Interference Cancellation Tap Sharing in Gigabit Ethernet Transceivers
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Solution Overview
Problem
High-speed communication systems like Gigabit Ethernet face challenges in minimizing cost and power consumption while effectively canceling multiple interferences, as interference cancellers typically consume significant digital silicon area and power, with most taps being designed for worst-case scenarios that are rarely encountered.
Innovation Solution
The mechanism involves sharing filter taps across interference cancellers, allocating extra taps to those that require them based on the severity of interference mitigation, allowing for shorter cancellers where necessary, and optimizing tap configurations to maximize interference cancellation performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If interference cancellers are designed with maximum length taps to handle worst-case scenarios, then interference mitigation capability is improved, but hardware area and power consumption increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic tap allocation where the number of taps assigned to each interference canceller is not fixed but adapts based on actual interference conditions. The system monitors interference levels and dynamically adjusts tap distribution among cancellers, allowing the hardware to operate efficiently under varying conditions rather than being over-provisioned for worst-case scenarios at all times.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different tap lengths to different interference cancellers based on their specific needs. Instead of uniform maximum-length taps for all cancellers, the system assigns varying tap counts tailored to each canceller's interference mitigation requirements, optimizing the balance between performance and hardware resource utilization.
2Reliability
If interference cancellers are designed with maximum length taps to handle worst-case scenarios, then interference mitigation capability is improved, but power consumption increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the operational state of tap allocators and cancellers based on detected interference conditions. When interference levels are low, fewer taps are activated and power consumption is reduced. When interference exceeds thresholds, the system activates additional taps and cancellers as needed, ensuring power is consumed only when required for effective interference mitigation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes operational parameters such as tap length and canceller activation state based on interference conditions. By adjusting these parameters dynamically rather than maintaining maximum settings constantly, the system achieves effective interference mitigation while significantly reducing average power consumption during normal operating conditions.
3Area of stationary object
If all cancellers are made shorter to reduce hardware, then hardware area is reduced, but interference mitigation performance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent ensures that cancellers handling severe interference maintain sufficient tap length for effective mitigation, while cancellers dealing with minor interference use fewer taps. This localized optimization ensures that performance is maintained where needed without wasting hardware resources where they are not required.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically allocates taps to maintain adequate cancellation length for severe interferers while allowing shorter lengths for minor interferers. This dynamic adaptation ensures interference mitigation performance is preserved for critical interferers while reducing overall hardware area through optimized tap distribution.
4Reliability
If more taps are allocated to cancellers, then interference cancellation performance is improved, but LMS noise increases and total performance degrades
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes the number of taps allocated to each canceller to achieve the right balance between interference cancellation performance and LMS noise generation. By carefully controlling tap allocation parameters and adjusting them based on interference conditions, the system maximizes cancellation effectiveness while minimizing the harmful LMS noise that increases with excessive tap counts.
Data Source
AI summary
A novel mechanism for sharing filter taps across a plurality of interference cancellers. Each interference canceller may be directed to impairment, such as Ethernet impairments, including Ethernet 1000Base-T impairments. Various interference impairments include echo cancellation, NEXT cancellation and/or other interference detection or cancellation, etc. The hardware requirements of the interference impairment cancellers are reduced by sharing filter taps among the cancellers. In a first embodiment, the taps from a unified filter tap bank are shared across all the interference impairment cancellers for all four channels and over all ports. In a second embodiment, a portion of the taps of each filter are shared wherein each canceller comprises a fixed filter tap portion and a shared filter tap portion. A tap allocation algorithm assigns taps to those cancellers that need them the most. A canceller configuration is selected that yields maximal interference mitigation and the taps are allocated accordingly.