Granted Patent B2

US 9,391,668 · App. 14/365,604 · Granted Jul 12, 2016

Abstract

Claims (45)

1. A method for reducing a power of a signal electromagnetically coupled from a power line communication (PLC) medium to a digital subscriber line (DSL) medium, comprising:

transmitting a first data signal over the PLC medium at a first average power level from one of a plurality of PLC transmitters coupled to the PLC medium;

measuring first noise associated with a first signal received at a DSL receiver coupled to the DSL communication medium caused at least in part by the data signal transmission over the PLC medium at the first average power level;

transmitting a second data signal over the PLC medium at a second average power level from the one PLC transmitter, the second average power level being different than the first average power level;

measuring second noise associated with a second signal received at the DSL receiver coupled to the DSL communication medium caused at least in part by the data signal transmission over the PLC medium at the second average power level; and

changing a transmit power spectral density (PSD) for a data signals transmitted by the one PLC transmitter over the PLC medium, based on a difference between the first noise and the second noise, such that the changed transmit PSD for the data signals transmitted by the one PLC transmitter over the PLC medium reduces the power of the signal electromagnetically coupled from the PLC medium to the DSL medium caused by the data signal transmissions from the one PLC transmitter over the PLC medium.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein changing the transmit power spectral density (PSD) for the data signals transmitted by the one PLC transmitter comprises: adjusting a vector that specifies a nominal transmit power for the data signal.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein transmitting of the first data signal over the PLC medium at a first average power level from the one PLC transmitter and transmitting of the second data signal over the PLC medium at a second average power level from the one PLC transmitter comprises:

transmitting the first and second data signals at first and second average power levels, respectively, wherein the first and second average power levels are substantially greater than a combined power output of all other data signals concurrently transmitted by PLC transmitters in the plurality of PLC transmitters.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first average power level is a maximum average power level at which the one PLC transmitter transmits the data signal.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein transmitting of the first data signal over the PLC medium at a first average power level from the one PLC transmitter and transmitting of the second data signal over the PLC medium at a second average power level from the one PLC transmitter comprises:

regulating a transmit duty cycle of the one PLC transmitter to transmit the first data signal over the PLC medium at a first average power level and to transmit the second data signal over the PLC medium at a second average power level.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein transmitting of the first data signal over the PLC medium at a first average power level from the one PLC transmitter and transmitting of the second data signal over the PLC medium at a second average power level from the one PLC transmitter comprises:

adjusting a first nominal transmit power at which to transmit a one, or a group of adjacent ones, of a plurality of PLC tones comprising the first data signal from the PLC transmitter and then adjusting a second nominal transmit power at which to transmit a one, or a group of adjacent ones, of a plurality of PLC tones comprising the second data signal from the PLC transmitter.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the DSL receiver is a customer premises equipment (CPE) DSL receiver, and wherein the first or second signal received at a DSL receiver is a downstream signal received at the CPE DSL receiver.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein measuring the first noise and measuring the second noise comprises:

measuring a first signal to noise ratio (SNR) and measuring a second SNR.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein measuring the first noise and measuring the second noise comprises:

measuring a first DSL quiet-line noise (QLN); and

measuring a second QLN.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions and data that when accessed cause a programmable processor to perform operations that reduce a power of a signal electromagnetically coupled from a PLC power line communication (PLC) medium to a digital subscriber line (DSL) medium, the operations comprising:

transmitting a first data signal over the PLC medium at a first average power level from one of a plurality of PLC transmitters coupled to the PLC medium;

measuring first noise associated with a first signal received at a DSL receiver coupled to the DSL communication medium caused at least in part by the data signal transmission over the PLC medium at the first average power level;

transmitting a second data signal over the PLC medium at a second average power level from the one PLC transmitter, the second average power level being different than the first average power level;

measuring second noise associated with a second signal received at the DSL receiver coupled to the DSL communication medium caused at least in part by the data signal transmission over the PLC medium at the second average power level; and

changing a transmit power spectral density (PSD) for a data signals transmitted by the one PLC transmitter over the PLC medium, based on a difference between the first noise and the second noise, such that the changed transmit PSD for the data signals transmitted by the one PLC transmitter over the PLC medium reduces the power of the signal electromagnetically coupled from the PLC medium to the DSL medium caused by the data signal transmissions from the one PLC transmitter over the PLC medium.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein changing the transmit power spectral density (PSD) for the data signals transmitted by the one PLC transmitter comprises:

adjusting a vector that specifies a nominal transmit power for the data signals.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein transmitting of the first data signal over the PLC medium at a first average power level from the one PLC transmitter and transmitting of the second data signal over the PLC medium at a second average power level from the one PLC transmitter comprises:

transmitting the first and second data signals at first and second average power levels, respectively, wherein the first and second average power levels are substantially greater than a combined power output of all other data signals concurrently transmitted by PLC transmitters in the plurality of PLC transmitters.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the transmitting of the data signal over the PLC medium at a first average power level from the one PLC transmitter and the transmitting of the data signal over the PLC medium at a second average power level from the one PLC transmitter comprises:

regulating a transmit duty cycle of the one PLC transmitter to transmit the data signal over the PLC medium at a first average power level and to transmit the data signal over the PLC medium at a second average power level.

14. An apparatus for reducing a power of a signal electromagnetically coupled from a PLC power line communication (PLC) medium to a digital subscriber line (DSL) medium, comprising:

one of a plurality of PLC transmitters coupled to the PLC medium to transmit a first data signal over the PLC medium at a first average power level;

a node coupled to the DSL medium to measure a first noise associated with a first signal received at a DSL receiver coupled to the DSL communication medium caused at least in part by the first data signal transmission over the PLC medium at the first average power level;

wherein the one PLC transmitter is to further transmit a second data signal over the PLC medium at a second average power level, the second average power level being different than the first average power level;

wherein the node is to further measure a second noise associated with a second signal received at the DSL receiver coupled to the DSL communication medium caused at least in part by the second data signal transmission over the PLC medium at the second average power level; and

a network management node to change a transmit power spectral density (PSD) for a data signals transmitted by the one PLC transmitter over the PLC medium, based on a difference between the first noise and the second noise, such that the changed transmit PSD for the data signals transmitted by the one PLC transmitter over the PLC medium reduces the power of the signal electromagnetically coupled from the PLC medium to the DSL medium caused by the data signal transmissions from the one PLC transmitter over the PLC medium.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the network management node is to change the transmit power spectral density (PSD) for the data signal transmitted by the one PLC transmitter by adjusting a vector that specifies a nominal transmit power for the data signals.

16. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the one PLC transmitter is to transmit the first data signal over the PLC medium at a first average power level and is to transmit the second data signal over the PLC medium at a second average power level by transmitting the first and second data signals at first and second average power levels, respectively, wherein the first and second average power levels are substantially greater than a combined power output of all other data signals concurrently transmitted by other PLC transmitters in the plurality of PLC transmitters.

17. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the first average power level is a maximum average power level at which the one PLC transmitter is to transmit the data signal.

18. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the one PLC transmitter is to transmit the first data signal over the PLC medium at a first average power level and is to transmit the second data signal over the PLC medium at a second average power level by regulating a transmit duty cycle of the one PLC transmitter to transmit the first data signal over the PLC medium at a first average power level and to transmit the second data signal over the PLC medium at a second average power level.

19. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the PLC transmitter is to transmit the first data signal over the PLC medium at a first average power level and is to transmit the second data signal over the PLC medium at a second average power level by adjusting a first nominal transmit power at which to transmit a one, or a group of adjacent ones, of a plurality of PLC tones comprising the first data signal and then adjusting a second nominal transmit power at which to transmit a one, or a group of adjacent ones, of a plurality of PLC tones comprising the second data signal.

20. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the DSL receiver is a customer premises equipment (CPE) DSL receiver, and wherein the first or second signal received at a DSL receiver is a downstream signal received at the CPE DSL receiver.

21. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the PLC medium, the plurality of PLC transmitters, the DSL medium, and the DSL receiver, are located in a premise of a DSL subscriber.

Assignments (11)