Bell Telephone Laboratories

Richard D Gitlin

Stephen B Weinstein

Howard C Meadors, Jr

John S Thompson

Edmond Y Ho

Victor Bernard Lawrence

Allen Gersho

Tong L Lim

Francis Robert Magee, Jr

In a multipoint data communication system using quadrature-amplitude modulation, a master modem and a plurality of tributary modems are interconnected via respective transmission channels. Adaptive equalizer circuitry in the master modem equalizes the channel from a particular tributary by multiplying samples of signals received from the tributary by an ensemble of tap coefficients associated with the tributary. The tap coefficient ensembles for each tributary are stored in a memory from which they are retrieved at the start of transmission from that tributary. Timing acquisition circuitry within the master modem adjusts the phase of the latter's sampling circuitry at the start of transmission from a given tributary so that the received signals are sampled at the correct time points. In particular, a timing acquisition signal is transmitted by the tributary. The master samples and equalizes the received timing acquisition signal to form a succession of timing acquisition equalizer outputs. Each timing acquisition equalizer output is multiplied by its complex conjugate to form a timing acquisition envelope sample. The time by which the operation of the sampling circuitry is to be advanced or retarded is determined as a trigonometric function of successive timing acquisition envelope samples.

Timing acquisition in voiceband data sets

Weighted sums of samples of an interference-corrupted data signal are generated to form phase-compensated, symbol-spaced samples. The interference-corrupted signal is at the same time subjected to conventional adaptive equalization and is otherwise processed so as to form tentative decisions as to the transmitted data. Cancellation signals representing the interference components of the phase-compensated samples are generated by forming respective weighted sums of the tentative decisions and each cancellation signal is combined with a respective phase-compensated sample to provide cancelled samples from which final data decisions are made. The weighting coefficients used to form the phase-compensated samples and the cancellation signals are adaptively updated in response to error signals derived from the difference between each cancelled sample and the corresponding final decision.

Interference cancellation method and apparatus

In a first data receiver (10), sampling circuitry (20, 25, 35) forms samples of a received data signal representing a succession of data symbols. The samples are formed at twice the symbol rate. Transversal filter circuitry (251, 261) operates on the samples by multiplying them by respective ones of a queue of coefficients. Further circuitry (55, 60, 65, 70, 252, 262), operative in response to the resulting products, forms decisions as to the values of the transmitted symbols and updates the values of the coefficients. Timing recovery circuitry (40) periodically identifies the largest of the coefficients in magnitude and either advances or retards the operation of the sampling circuitry by a fixed step size depending on whether that coefficient is or is not within a predetermined portion of the queue. Timing recovery circuitry (830) within a second data receiver (100) operates in a similar manner, but employs a step size whose magnitude is determined by the position of the largest coefficient relative to the center of the coefficient queue.

Timing recovery technique

An adaptive phase-jitter compensator, which is frequency selective, is disclosed for use in data receivers. The filter section (28) of the adaptive compensator receives a derived phase error signal and its own weighted sum output to provide the difference between them as selective noisy estimates of the actual phase via taps of a delay line (52-1 to 52-L). A multiplier (57) accepts each tap signal and the phase error to form a product used to update the coefficients or tap weights used in the filter section. An upmodulator (29) impresses the weighted sum output on a carrier signal whose output is used by a lookup table (31) to form components to be compatible with the received data signal. A complex multiplier, (23), multiplies the components and the data signal which has been previously split into components and equalized, to provide both demodulation and phase-jitter compensation.

Adaptive phase-jitter tracker

A quadrature amplitude-modulated (QAM) data signal receiver employs a phase compensation arrangement (16, 31, 33) before the equalizer (17). The arrangement utilizes the assumption that the frequency components typically present in the phase perturbance are power-line related. This enables an effective phase compensator to be of relatively low complexity compared to the equalizer (17). Since the compensator is 'pretuned', only the phase and amplitude of the frequency components need be adaptively found. This makes for a relatively stable arrangement with a suitable convergence rate. In an alternative arrangement, a phase compensator (216, 233, 240) is provided for use after the equalizer (217).

Phase-jitter compensation using periodic harmonically related components

In a multipoint data communication system using quadrature-amplitude modulation, a master modem (20) and a plurality of tributary modems (11a, 11b . . . 11n) are interconnected via respective transmission channels (13a, 13b . . . 13n, 16). Adaptive equalizer circuitry (55, 56) in the master modem equalizes the channel from a particular tributary by multiplying samples of signals received from the tributary by an ensemble of tap coefficients associated with the tributary. The tap coefficient ensembles for each tributary are stored in a memory (91) from which they are retrieved at the start of transmission from that tributary. Timing-acquisition circuitry (29) within the master modem adjusts the phase of the latter's sampling circuitry (23, 27) at the start of transmission from a given tributary so that the received signals are sampled at the correct time points. In particular, a timing acquisition signal having spectral components only within the non-rolloff region of the equalized baseband-equivalent transfer function is transmitted by the tributary. The master samples and equalizes the received timing acquisition signal to form a succession of timing acquisiton equalizer outputs. The time by which the operation of the sampling circuitry is to be advanced or retarded is determined as a trigonometric function of two successive ones of the timing acquisition equalizer outputs. The timing acquisition signal is illustratively a double-dotting pattern having a four-symbol-interval period. That period is integrally related to the carrier frequency. This allows the samples needed in order to begin forming the timing acquisition equalizer outputs to be generated by replicating the samples taken over only four symbol intervals.

A quadrature amplitude modulated (QAM) data signal transmitted at T symbols per second is sampled in a data receiver at a rate of 2/T samples per second and applied to a transversal-type equalizer structure (25, 46, 34, 35) having taps spaced at T/2 second intervals. A demodulated equalized signal (a.sub.j, b.sub.j), generated once every T seconds, is quantized to form a decision (a.sub.j *, b.sub.j *) as to the value of the original modulating data symbol. An error signal (e.sub.j, e.sub.j) is formed in response to the pre- and post-quantized values of the demodulated equalized signal. Tap coefficients (c.sub.i (j), c.sub.i (j)) used in generating the equalized signals are updated in response to (a) a correction term which is a function of the error signal and (b) a predetermined tap leakage term which has a constant magnitude. The introduction of the tap leakage term maintains the coefficient values at minimum levels.

Coefficient tap leakage for fractionally-spaced equalizers

The echo path of an echo signal subjected to a time-varying phase shift is bridged by echo cancelling apparatus including a variable phase shifter and an adaptive echo canceller connected in series. The variable phase shifter includes an adaptive control loop whose operation is compatible with that of an adaptive echo canceller. The phase-shifter control loop derives a control signal from the output signal synthesized by the echo cancelling apparatus and the residual echo produced by subtracting this output signal from the echo path signal. The control signal is used to produce a variable phase shift on the signal passing through the variable phase shifter in the echo cancelling apparatus. The echo canceller adaptively synthesizes a replica of the echo signal produced by the linear dispersive portion of the echo channel, while the variable phase shifter is adapted to impart a time-varying phase shift corresponding to the time-varying phase shift encountered by the echo signal in the echo path. The echo cancelling apparatus is therefore able to produce an output signal which closely approximates the echo signal including the time-varying phase shift for more effective echo cancellation.

Variable phase shifter for adaptive echo cancellers

The circuit complexity of a closed-loop echo cancellation system for use in a two-way communication circuit is reduced by employing a second adjustable signal processing network of the transversal type positioned in the control loop to emulate the characteristic of a recursive adjustable signal processing network. The two signal processing networks in the control loop are adjusted simultaneously to effect echo cancellation. The second signal processing network compensates for the effect of transmission poles in the echo return path and reduces the duration of the impulse response of the echo return path significantly so that the first signal processing network in the control loop is greatly simplified. A third signal processing network of the recursive type is adjusted in accordance with the internal settings of the second network to perform signal processing inverse to that of the second network. The recursive network is utilized to provide a clear signal path through the echo cancellation system which is essentially free of echo.

Recursive-like adaptive echo canceller

An automatic and adaptive time-domain equalizer with a first transversal structure operating on received signal samples has its convergence properties improved by the addition of a second transversal structure operating on detected signal samples and having its tap-gain settings conjugate, i.e., reversed in time, with respect to those of the first transversal structure for effectively measuring the spread of tap gain values generated at the first transversal structure and a third transversal structure also operating on received signal samples but having its tap-gain settings determined by the spreading error. The matrix product of the spreading-error tap-gain values and received signal samples modifies the up-dating of the tap-gain values controlling the first transversal structure. The resultant faster convergence is particularly useful in the presence of severe amplitude distortion in the data transmission channel.

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Richard D Gitlin