Patent ID: 7636388

Claim:
A method, comprising: a) transmitting a signal through a cable; b) receiving a reflected signal from the cable; c) converging a plurality of echo canceller coefficients based on the reflected signal, wherein each echo canceller coefficient corresponds to a respective tap of a plurality of taps of an echo canceller; d) determining a threshold of a given tap of the plurality of taps, comprising (1) generating a first product by applying a tap number associated with the given tap and a first programmable parameter to a multiplier circuit, and (2) generating the threshold by applying the first product and a second programmable parameter to an adder circuit; e) when a value of an echo canceller coefficient corresponding to the given tap is greater than the threshold of the given tap, then determining a cable length to a cable fault, comprising (1) generating a second product by applying the tap number associated with the given tap and a third programmable parameter to the multiplier circuit, and (2) generating the cable length by applying the second product and a fourth programmable parameter to the adder circuit; and f) performing acts d) and e) for each remaining tap of the plurality of taps.