Method and apparatus for transmitting signals over a wire connection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10819498-B2
Application number	US-201816497549-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 28, 2018
Priority date	Mar 31, 2017
Publication date	Oct 27, 2020
Grant date	Oct 27, 2020

Abstract

A method and apparatus for transmitting data from a transmitter device to one or more receiver devices, each of the one or more receiver devices being connected to the transmitter device via a respective wire connection, the transmitter device being operable to transmit signals onto the wire connections over one or more different channels, the method comprising, for each of the one or more different channels: determining a value of a function S˜mj,j, dependent on an upper bound for a channel capacity of the one or more channels and a channel gain of the jth channel; determining a transmission power Smj,j, for transmitting data along that channel based on S˜mj,j; and transmitting, by the transmitter device, data over that channel to one or more of the receiver devices, the data being transmitted at the transmission power Smj,j determined for that channel.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of transmitting data from a transmitter device to one or more receiver devices, each of the one or more receiver devices being connected to the transmitter device via a respective wire connection, the transmitter device being configured to transmit signals onto the wire connections over one or more different channels, the method comprising, for each of the one or more different channels:
determining a value of a function s j,j m , the function being

s
~

j
,
j

m

=

2

b
max

-
1

γ

j
,
j

m

where: j is a channel index;
b max is an upper bound for a channel capacity of the one or more channels;
γ j,j m is a gain of the jth channel; and
m is a frequency index for M different tones;
determining a transmission power s j,j for transmitting data along that channel, wherein the transmission power s j,j m is:
s j,j m =min{ p m ,{tilde over (s)} j,j m }

where: p m is a power mask for transmitting the data over the one or more different channels; and
transmitting, by the transmitter device, data over that channel to one or more of the receiver devices, the data being transmitted at the transmission power s j,j m determined for that channel.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more channels comprises one or more channels selected from the group of channels consisting of: a direct channel, an indirect channel, a channel provided by a change over time of a potential difference between a pair of the wire connections, a phantom channel, a common mode channel.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein:
an available spectrum for the transmission of the data over the one or more channels comprises a plurality of tones;
the steps of determining a value of a function and determining a transmission power are performed for each tone, thereby to determine a transmission power for each tone and for each of one or more of the channels; and
the step of transmitting comprises, for one or more of the plurality of tones and for one or more of the channels, transmitting, by the transmitter device, data over that channel on that tone to one or more of the receiver devices, the data being transmitted at the transmission power determined for that channel and that tone.

4. A method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
iteratively performing steps (i) to (iii) until, at step (iii), it is determined that one or more criteria are satisfied, thereby determining, for each of the one or more different channels, a new transmission power for transmitting data over that channel, wherein:
step (i) comprises determining a value of a further function, the further function being a function of a maximum power for transmitting the data over the one or more different channels;
step (ii) comprises, using the determined value of the further function, determining, for each of the one or more different channels, a respective new transmission power for transmitting data along that channel; and
step (iii) comprises determining whether or not the one or more determined new transmission powers satisfy one or more criteria; and

for each of the one or more channels, switching from transmitting data over that channel at the transmission power s j,j m to transmitting data over that channel at the new transmission power determined for that channel.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein, for second and subsequent iterations of steps (i) to (iii), the further function is determined at step (i) by modifying a value of the further function of the preceding iteration.

6. The method according to claim 4 , wherein:
an available spectrum for the transmission of the data over the one or more channels comprises a plurality of tones; and
the further function is additionally a function of one or more parameters selected from the group of parameters consisting of: a total number of different tones, frequency separation between tones, and a gain of the one or more channels, the gain of a channel being a ratio of a power coupling coefficient to a noise level on that channel.

7. The method according to claim 4 , wherein:
an available spectrum for the transmission of the data over the one or more channels comprises a plurality of tones; and
the further function is given by:

Ω

j
,
j

=

M

ln
⁢

⁢
2
⁢

(

P
T

Δ
f

+

∑
m

⁢

1

γ

j
,
j

m

)

where: j is a channel index;
M is the number of the different tones;
Δ f is a frequency spacing between adjacent tones
P T is the maximum power for transmitting the data over the one or more different channels; and
γ j,j m is a gain of the jth channel.

8. The method according to claim 4 , wherein step (ii) comprises,
using the determined value of the further function, determining, for each of the one or more different channels, an initial transmission power {umlaut over (s)} j,j m for that channel;
for each of the one or more different channels, determining whether the determined initial transmission power {umlaut over (s)} j,j m for that channel satisfies the criterion:
log 2 (1+ {umlaut over (s)} j,j m γ j,j m )>ε 1

where: j is a channel index;
ε 1 is a numerical value; and
γ j,j m is a gain of the jth channel;

setting equal to zero each initial transmission power that does not satisfy the criterion log 2 (1+{umlaut over (s)} j,j m γ j,j m )>ε 1 ; and
maintaining the value of each initial transmission power {umlaut over (s)} j,j m that does satisfy the criterion log 2 (1+{umlaut over (s)} j,j m γ j,j m )>ε 1 .

9.

Assignees

• British Telecomm

Inventors

• Al Rawi Anas
• Horsley Ian

Classifications

• H04L5/20 Primary

  using different combinations of lines, e.g. phantom working · CPC title

• H04B3/32

  Reducing cross-talk, e.g. by compensating · CPC title

• H04M11/062 Primary

  using different frequency bands for speech and other data · CPC title