectly dictating/requiring changes or recommending improvements in operation by transmitters and/or other parts of the indication system. Data and/or other information may be collected using internal means or using system elements and components via e-mail and/or other extra means. The likelihood of the models accuracy can be based on various data, information and/or indicators of system performance, such as observed normal operational data, test data and/or prompted operational data that shows operating performance based on stimulation signals.

DSL system estimation

Existing and future standardized VDSL2 and other systems can be integrated into and used with a vectored DSLAM or other vectored or non-vectored DSL system, without a new user disrupting service to other users in the same or a nearby binder, in some cases by using transmit power, CARMASK and/or PSDMASK DSL capabilities to reduce both downstream and upstream training-signal levels so that training of a new DSL line is non-disruptive, despite a lack of knowledge of the pre-existing binder. For vectored systems, the crosstalk from that tone can be observed, learned and then added to the vectoring system so that any subsequent excitation on that tone would be eliminated by vector processing. A second tone then can be added in the same way, etc. In non-vectored DSLs that might be operating in a binder or line set, once these non-vectored lines are observed to be present, a vectored line set controller, such as a DSL optimizer, then can anticipate the potential interference from such non-vectored lines.

DSL system training

A data analyzer operative to be located at a customer premises, causes the transmission of a probing signal into at least one telephone line. The data analyzer computes a parameter that represents a characteristic of at least one telephone line based upon at least a measured reflected probing signal.

Methods and apparatus to perform line testing at customer premises

Superimposing phantom-mode signals reinforces existing differentially driven DSL downstream signals in a vectored binder of DSLs or reinforces upstream vectored signals in a binder of differentially excited twisted pairs, thus expanding the extra transmission modes of the previous GDSL multi-wire two-sided-excitation invention to the case where coordination can only occur on one-side of the binder. Each pair is treated as a common-mode antenna with respect to earth ground, with some pairs selectively excited at the transformer center tap at the transmit end with respect to a common (earth or chassis) ground reference. Corresponding receivers on other non-excited pairs sense the signals between their center taps and a ground at the opposite ends of the lines to the exciting transmitters. A dual use with hybrid circuits allows the receiving circuit to also have an upstream transmitter and an upstream-sensing receiver on the center tap of the opposite side of an adjacent wire.

Phantom use in DSL system

Methods, techniques and apparatus identify members and characteristics of binders and/or other groups of communication lines such as those in a DSL system. Information obtained includes the identification (for example, by scanning) of significant crosstalking 'offenders' and their 'victims' that are affected by the crosstalk. One or a small number of modems are instructed to transmit with preselected transmit spectra, after which evidence of crosstalk in the noise spectrum data is examined for potential victim lines. Direct evidence of noise spectrum contribution by a suspected offender line may be obtained by collecting reported noise spectrum data and/or estimated noise spectrum data from potential victim lines. Also, where such direct evidence is not available, or in addition to it, other operational data showing crosstalk interference relating to potential victim lines can be used. The transmitting modem can either be on the CO/RT side or on the CPE side. Modems other than suspected offenders might transmit zero or minimal power in one or more selected frequency bands during scanning to reduce the risk that a modem and/or line not being examined for &#x201c;offender&#x201d; status supplies unnecessarily complicating and/or dominant crosstalk during the procedure. For DMT modulated DSL transceivers, well designed transmit spectra can be easily enforced by manipulating line profiles where such well designed line profiles cause minimal or no interruption to existing DSL customers. The invention also can be used to identify (partially or fully) the absolute values of crosstalk channels making up a channel transfer function.

Binder identification

A self-learning and/or self-adjusting communication controller and/or optimizer uses operational data collected from a communication system to adjust operation of the communication system to changing operational, environmental, etc. conditions and, in some embodiments, to customize operation of the communication system's lines and components so that their performance can be controlled, improved and/or optimized. In various embodiments, operational parameters and/or rules are established and/or adjusted based on information obtained from the system concerning the system's operation; information regarding margins used by a DSL system and code violation counts reported by the DSL system are used to set margin levels for one or more line sets (each line set including an individual line, a group of lines, a binder, etc.) and/or other users and/or components of the DSL system; and, the controller and/or optimizer forces a small number of test lines into as yet un-experienced and/or unimplemented operational conditions so that new knowledge can be obtained.

Self-learning and self-adjusting DSL system

Loading and ordering techniques are provided for one-sided and two-sided vectored line groups, as well as loading methodologies that also can be used on a single line, in communication systems such as Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) binders. In particular, a method for loading bits into a plurality of lines in a vectored DSL system using Discrete MultiTone (DMT) modulation is disclosed. The method iteratively determines two or more of the following sequentially: line ordering for each tone; power spectral density for the transmitted signal of each line; and bit allocation for the signal of each line. In some embodiments, line ordering may include order-swapping which may assign a first line to a first initial position, assign a second line to a second initial position, move the first line to the second initial position, and move the second line to the first initial position.

DSL system loading and ordering

Adaptive generalized decision feedback equalization (GDFE) allows variations in one or more channels and noise of a multi-line/multi-channel communication system to be tracked. Such tracking can be used in vector upstream (one-sided) situations in communication systems such as ADSL and VDSL, among others. The GDFE may be separated into adaptive and static portions and/or components. Either a feedforward section or a feedback section (or both) can be separated to create a static component and an adaptive component. The adaptive components adjust to the instantaneous channel and noise changes (for example, using the instantaneous errors and simple LMS algorithms). When the channel and noise do not exhibit any time-variation, the adaptive filters can zero themselves. Local updating of adaptive feedforward and/or feedback filters addresses rapid changes to the spatial correlation of noise and/or changes to the multi-line channel (for example, time-variation due to temperature changes, component variations, mechanical stress, and other reasons), without disruption to separate static feedforward and/or feedback filters supplied by a controller, such as a DSL optimizer or the like that can assist by doing the heavier calculations and providing vectoring information and data to the DSL line components. An efficient implementation is provided of any triangularization of the binder channel that characterizes multi-user vectored-DMT DSL. Adaptation also allows correction of any inaccuracy in initially or previously reported crosstalk transfer functions and noise spatial correlation.

Adaptive GDFE

Phantom use in DSL systems

Methods, apparatus, computer program products and other embodiments model a system's channel and noise characteristics using one or more Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) by modeling the state dynamics for one or more lines and associated profiles and by learning from the line history. Besides channel and noise characteristics, user data activity also can be modeled using an HMM, where all channel, noise and user data activity can be modeled jointly using HMMs as long as the joint states are properly defined. In multi-line systems, multiple lines (for example, a set of lines in a DSL system binder) may be modeled jointly. After learning channel, noise, user data activity and/or other dynamics using HMM techniques and methods, system operation and/or configuration parameters can be controlled based on the estimated HMM, providing flexible solutions for virtually any channel, noise, user data activity and/or other dynamics.

Growing community of inventors

Mountain View, CA, United States of America

Bin Hong Lee