METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONFIGURING A RAKE RECEIVER.

摘要

A SEARCHER USES AN INPUT SIGNAL, AND FOR EXAMPLE, A MATCHED FILTER (100) TO GENERATE A FIRST SET OF CANDIDATE PATHS (180). A SELECTOR USES THE INPUT SIGNAL AND THE FIRST SET OF CANDIDATE PATHS TO GENERATE A SECOND SET OF PATHS (280). THE SECOND SET OF PATHS (280) IS USED TO CONFIGURE THE FINGERS OF A RAKE RECEIVER. ACCORDING TO ONE ASPECT OF THE INVENTION, THE FIRST SET OF CANDIDATE PATHS (180) CONTAINS M PATHS, AND THE SECOND STAGE (200) USES M CORRELATORS TO GENERATE A SET OF M CORRELATION VALUES. THE SECOND STAGE (200) USES THE M CORRELATION VALUES TO SELECT N PATHS THAT ARE USED TO CONFIGURE THE N FINGERS OF THE RAKE RECEIVER. ACCORDING TO ANOTHER ASPECT OF THE INVENTION, THE FIRST SET OF CANDIDATE PATHS (180) CONTAINS M PATHS, AND THE SECOND STAGE (200) USES A MULTIPLE OF M CORRELATORS TO TRACK THE M PATHS AND GENERATE A SET OF M ESTIMATES. THE SECOND STAGE (200) USES THE M ESTIMATES TO SELECT N PATHS THAT ARE USED TO CONFIGURE THE N FINGERS (320, 322, 330, 332) OF THE RAKE RECEIVER. ACCORDING TO ANOTHER ASPECT OF THE INVENTION, THE SELECTOR CAN GENERATE NEW SETS OF N PATHS WHILE THE SEARCHER (101) IS EITHER ACTIVE OR INACTIVE. THE RECEIVER CAN USE A QUALITY SIGNAL OR A COUNTER TO NOTIFY THE SEARCHER (101) AND/OR THE SELECTOR (201) TO GENERATE NEW SETS OF PATHS. THE SELECTOR (201) DECREASES THE NEED TO CONTINUOUSLY RUN THE MATCHED FILTER. THE RECEIVER CAN RE-CONFIGURE THE FINGERS WITHOUT HAVING TO SEARCH FOR NEW PATHS. THE RECEIVER CAN ALSO FIND PATHS THAT ARE UNCORRELATED AND LESS SUSCEPTIBLE TO FADING.FIGYRE 5