Method and apparatus for full-duplex communication over wired transmission media

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11632145-B2
Application number	US-201716471399-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 18, 2017
Priority date	Dec 20, 2016
Publication date	Apr 18, 2023
Grant date	Apr 18, 2023

Abstract

The present invention relates to a communication controller (131; 132) and method for controlling communications between an access node (101; 102) and a plurality of remote communication units (211; 212) coupled to the access node via at least one wired transmission medium (20; 40). At least one communication unit (111, 211; 112, 212) of the access node and of the plurality of remote communication units is configured to operate in full-duplex mode according to a first full-duplex communication profile (OP1) when using a first subset of transmission resources (TSSET1; TONESET1) selected from a whole set of transmission resources available for communication over the at least one transmission medium, and according to a second full-duplex communication profile (OP2) when using a second non-overlapping subset of transmission resources (TSSET2; TONESET2) selected from the whole set of transmission resources. The first full-duplex communication profile includes first downstream and upstream transmit power profiles (PSDDS1, PSDUS1) to achieve first aggregate downstream and upstream data rates (DSMAX1, USMIN1; DSMAX2, USMIN2) over the at least one transmission medium, and the second full-duplex communication profile includes second downstream and upstream transmit power profiles (PSDDS2, PSDUS2) to achieve second aggregate downstream and upstream data rates (USMAX1, DSMIN1; USMAX2, DSMIN2) over the at least one transmission medium distinct from the respective first aggregate downstream and upstream data rates. The present invention also relates to a so-configured full-duplex communication unit.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to perform:
configuring at least one communication unit of an access node and at least one remote communication unit coupled to said communication unit of said access node via a transmission medium to operate in full-duplex mode according to (i) a first full-duplex communication profile for a first subset of transmission resources selected from a set of transmission resources available for communication over the at least one transmission medium and (ii) a second full-duplex communication profile for a second subset of transmission resources selected from the set of transmission resources, wherein the first subset of transmission resources and the second subset of transmission resources are mutually non-overlapping,
wherein the first full-duplex communication profile includes first downstream and upstream transmit power profiles to achieve first non-zero aggregate downstream and upstream data rates over the at least one transmission medium, and the second full-duplex communication profile includes second downstream and upstream transmit power profiles to achieve second non-zero aggregate downstream and upstream data rates over the at least one transmission medium distinct from the respective first non-zero aggregate downstream and upstream data rates,
wherein the first and second subsets of transmission resources are (i) mutually non-overlapping subsets of symbols within a transmission frame or (ii) mutually non-overlapping subsets of tones within a frequency band,
wherein, for at least one of the first and second full-duplex communication profiles, simultaneous downstream and upstream communications occur on at least one common tone, and
wherein the first downstream and upstream transmit power profiles give precedence to downstream communications such that downstream communications have higher bandwidth than upstream communications, and the second downstream and upstream transmit power profiles give precedence to upstream communications such that upstream communications have higher bandwidth than downstream communications.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to further determine at least one of the first and second downstream and upstream transmit power profiles by means of a multi-user full-duplex optimization algorithm that optimizes a sum of weighted downstream and/or upstream data rates achievable for respective end users over the at least one transmission medium.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to further receive crosstalk channel measurements performed over the at least one transmission medium and to use in the multi-user full-duplex optimization algorithm for determination of the at least one of the first and second downstream and upstream transmit power profiles.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to further dynamically adjust the first and second subsets of transmission resources based on downstream and upstream traffic metrics, and to reconfigure the at least one communication unit and the at least one remote communication unit with the adjusted first and second subsets of transmission resources concomitantly with each other.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to further dynamically adjust at least one of the first and second downstream and upstream transmit power profiles, and to reconfigure the at least one communication unit and the at least one remote communication unit with the at least one adjusted transmit power profile concomitantly with each other.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to further configure at least one further communication unit of the access node and at least one further remote communication unit coupled to said at least one further communication unit of said access node to operate according to the first downstream transmit power profile when using the first subset of transmission resources, the first subset of transmission resources being used by the at least one further communication unit and by the at least one further remote communication unit for downstream communication only, and according to the second upstream transmit power profile when using the second subset of transmission resources, the second subset of transmission resources being used by the at least one further communication unit and by the at least one further remote communication unit for upstream communication only.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to further:
dynamically adjust the first and second subsets of transmission resources based on downstream and upstream traffic metrics, and to reconfigure the at least one communication unit and the at least one remote communication unit with the adjusted first and second subsets of transmission resources concomitantly with each other, and
reconfigure the at least one further communication unit and the at least one further remote communication unit with the adjusted first and second subsets of transmission resources concomitantly with each other, and concomitantly with the at least one communication unit and the at least one further remote communication unit.

8. The apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to further:
dynamically adjust at least one of the first and second downstream and upstream transmit power profiles, and to reconfigure the at least one communication unit and the at least one further remote communication unit with the at least one adjusted transmit power profile concomitantly with each other, and
reconfigure the at least one further communication unit and the at least one further remote communication unit with the at least one adjusted transmit power profile concomitantly with each other, and concomitantly with the at least one communication unit and the at least one further remote communication unit.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first and second subsets of transmission resources respectively comprise non-overlapping first and second sets of contiguous Discrete Multi-Tone DMT symbols identified by their respective positions within a transmission frame.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first and second subsets of transmission resources respectively comprise non-overlapping first and second sets of contiguous tones within at least one frequency band.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one transmission medium comprises a shared cable plant coupling the at least one communication unit of the access node to a plurality of remote communication units.

Assignees

• Alcatel Lucent

Inventors

• Tsiaflakis Paschalis
• Maes Jochen

Classifications

• H04L5/0087

  when data requirements change · CPC title

• H04L5/0096

  Indication of changes in allocation · CPC title

• H04L5/14 Primary

  Two-way operation using the same type of signal, i.e. duplex · CPC title

• H04B3/32 Primary

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

• H04B3/487

  Testing crosstalk effects · CPC title