Method for impulse noise mitigation

1. A method of noise mitigation in a multi-carrier communication system,

the method comprising:

receiving a signal from a decision device;

determining whether synchronization symbol update is enabled;

updating at least one of frequency-domain equalizer (FEQ) coefficients or digital echo canceller (DEC) coefficients in synchronization symbol periods if the synchronization symbol update is enabled;

determining whether data symbol update is performed if the synchronization symbol update is not enabled;

determining whether a flag associated with the signal is set if the data symbol update is not performed; and

updating at least one of FEQ or DEC coefficients associated with the signal in synchronization symbol periods if the flag is set.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the signal includes one of a single-tone signal and a multi-tone signal.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining whether a power of instant error associated with the signal exceeds a threshold if the data symbol update is to be performed;

determining whether a flag associated with the signal is set if the power of instant error is smaller than the threshold; and

updating at least one of the FEQ and DEC coefficients associated with the signal in data symbol periods if the flag is not set.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

disabling update of the FEQ and DEC coefficients if a power of instant error exceeds the threshold.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

determining whether the signal is a pilot tone signal if the power of instant error exceeds the threshold; and

disabling update of phase-lock loop (PLL) coefficients if the signal is a pilot tone signal.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein disabling update of PLL coefficients includes sending a zero phase error to the PLL.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

calculating an average of a power of error associated with the signal;

determining whether the average power exceeds a first threshold; and

setting the flag if the average power exceeds the first threshold.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

determining whether the average power exceeds a second threshold if the average power is smaller than the first threshold; and

clearing the flag if the average power is smaller than the second threshold.

9. A method of noise mitigation in a multi-carrier communication system,

the method comprising:

receiving a signal from a decision device;

identifying that synchronization symbol update is not enabled;

determining whether a flag associated with the signal is set if data symbol update is not performed;

updating at least one of frequency-domain equalizer (FEQ) coefficients or digital echo canceller (DEC) coefficients associated with the signal in synchronization symbol periods if the flag is set;

determining whether a power of instant error associated with the signal exceeds a threshold if the data symbol update is to be performed;

determining whether the flag associated with the signal is set if the power of instant error is smaller than the threshold; and

updating at least one of FEQ or DEC coefficients associated with the signal in the data symbol periods if the flag is not set.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

disabling update of the FEQ and DEC coefficients if the power of instant error exceeds the threshold.

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

determining whether the signal is a pilot tone signal if the power of instant error exceeds the threshold; and

disabling update of phase-lock loop (PLL) coefficients if the signal is a pilot tone signal.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein disabling update of PLL coefficients includes sending a zero phase error to the PLL.

13. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

calculating an average of a power of error associated with the signal;

determining whether the average power exceeds a first threshold; and

setting the flag if the average power exceeds the first threshold.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

determining whether the average power exceeds a second threshold if the average power is smaller than the first threshold; and

clearing the flag if the average power is smaller than the second threshold.

15. A method of noise mitigation in a multi-carrier communication system including a filter, a time-domain equalizer (TEQ), a fast Fourier transform (FFT) module, a frequency-domain equalizer (FEQ) and a slicer, the method comprising:

calculating a power of signal at at least one of an input of the filter, an input of the TEQ, an output of the TEQ, an output of the FFT module, an output of the FEQ or an output of the slicer;

comparing the power of the at least one signal with a respective threshold;

determining that impulse noise is detected when at least one of the power of the at least one signal exceeds its respective threshold;

disabling adaptation of system parameters in at least one of the FEQ, a phase-lock loop (PLL) or a digital echo canceller (DEC) when impulse noise is detected;

identifying that synchronization symbol update is not enabled;

determining whether a flag associated with the slicer output is set if data symbol update is not performed; and

updating at least one of FEQ coefficients or DEC coefficients associated with the slicer output in synchronization symbol periods if the flag is set.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the multi-carrier communication system includes a calculator coupled with the slicer to calculate an average power and signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) value of a number of tones, the method further comprising:

disabling the calculator from calculating an average tone error power and SNR for slicer error of all tones when impulse noise is detected.

17. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

determining whether a power of instant error associated with the slicer output exceeds a threshold if the data symbol update is to be performed;

determining whether the flag associated with the slicer output is set if the power of instant error is smaller than the threshold; and

updating at least one of FEQ or DEC coefficients associated with the slicer output in the data symbol periods if the flag is not set.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

updating the FEQ or DEC coefficients periodically every M symbols in sync symbol periods if synchronization symbol update is enabled; and

updating the FEQ or DEC coefficients periodically every N symbols in data symbol periods if synchronization symbol update is not enabled when the flag is not set, M and N being natural numbers.

19. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

updating the FEQ or DEC coefficients periodically for K consecutive symbol periods until impulse noise is detected, K being a natural number.