METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MANAGING MULTIPATH SIGNALS

摘要

A method for managing multipath signals to be demodulated by a receiver withmultiple demodulators. The method includes a series of steps, including receiving themultipath signals at a wireless communication receiver device, finding the multipath signalshaving sufficient signal strength for demodulation, and measuring an arrival time of one ofthe multipath signals. In one embodiment, the present invention also recites measuring asignal-to-noise ratio (SNR) level of one of the multipath signals, updating a multipath listwith the arrival time and the signal-to-noise ratio if the multipath signal is identified basedupon the arrival time with one of the multipath signals existing in the multipath list, andidentifying newly-found multipath signals and evaluating one of the newly-found multipathsignals based on the signal-to-noise ratio for categorization into one of a plurality of states.Additionally, in one embodiment of the present invention, the present method includesevaluating one of the existing multipath signals based on the signal-to-noise ratio for movingthe multipath signal from one to another of a plurality of states, selectively providing one ofthe multipath signals for a demodulation operation based upon its state, selectively rejectingone of the multipath signals from the multipath list based on the signal-to-noise ratio, andrepeating several of the above mentioned operations to process all found multipath signals.