Granted Patent B2

US 9,608,694 · App. 14/358,564 · Granted Mar 28, 2017

Abstract

Claims (41)

1. A method for locating an impairment within a telecommunication line, the method comprising:

determining measurement data, the measurement data including,

a crosstalk matrix having crosstalk transfer coefficients, the crosstalk transfer coefficients representing the crosstalk between the telecommunication line and at least one further telecommunication line within a same binder, diagonal elements of the crosstalk matrix each having a value of zero, and

a direct transfer function data; and

determining a location of the impairment within the telecommunication line by,

determining a plurality of possible locations of the impairment based on the direct transfer function data,

determining a ratio between an amplitude of each of a plurality of oscillations in the crosstalk transfer coefficients and an amplitude of each of a plurality of the oscillations in the direct transfer function data, and

selecting one of said plurality of possible locations that is closest to a signal source as the location of the impairment if a correspondingly determined ratio is greater than or equal to a threshold.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the determining the measurement data comprises:

requesting the crosstalk transfer coefficients from a network element.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the determining the location of the impairment comprises:

detecting the oscillations in the crosstalk transfer coefficients; and

estimating the location of the impairment based on said detected oscillations.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the direct transfer function data characterizes a direct transfer function between the telecommunication line and the at least one further telecommunication line.

5. The method according to claim 4 , further comprising:

determining that the impairment is present in the telecommunication line if at least one oscillation in the direct transfer function is detected.

6. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the determining the location of impairment includes:

determining at least one periodicity interval of at least one oscillation in the direct transfer function; and

estimating the location based on the determined periodicity interval.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the selecting further includes selecting one of the plurality of possible locations that is closer to the signal source of a signal fed into the telecommunication line if a corresponding amplitude of oscillation is greater than or equal to a threshold.

8. A device configured to locate an impairment within a telecommunication line, the device comprising:

a memory having computer readable instructions stored therein; and

a processor configured to execute the computer-readable instructions stored in the memory to,

determine measurement data, the measurement data including,

a crosstalk matrix having crosstalk transfer coefficients, the crosstalk transfer coefficients representing crosstalk between the telecommunication line and at least one further telecommunication line within a same binder, diagonal elements of the crosstalk matrix each having a value of zero, and

a direct transfer function data; and

determine a location of the impairment within the telecommunication line by,

determining a plurality of possible locations of the impairment based on the direct transfer function data,

determining a ratio between an amplitude of each of a plurality of oscillations in the crosstalk transfer coefficients and an amplitude of each of a plurality of the oscillations in the direct transfer function data, and

selecting one of said plurality of possible locations that is closest to a signal source as the location of the impairment if a correspondingly determined ratio is greater than or equal to a threshold.

9. The device according to claim 8 , wherein the device is,

a component of a network element connected to the telecommunication line, the network element being one of an access node, and a customer premises node, or

a component of a monitoring station configured to communicate with the network element.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including computer-readable instructions, which when executed by a processor, cause the processor configured to locate an impairment within a telecommunication line by:

determining measurement data, the measurement data including,

a crosstalk matrix having crosstalk transfer coefficients, the crosstalk transfer coefficients representing crosstalk between the telecommunication line and at least one further telecommunication line within a same binder, diagonal elements of the crosstalk matrix having a value of zero, and

a direct transfer function data; and

determining a location of the impairment within the telecommunication line by,

determining a plurality of possible locations of the impairment based on the direct transfer function data,

determining a ratio between an amplitude of each of a plurality of oscillations in the crosstalk transfer coefficients and an amplitude of each of a plurality of the oscillations in the direct transfer function data;

selecting one of said plurality of possible locations that is closest to a signal source as the location of the impairment if a correspondingly determined ratio is greater than or equal to a threshold.

Assignments (13)