Abstract: A digital subscriber line (DSL) communication system that utilizes the high frequency band of a standard telephone line does not require the use of a plain old telephone service (POTS) splitter in the resident's home, which provided isolation between the POTS frequency band (0 to 4 kHz) and the DSL frequency band. A digital subscriber line modem utilizes either constant envelope modulation or quadrature amplitude modulation for outputting DSL signals upstream to a central office. When a telephone in the resident's home is detected as being off-hook, then the constant envelope modulation is used by the DSL modem in order to lessen the intermodulation product distortion that results in audible noise heard by a user of the telephone. When the telephone is on-hook, then another type of modulation, such as QAM, is used to maximize the upstream data rate capability in the DSL frequency band, since any noise generated by the QAM is not a problem due to the non-use of the POTS frequency band.

Abstract: A digital subscriber line communication system does not require the use of a plain old telephone service (POTS) splitter in the resident's home. Digital signal processing techniques are utilized to adapt to varying subscriber line conditions due to POTS telephone equipment. The digital signal processing techniques eliminate the need for a splitter by reducing susceptibility to distortion due to varying subscriber line characteristics. The digital subscriber line modem characterizes the subscriber line under a variety of conditions when the modem is in a non-idle mode. The digital subscriber line modem includes a control circuit which performs rapid retrain operation utilizing line characterization information.

Abstract: A digital subscriber line communication system does not require the use of a plain old telephone service (POTS) splitter in the resident's home. Digital signal processing techniques are utilized to adapt to varying subscriber line conditions due to POTS telephone equipment. The digital signal processing techniques eliminate the need for a splitter by reducing susceptibility to distortion due to varying subscriber line characteristics. The digital subscriber line modem characterizes the subscriber line under a variety of conditions. The digital subscriber line modem includes a control circuit which performs rapid retrain operation utilizing line characterization information.

Abstract: A digital subscriber line communication system does not require the use of a plain old telephone service (POTS) splitter in the resident's home. Digital signal-processing techniques are utilized to accommodate varying subscriber line conditions coming from POTS telephone equipment. The digital signal-processing techniques eliminate the need for a splitter by reducing susceptibility to distortion resulting from varying subscriber line characteristics. The digital subscriber line modem can utilize quadrature amplitude modulated (QAM) signals and frequency division multiplexing. The digital subscriber line modem includes a control circuit that implements an echo canceler and an analyzer to reduce near-end cross-talk noise. The analyzer performs spectral analysis to preemphasize or to predistort the transmitted signals in accordance with the cross-talk noise.

Abstract: A digital subscriber line (DSL) communication system that utilizes the high frequency band of a standard telephone line does not require the use of a plain old telephone service (POTS) splitter in the resident's home, which provided isolation between the POTS frequency band (0 to 4 kHz) and the DSL frequency band. Digital signal processing techniques are utilized to adapt to varying subscriber line conditions due to POTS telephone equipment. The digital signal processing techniques eliminate the need for a splitter by reducing susceptibility to distortion due to varying subscriber line characteristics. The digital subscriber line modem utilizes constant envelope modulated signals and frequency division multiplexing, where the constant envelope modulations lessens the intermodulation distortion products due to DSL signals that are transmitted by the modem and which may result in audible noise at the POTS telephone equipment due to non-linearities of the POTS telephone equipment.

Abstract: A digital subscriber line communication system does not require the use of a plain old telephone service (POTS) splitter in the resident's home. Digital signal processing is utilized to adapt to varying subscriber line conditions coming from POTS telephone equipment. The digital subscriber line modem includes a control circuit that utilizes a Reed-Solomon decoder and a synchronization error generator. The Reed-Solomon decoder provides a frame error signal, and the synchronization error generator responds to the frame error signal to generate a synchronization error signal. The synchronization error generator is configured as a leaking integrator to provide the synchronization error signal in response to a relatively large number of frame error signals occurring in a period of time. A resynchronization operation is performed in the modem in response to the synchronization error signal.

Abstract: A digital subscriber line (DSL) communication system that utilizes the high frequency band of a standard telephone line does not require the use of a plain old telephone service (POTS) splitter in the resident's home, which provided isolation between the POTS frequency band (0 to 4 kHz) and the DSL frequency band. A digital subscriber line modem utilizes either constant envelope modulation or quadrature amplitude modulation for outputting DSL signals upstream to a central office. When a telephone in the resident's home is detected as being off-hook, then the constant envelope modulation is used by the DSL modem in order to lessen the intermodulation product distortion that results in audible noise heard by a user of the telephone. When the telephone is on-hook, then another type of modulation, such as QAM, is used to maximize the upstream data rate capability in the DSL frequency band, since any noise generated by the QAM is not a problem due to the non-use of the POTS frequency band.

Abstract: A digital subscriber line communication system does not require the use of a plain old telephone service (POTS) splitter in the resident's home. Digital signal processing techniques are utilized to adapt to varying subscriber line conditions due to POTS telephone equipment. The digital signal processing techniques eliminate the need for a splitter by reducing susceptibility to distortion due to varying subscriber line characteristics. The digital subscriber line modem utilizes quadrature amplitude modulated (QAM) signals and frequency division multiplexing. The digital subscriber line modem includes a control circuit which includes a rapid retrain circuit. The rapid retrain circuit can retrain the digital subscriber line modem in less than 0.5 seconds.

Abstract: A system having an improved startup sequence for connecting two communicating modems, wherein the system includes a calling modem and an answer modem for communicating across an established communication link. Preferably, the system uses V.34 modulation protocol for information transfer after startup. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, an improved startup method includes the step of transmitting a unique calling signal from the calling modem, wherein the calling signal identifies the configuration of the calling modem. The modem "configuration" includes information relating to the communication capabilities of the modem, as well as information relating to the physical interconnection (or communication link) of the modem. The method further includes the step of transmitting a unique answer signal from the answer modem to the calling modem, wherein the answer signal identifies the configuration of the answer modem.

Abstract: A communications system simultaneously transmits both a primary data signal and a secondary voice signal in such a way that the dynamic range of the secondary voice signal is increased even though deliberate errors are introduced into the transmitted data portion of the signal. In particular, the communications system includes an error correcting technique like channel encoding and the constellation signal space is divided into a number of regions, where at least one of the regions overlaps with another region. The primary signal is channel encoded to select a particular one of the number of regions, the region being represented by a reference signal point value. The voice signal is encoded to provide a signal point vector, which is added to the reference signal point in such a way that the resultant signal point is located in the overlapping region thereby deliberately introducing an error into the resulting transmitted signal point stream.

Abstract: The present invention discloses an improvement over existing techniques for transmitting data over voice-band telephone channels by automatically adapting the amount of warping or compression that is applied to a sequence of signal points. A sequence of warped signal points, each of which is related to a respective signal point of a predetermined base constellation according to a warp function, is received in a decoder via a transmission channel having a non-linear component. After each of the received signal points is unwarped using substantially an inverse of the warp function, the average dispersions of the received inner and outer signal points about corresponding sequences of expected signal points are calculated. The difference between the average dispersion of the inner and outer points is then computed and used to update the amount of warping or compression in order to further minimize the effects of the channel non-linearity. The desired amount of warping is communicated to the transmitting encoder.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for optimizing parameters selectable by an analog modem for operation on any bandwidth-constrained channel is provided. Through the addition of circuitry for performing an optimization process, the modem is configured for identifying the optimum bandwidth and maximum data rate for use over a selected bandwidth-constrained channel. In the process of optimizing the parameters for operation on the selected bandwidth-constrained channel, a measurement of the signal and noise spectrum present on the selected channel is determined. And from this measurement, the optimum bandwidth, maximum data rate for the transmission of data over the selected bandwidth-constrained channel and a modulus for performing a modulus conversion of the data for transmission are provided. The modem is then trained to operate using these optimized parameters for transmission of the data.

Abstract: The relative amounts of additive white noise and proportional noise in a communication channel are compensated for by providing adaptive precoding and preemphasis to signal point signals. The amounts of precoding and preemphasis are controlled using scalars to modify the magnitudes of the precoding and preemphasis signals that are combined with the signal point signals. The values of the scalars are transferred between the transmitter and receiver, and the values can be changed without losing synchronization between the transmitter and receiver.

Abstract: Viterbi decoder performance in a data communication system using 2N-dimensional channel symbols N>1 can be further enhanced by an interleaving technique which uses a distributed trellis encoder in combination with a signal point interleaver.

Abstract: A method and system for data error detection for digital modems using trellis coding makes use of a sixteen traceback Viterbi decoder. One embodiment of the invention comprises a circuit which receives a digital data stream from a communications channel such as a telephone line, passes it through conventional elements including a modem demodulator, adaptive equalizer, and slicer and metric calculation module, and then conducts the output of the calculation module to a parallel combination of a sixteen traceback truncated Viterbi decoder and a sixteen symbol delay line. The parallel outputs of the Viterbi decoder and delay line are conveyed to a "EXCLUSIVE NOR" gate wherein an output of "1" indicates error free data.

Abstract: A system for transmission of an eye pattern from a remote modem to a local modem for oscilloscope display includes divider circuitry for adjusting the speed of transmission so as to accommodate the speed of the modem and provide a clear, unflickering oscilloscope display. The system also includes provisions for providing a continuous line impairment display as well as provisions for providing equalizer tap information.

Abstract: A system and method are provided for use of a secondary channel in high speed (greater than 2400 bits per second) wire line modems to provide low speed (around 110 bits per second) non-interfering communications for control or monitoring functions. The secondary channel is used to monitor, configure and test the modems in the network using commands sent over the secondary channel. Secondary channels are also used in low duty cycle applications such as in alarms or teletype data transmission. The invention provides a spread spectrum secondary channel which occupies the same bandwidth as the primary data channel and is immune to jamming tones that would interfere with conventional frequency shift keying secondary channels. The spectrum spreading is achieved through use of the primary channel's trellis encoder. Phase shifts of 0.degree., 90.degree., 180.degree. or 270.degree. are induced depending upon the trellis state.

Abstract: A system and method are provided which allow a user to obtain a plot of the amplitude response of a channel such as a telephone line in the band occupied by a modem signal without interrupting or affecting the data traffic through the modem. No test tones are required for M.sub.e spectral measurements, i.e., the system extracts spectral data from the actual received modem signal that has been shaped by the amplitude characteristics of the line. The amplitude characteristics are displayed on an external oscilloscope using a modem eye pattern display.

Abstract: A phase and gain corrector is described for a modem for receiving QAM or PSK-encoded signals. An ideal vector corresponding to the received vector is generated and the difference or error vector is resolved into a radial component in the direction of the ideal vector a tangential component. A gain corrector and a phase corrector variable are calculated from said radial and tangential components of the error vector and used to correct the gain and phase of the received signals. A secondary detector is also used to detect signals corresponding to extreme points of the signal constellation. The output of the secondary detector is used to modify the gain corrector variable thereby compensating for large gain hits.

Abstract: In a QAM digital modem decoder section, the received signals (after equalization) are transposed to a preselected quadrant of the signal constellation to generate an index pointer. The index pointer and the actual quadrant are used to decode the QAM signals. The index pointer is also used to update the equalizer taps and to operate a phase tracking loop used to reduce or eliminate phase jitter.