Interference detection and remedy
Provided are methods and systems for, in some aspects, mitigating interference over a communication channel. In an aspect, a device can be configured to detect interference and to dynamically reconfigure to avoid interference. Such a device can be configured to receive content over various communication channels and can intelligently select a communication channel to avoid interference.
1. A method comprising:
receiving one or more signals transmitted via a communication path, wherein each signal of the one or more signals is transmitted at a respective center frequency;
determining an aggregate signal power associated with each of the one or more signals, wherein the aggregate signal power comprises power associated with a data signal and power associated with an interference signal currently affecting the one or more signals;
determining an interference signal power in a band gap frequency range, wherein the interference signal power relates to the interference signal;
determining a signal-to-noise ratio by dividing the interference signal power by the aggregate signal power; and
sending a notification if the signal-to-noise ratio fails to satisfy a signal-to-noise ratio threshold value, wherein the notification comprises an alert.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication path comprises one or more quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) channels.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the band gap frequency range represents a difference between a bandwidth of a QAM signal and a bandwidth of a second transmission mechanism.
4. A method comprising:
detecting, by a first provider, interference from a second provider on one or more channels associated with one or more communication paths;
determining, by the first provider, based on an aggregate signal power of each signal of one or more signals received via the one or more communication paths, a first channel of the one or more channels currently affected by the interference;
broadcasting, by the first provider, based on the first channel being currently affected by the interference, a notification, wherein the notification comprises an alert;
determining, by the first provider, video content transmitted via the first channel; and
causing, by the first provider, the video content to be transmitted via a second channel of the one or more channels.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein causing the video content to be transmitted via the second channel comprises:
determining that the second channel is transmitting the video content; and
causing a user device to tune to the second channel.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the video content transmitted via the first channel has a higher resolution than the video content transmitted via the second channel.
7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the video content transmitted via the first channel has a lower resolution than the video content transmitted via the second channel.
8. The method of claim 4 , wherein causing the video content to be transmitted via the second channel further comprises accessing the video content from a server.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the server is a video on-demand server.
10. The method of claim 4 , wherein the second provider provides long-term evolution (LTE) service.
11. The method of claim 4 , wherein detecting the interference comprises measuring one or more interference signal strengths at one or more band gaps.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein at least one of the one or more band gaps represents a difference between a bandwidth of a quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) signal and a bandwidth of a transmission mechanism of the second provider.
13. The method of claim 4 , wherein detecting the interference comprises monitoring an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing subcarrier for interference.
14. An apparatus comprising:
one or more processors; and
memory storing processor executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:
receive one or more signals transmitted via a communication path, wherein each of the one or more signals is transmitted at a respective center frequency;
determine an aggregate signal power associated with each of the one or more signals, wherein the aggregate signal power comprises power associated with a data signal and power associated with an interference signal currently affecting the one or more signals;
determine an interference signal power in a band gap frequency range, wherein the interference signal power relates to the interference signal;
determine a signal-to-noise ratio by dividing the interference signal power by the aggregate signal power; and
provide a notification if the signal-to-noise ratio fails to satisfy a signal-to-noise ratio threshold value, wherein the notification comprises an alert.
15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the communication path comprises one or more quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) channels.
16. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the band gap frequency range represents a difference between a bandwidth of a QAM signal and a bandwidth of a second transmission mechanism.
17. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the one or more signals are associated with content and a resolution of the content is varied between the one or more signals.
18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the processor executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the apparatus to transmit the content to a network device.
19. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the content comprises an electronic programming guide.
20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the content further comprises metadata associated with the content.