Use of vectoring and time- and/or frequency—division multiple access in a multi-user connection

Abstract

A multi-line digital transceiver configured to use digital signal vectoring in a manner that causes effects of crosstalk between distinct groups of subscriber lines to be effectively mitigated, without directly attempting to mitigate effects of crosstalk within any one of those distinct groups. In an example embodiment, effects of crosstalk within each of the distinct groups can be mitigated indirectly using an appropriate T/FDMA schedule, according to which, during a given symbol period, a given resource block of any of the distinct groups can carry data corresponding to a single respective subscriber. A precoder (postcoder) matrix for the digital signal vectoring can be generated using block-diagonalization techniques appropriately constrained, e.g., using the groups' definitions, aggregate-transmit-power restrictions, etc. In various embodiments, the disclosed digital signal vectoring can be used on the downlink or on the uplink, or both.