Receiver having integrated spectral analysis capability
View Patent ↗A method of managing traffic in a communications channel includes the steps of receiving a subscriber ID corresponding to a subscriber, performing a spectral analysis on a signal received from the subscriber within a time interval identified by the subscriber ID, and adjusting transmission characteristics of the subscriber based on the spectral analysis.
1. A spectrum analysis module, comprising:
an analog to digital converter (ADC) configured to sample a plurality of signals to provide a sampled digital sequence;
a tuner module configured to generate a plurality of sequences based upon the sampled digital sequence, each of the plurality of sequences being characterized as having different spectral characteristics;
a selector module configured to select one of the plurality of sequences from among the plurality of sequences to provide a single sequence; and
a spectral analysis processor configured to perform a spectral analysis of the single sequence to provide spectral measurements.
2. The spectrum analysis module of claim 1 , wherein the ADC is further configured to receive the plurality of signals from a plurality of subscribers over a communications channel.
3. The spectrum analysis module of claim 2 , wherein the communications channel is shared by the plurality of subscribers.
4. The spectrum analysis module of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of signals are encoded using a time-division multiple access (TDMA) scheme.
5. The spectrum analysis module of claim 1 , wherein the ADC is further configured to sample the plurality of signals at greater than or equal to twice a Nyquist sampling rate of the plurality of signals to provide the sampled digital sequence.
6. The spectrum analysis module of claim 1 , wherein the selector module comprises:
a multiplexer configured to select the one of the plurality of sequences from among the plurality of sequences based upon a control signal.
7. The spectrum analysis module of claim 1 , wherein the spectral measurements are arranged in a plurality of bins, each bin corresponding to a respective frequency range.
8. The spectrum analysis module of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of sequences is characterized as occupying different frequency spectrums.
9. The spectrum analysis module of claim 8 , wherein the different frequency spectrums are characterized as including at least some common frequency spectrum.
10. The spectrum analysis module of claim 1 , wherein the ADC is further configured to sample the plurality of signals to provide a sampled analog signal and to convert the sampled analog signal from a representation in an analog domain to a representation in a digital domain to provide the sampled digital sequence.
11. A spectrum analysis module, comprising:
an analog to digital converter (ADC) configured to sample a plurality of signals provide a sampled digital sequence;
a tuner module configured to generate a plurality of sequences based upon the sampled digital sequence, each of the plurality of sequences being characterized as having different spectral characteristics and including:
a wideband sequence corresponding to a frequency spectrum occupied by the plurality of signals;
a quarter hand sequence corresponding to one fourth of the frequency spectrum occupied by the plurality of signals, and
a half band sequence corresponding to one half of the frequency spectrum occupied by the plurality of signals;
a selector module configured to select one of the plurality of sequences from among the plurality of sequences to provide a single sequence; and
a spectral analysis processor configured to perform a spectral analysis of the single sequence to provide spectral measurements.
12. The spectrum analysis module of claim l, wherein the tuner module comprises:
a mixer configured to downconvert the sampled digital sequence to provide a downconverted digital sequence; and
a decimation filter stage configured to decimate the downconverted digital sequence to generate a plurality of sequences.
13. The spectrum analysis module of claim 12 , wherein the mixer is configured to downconvert the sampled digital sequence to approximately baseband.
14. The spectrum analysis module of claim 12 , wherein the decimation filter stage is configured to decimate the downeconverted digital sequence by a factor of four.
15. The spectrum analysis module of claim 12 , wherein the tuner module farther comprises:
a frequency synthesizer configured to generate a clock signal, the mixer being configured to downconvert the sampled digital sequence using the clock signal.
16. The spectrum analysis module of claim 15 , wherein the clock signal is characterized as having a frequency that is selected to convert desired signals within the plurality of signals to baseband.
17. A method comprising:
sampling a plurality of signals to provide a sampled digital sequence;
generating a plurality of sequences based upon the sampled digital sequence, each of the plurality of sequences being characterized as having different spectral characteristics;
selecting one of the plurality of sequences from among the plurality of sequences to provide a single sequence; and
performing a spectral analysis of the single sequence to provide spectral measurements.
18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising:
receiving the plurality of signals from a plurality of subscribers over a communications channel.
19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the receiving comprises:
receiving the plurality of signals from the plurality of subscribers over a shared communications channel.
20. The method of claim 18 , wherein the receiving comprises:
decoding the plurality of signals using a time-division multiple access (TDMA) scheme.
21. The method of claim 17 , wherein the sampling comprises:
sampling the plurality of signals at greater than or equal to twice a Nyquist sampling rate of the plurality of signals to provide the sampled digital sequence.
22. The method of claim 17 , wherein the generating comprises:
downconverting the sampled digital sequence to provide a downconverted digital sequence; and
decimating the downconverted digital sequence to generate a plurality of sequences.
23. The method of claim 22 , wherein the downconverting comprises:
downconverting the sampled digital sequence to approximately baseband.
24. The method of claim 22 , wherein the decimating comprises:
decimating the downconverted digital sequence by a factor of four.
25. The method of claim 22 , further comprising:
generating a clock signal to be used to downconvert the sampled digital sequence.
26. The method of claim 25 , wherein the generating the clock signal comprises:
generating the clock signal that is characterized as having a frequency that is selected to convert desired signals within the plurality of signals to baseband.
27. The method of claim 17 , wherein the selecting comprises:
selecting the one of the plurality of sequences from among the plurality of sequences based upon a control signal.
28. The method of claim 17 , wherein the performing comprises:
arranging the spectral measurements in a plurality of bins, each bin corresponding to a respective frequency range.
29. A method, comprising:
sampling a plurality of signals to provide a sampled digital sequence;
generating a plurality of sequences based upon the sampled digital sequence, each of the plurality of sequences being characterized as having different spectral characteristics, including generating at least one of: a wideband sequence corresponding to a frequency spectrum occupied by the plurality of signals, a quarter band sequence corresponding to one fourth of the frequency spectrum occupied by the plurality of signals, and a half band sequence corresponding to one half of the frequency spectrum occupied by the plurality of signals;
selecting one of the plurality of sequences from among the plurality of sequences to provide a single sequence; and
performing a spectral analysis of the single sequence to provide spectral measurements.