Abstract: A modem for transmission and reception of data samples over a transmission line includes a transmission line break detection device having a correlation meter for providing a measure of the degree of correlation between transmitted and received data samples. Such device further includes a threshold meter for triggering a line break alarm when the correlation exceeds a threshold value. The correlation relates to a limited number of data samples occurring during a portion of an echo period for reception of an echo of transmitted data samples.

Abstract: A start-up method for a data modem having an echo cancelling loop between the send port and receive port, the loop including a transversal filter having adjustable coefficients, adjustable phase-shifter and a subtractor for subtracting send port data symbols which have been filtered and phase shifted from data symbols received at the receive port. During start-up, in response to a series of data symbols supplied at the send port, a microprocessor iteratively adjusts the filter coefficients and the phase shift to cancel any echo at the output of the subtractor. In order to reduce the convergence time, the start-up method includes estimating the power of the echo over a time period corresponding to a predetermined number of data symbols at the send port, quantizing the estimated power, and adjusting the filter coefficients and the phase shift on the basis of the quantized echo power level.