Patent ID: 7627026

Claim:
A method for detecting the location of a fault in a cable, comprising: a) transmitting a signal on the 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 using a piecewise linear function of a tap number associated with the given tap; e) comparing the threshold of the given tap to a value of a corresponding echo canceller coefficient; f) if the value of the corresponding echo canceller coefficient is greater than the threshold of the given tap, then determining a location of a cable fault based on the tap number associated with the given tap; and g) performing steps d)-f) for each remaining tap of the plurality of taps.