Christopher S Cunningham

US Patent:

6842012, Jan 11, 2005

Filed:

Nov 7, 2002

Appl. No.:

10/289286

Inventors:

Murat Belge - Billerica MA, US
Christopher C. Cunningham - Brighton MA, US

Assignee:

Aware, Inc. - Bedford MA

International Classification:

G01R 2732
G01R 3500

US Classification:

324637, 324601

Abstract:

A three-port TDR front end comprises numerous components. An exemplary three-port TDR front end is a DSL modem. Information-bearing TDR signals are distorted as they pass through these components. With a perfect model of the response of its front-end, a TDR system usually can compensate for the effects of its front-end. In reality, however, the electrical characteristics of each component vary from design-to-design, board-to-board, and slowly over time. The result is imperfect knowledge about the true response of the front-end, errors in the model of the front-end, and degraded TDR performance. At least for this reason it is important to precisely calibrate the response of the TDR front-end through the use of a TDR modeling system.

US Patent:

7521938, Apr 21, 2009

Filed:

Mar 7, 2007

Appl. No.:

11/683269

Inventors:

Murat Belge - Billerica MA, US
Christopher C. Cunningham - Brighton MA, US

Assignee:

Aware, Inc. - Bedford MA

International Classification:

G01R 27/32
G01R 35/00

US Classification:

324637, 324601

Abstract:

A three-port TDR front end includes numerous components. An exemplary three-port TDR front-end is a DSL modem. Information-bearing TDR signals are distorted as they pass through these components. With a perfect model of the response of its front-end, a TDR system usually can compensate for the effects of its front-end. In reality, however, electrical characteristics of each component vary slowly over time. The result is imperfect knowledge about the true response of the front-end, errors in the model of the front-end, and degraded TDR performance. It is important to calibrate the response of the TDR front-end through using a TDR modeling system that determines at least three respective responses when the third port is connected to each of at least three different devices, determining three parameters that characterize a front-end, and using the three parameters to predict the system response when the front-end is connected to any device.

US Patent:

7580471, Aug 25, 2009

Filed:

Aug 20, 2004

Appl. No.:

10/921857

Inventors:

Christopher C. Cunningham - Belmont MA, US

Assignee:

Aware, Inc. - Bedford MA

International Classification:

H04B 15/00

US Classification:

375285

Abstract:

Data is collected and interpreted in response to one or more transmitted signals to determine if an interfering device is present. If an interfering device is present, a message is generated and presented to a user indicating, for example, that the installation of a micro-filter is appropriate. The system can then determine if the micro-filter was installed properly and, for example, commence communication or, if the micro-filter(s) did not solve the problem, initiate communication with or contact a technician.

US Patent:

7786737, Aug 31, 2010

Filed:

Mar 25, 2009

Appl. No.:

12/411127

Inventors:

Murat Belge - Billerica MA, US
Christopher C. Cunningham - Brighton MA, US

Assignee:

Aware, Inc. - Bedford MA

International Classification:

G01R 35/00
G01R 27/32

US Classification:

324601, 324637

Abstract:

A three-port TDR front end comprises numerous components. An exemplary three-port TDR front end is a DSL modem. Information-bearing TDR signals are distorted as they pass through these components. With a perfect model of the response of its front-end, a TDR system usually can compensate for the effects of its front-end. In reality, however, the electrical characteristics of each component vary from design-to-design, board-to-board, and slowly over time The result is imperfect knowledge about the true response of the front-end, errors in the model of the front-end, and degraded TDR performance. At least for this reason it is important to precisely calibrate the response of the TDR front-end through the use of a TDR modeling system.

US Patent:

8559532, Oct 15, 2013

Filed:

Jan 26, 2009

Appl. No.:

12/864526

Inventors:

Christopher Cunningham - Belmont MA, US

Assignee:

AWARE, Inc. - Bedford MA

International Classification:

H04B 3/00
H04L 25/00

US Classification:

375257, 375219, 375220, 375221, 375222, 370286, 370292, 370290, 370291, 37940612, 37940613, 37940614

Abstract:

To assist with the detection of unfiltered device(s), a system observes how the received noise changes between two links as the transmit signal is changed. Harmful unfiltered nonlinear devices will generate significant noise that depends on the transmitted signals; therefore, this additional noise can be quantified to some extent by comparing the observed noise for two different transmit signals. The total noise can be determined from the SNR if the received signal is known. The received signal may be read directly in some non-standard systems, or it may be determined from the known transmit signal and channel attenuation, which is sometimes the case in standard-compliant links, but often with a relatively large error. To circumvent this problem, certain embodiments of this invention only consider the change in noise between two links with the same channel attenuation. This differential comparison makes it unnecessary to accurately know the channel attenuation.

US Patent:

8611405, Dec 17, 2013

Filed:

Nov 24, 2009

Appl. No.:

13/128049

Inventors:

Christopher Cunningham - Belmont MA, US
Jianming Zhu - North Billerica MA, US

Assignee:

Aware, Inc. - Bedford MA

International Classification:

H04B 1/38

US Classification:

375222, 375224, 375225, 375227, 375316, 379 2203, 379 2208, 379 23, 379 24, 379 3204, 725111, 455557, 380266, 463 43

Abstract:

A modem or associated computing or testing device is configured to detect the presence of one or more faults that affect DSL communications, and upon their detection, generate, for example, an indication, communication or message that recommends corrective action. In this context, a fault is generally caused by one or more unfiltered devices, impulsive noises, malfunctioning modems, or other factor that does not affect measured attenuation or measured noise, but does affect the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the link. In addition to being able to generate a message guiding a user through corrective action, the system can estimate the rate impact of the detected fault.

US Patent:

20050060136, Mar 17, 2005

Filed:

Oct 29, 2004

Appl. No.:

10/975441

Inventors:

Murat Belge - Billerica MA, US
Christopher Cunningham - Brighton MA, US

Assignee:

Aware, Inc. - Bedford MA

International Classification:

G06F009/45

US Classification:

703022000

Abstract:

A three-port TDR front end comprises numerous components. An exemplary three-port TDR front end is a DSL modem. Information-bearing TDR signals are distorted as they pass through these components. With a perfect model of the response of its front-end, a TDR system usually can compensate for the effects of its front-end. In reality, however, the electrical characteristics of each component vary from design-to-design, board-to-board, and slowly over time. The result is imperfect knowledge about the true response of the front-end, errors in the model of the front-end, and degraded TDR performance. At least for this reason it is important to precisely calibrate the response of the TDR front-end through the use of a TDR modeling system.

US Patent:

20070030015, Feb 8, 2007

Filed:

Sep 25, 2006

Appl. No.:

11/534864

Inventors:

Murat Belge - Billerica MA, US
Christopher Cunningham - Brighton MA, US

Assignee:

Aware, Inc. - Bedford MA

International Classification:

G01R 27/04
G01R 27/32

US Classification:

324637000

Abstract:

A three-port TDR front end comprises numerous components. An exemplary three-port TDR front end is a DSL modem. Information-bearing TDR signals are distorted as they pass through these components. With a perfect model of the response of its front-end, a TDR system usually can compensate for the effects of its front-end. In reality, however, the electrical characteristics of each component vary from design-to-design, board-to-board, and slowly over time. The result is imperfect knowledge about the true response of the front-end, errors in the model of the front-end, and degraded TDR performance. At least for this reason it is important to precisely calibrate the response of the TDR front-end through the use of a TDR modeling system.