US 12,328,152 B2
Method and apparatus for detecting and locating a fault in a cable network
Thushara Hewavithana, Hatfield (GB); Shaul Shulman, Ramat Gan (IL); and Nathan Goichberg, Ashdod (IL)
Assigned to MAXLINEAR, INC., Carlsbad, CA (US)
Filed by MAXLINEAR, INC., Carlsbad, CA (US)
Filed on May 14, 2018, as Appl. No. 15/978,214.
Prior Publication US 2019/0044626 A1, Feb. 7, 2019
Int. Cl. H04B 17/17 (2015.01); G01R 31/08 (2020.01); G01R 31/11 (2006.01); H04B 3/23 (2006.01); H04B 17/10 (2015.01); H04B 17/14 (2015.01); H04L 12/28 (2006.01); H04L 25/02 (2006.01)
CPC H04B 17/17 (2015.01) [G01R 31/088 (2013.01); G01R 31/11 (2013.01); H04B 3/23 (2013.01); H04B 17/104 (2015.01); H04B 17/14 (2015.01); H04L 12/2801 (2013.01); H04L 12/2898 (2013.01); H04L 25/0212 (2013.01); H04L 25/0222 (2013.01)] 16 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An apparatus for detecting and locating a fault in a cable network, the apparatus comprising:
a transmitter configured to operate on a first frequency band while in a full duplex (FDX) mode;
a receiver configured to operate on a second frequency band while in the FDX mode;
a channel estimator coupled to the receiver for performing channel estimation using a reference signal to obtain a time domain channel response on an echo channel, the time domain channel response relating to a signal transmitted by the transmitter; and
a processor for analyzing the time domain channel response to determine whether there is any change from a previously obtained time domain channel response on the echo channel and estimating a location of a fault in the cable network, in view of a reference latency and historical data, based on the time domain channel response if there is a change above an echo channel threshold from the previously obtained time domain channel response, the reference latency being determined in conjunction with a calibration,
wherein the channel estimation is performed on each of a plurality of sub-bands of a FDX band in a frequency domain and frequency domain channel responses for the plurality of sub-bands are combined to a wider-band frequency response and then transformed to the time domain channel response, and
wherein the reference signal comprises a first element associated with the first frequency band and a second element associated with the second frequency band.