Granted Patent B2

US 8,190,848 · App. 12/181,010 · Granted May 29, 2012

Abstract

Claims (80)

1. A method of allocating memory between an interleaver buffer and a de-interleaver buffer in a communication device, comprising:

determining a downstream interleaver memory requirement;

estimating an upstream capacity of a communication channel used by the communication device, based on upstream channel conditions obtained for the communication channel;

determining an upstream de-interleaver memory requirement based on the upstream capacity estimate; and

allocating the memory between the interleaver and de-interleaver buffers based on the downstream and upstream memory requirements.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the upstream de-interleaver memory requirement based on the upstream capacity estimate comprises:

determining a de-interleaver buffer size that satisfies one or more predetermined upstream configuration parameters and the upstream capacity estimate.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the downstream interleaver memory requirement is determined based on one or more predetermined downstream configuration parameters.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the downstream interleaver memory requirement comprises:

estimating a downstream capacity of the communication channel based on the upstream channel conditions; and

determining an interleaver buffer size that satisfies one or more predetermined downstream configuration parameters and the downstream capacity estimate.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein allocating the memory between the interleaver and de-interleaver buffers based on the downstream and upstream memory requirements comprises:

allocating a portion of the memory to the de-interleaver buffer corresponding to the upstream memory requirement; and

allocating the remainder of the memory to the interleaver buffer.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein allocating the memory between the interleaver and de-interleaver buffers based on the downstream and upstream memory requirements comprises:

computing a correction factor corresponding to a difference between one or more predetermined upstream and downstream configuration parameters;

scaling the downstream and upstream memory requirements based on the correction factor; and

allocating the memory between the interleaver and de-interleaver buffers based on the scaled downstream and upstream memory requirements.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein allocating the memory between the interleaver and de-interleaver buffers based on the scaled downstream and upstream memory requirements comprises:

determining which one of the buffers has a higher priority;

allocating the memory to the buffer having the highest priority based on the corresponding scaled memory requirement; and

allocating the remainder of the memory to the buffer having the lower priority.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein determining which one of the buffers has a higher priority comprises evaluating a priority bit extracted from a configuration message received by the communication device.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication channel is a new communication channel initialized by the communication device.

10. A communication device, comprising:

memory configured to be allocated between an interleaver buffer and a de-interleaver buffer of the communication device; and

a memory allocation unit configured to:

determine a downstream interleaver memory requirement;

estimate an upstream capacity of a communication channel used by the communication device, based on upstream channel conditions obtained for the communication channel;

determine an upstream de-interleaver memory requirement based on the upstream capacity estimate; and

allocate the memory between the interleaver and de-interleaver buffers based on the downstream and upstream memory requirements.

11. The communication device of claim 10 , wherein the memory allocation unit is configured to:

determine a de-interleaver buffer size that satisfies one or more predetermined upstream configuration parameters and the upstream capacity estimate.

12. The communication device of claim 10 , wherein the memory allocation unit is configured to determine the downstream interleaver memory requirement based on one or more predetermined downstream configuration parameters.

13. The communication device of claim 10 , wherein the memory allocation unit is configured to:

estimate a downstream capacity of the communication channel based on the upstream channel conditions; and

determine an interleaver buffer size that satisfies one or more predetermined downstream configuration parameters and the downstream capacity estimate.

14. The communication device of claim 10 , wherein the memory allocation unit is configured to:

allocate a portion of the memory to the de-interleaver buffer corresponding to the upstream memory requirement; and

allocate the remainder of the memory to the interleaver buffer.

15. The communication device of claim 10 , the memory allocation unit is configured to:

compute a correction factor corresponding to a difference between one or more predetermined upstream and downstream configuration parameters;

scale the downstream and upstream memory requirements based on the correction factor; and

allocate the memory between the interleaver and de-interleaver buffers based on the scaled downstream and upstream memory requirements.

16. The communication device of claim 15 , wherein the memory allocation unit is configured to:

determine which one of the buffers has a higher priority;

allocate the memory to the buffer having the highest priority based on the corresponding scaled memory requirement; and

allocate the remainder of the memory to the buffer having the lower priority.

17. The communication device of claim 16 , wherein the memory allocation unit is configured to evaluate a priority bit extracted from a configuration message received by the communication device to determine which one of the buffers has a higher priority.

18. The communication device of claim 10 , wherein the communication channel is a new communication channel initialized by the communication device.

19. A method of allocating memory between an interleaver buffer and a de-interleaver buffer in a communication device, comprising:

determining upstream channel conditions for a communication channel used by the communication device;

estimating a downstream capacity of the communication channel based on the upstream channel conditions;

determining an upstream de-interleaver memory requirement based on the upstream channel conditions;

determining a downstream interleaver memory requirement based on the upstream channel conditions; and

allocating the memory between the interleaver and de-interleaver buffers based on the downstream and upstream memory requirements.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein estimating a downstream capacity of the communication channel based on the upstream channel conditions comprises:

determining a ratio of a predetermined upstream configuration parameter to an upstream capacity estimate; and

scaling a predetermined downstream configuration parameter by the ratio.

21. The method of claim 19 , further comprising scaling the downstream capacity estimate to account for an expected difference in the upstream and downstream channel conditions.

22. A method of allocating memory between an interleaver buffer and a de-interleaver buffer in a communication device, the method comprising:

determining upstream and downstream data rate estimates for a communication channel based on a plurality of configuration parameters obtained before the communication channel is initialized;

generating an initial estimate of how the memory should be allocated between the interleaver and de-interleaver buffers based on the upstream and downstream data rate estimates;

revising the initial estimate of how the memory should be allocated between the interleaver and de-interleaver buffers based on either upstream or downstream capacity of the channel as observed by the communication device during or after initialization of the communication channel; and

allocating the memory between the interleaver and de-interleaver buffers based on the revised estimate.

23. A communication device, comprising:

memory configured to be allocated between an interleaver buffer and a de-interleaver buffer of the communication device; and

a memory allocation unit configured to:

determine upstream and downstream data rate estimates for a communication channel based on a plurality of configuration parameters obtained before the communication channel is initialized;

generate an initial estimate of how the memory should be allocated between the interleaver and de-interleaver buffers based on the upstream and downstream data rate estimates;

revise the initial estimate of how the memory should be allocated between the interleaver and de-interleaver buffers based on either upstream or downstream capacity of the channel as observed by the communication device during or after initialization of the communication channel; and

allocate the memory between the interleaver and de-interleaver buffers based on the revised estimate.

24. A communication device, comprising:

an input to receive priority information indicating that one of upstream and downstream is prioritized;

memory configured to be allocated between an interleaver buffer and a de-interleaver buffer of the communication device; and

a memory allocation unit configured to:

determine upstream and downstream data rate estimates for a communication channel based on a plurality of configuration parameters obtained before the communication channel is initialized;

generate an initial estimate of how the memory should be allocated between the interleaver and de-interleaver buffers based on the upstream and downstream data rate estimates;

revise the initial estimate of how the memory should be allocated between the interleaver and de-interleaver buffers based on the priority information; and

allocate the memory between the interleaver and de-interleaver buffers based on the revised estimate.

Assignments (6)