Method of and apparatus for pilot set maintenance

摘要

An apparatus (100) maintains a Pilot Set in a digital communication system that utilizes Code Division Multiple Access. The apparatus comprises a logic and control circuit (113) for providing instructions to a searcher receiver (109). The searcher receiver, in response to the instructions, sequentially scans active pilots, then candidate pilots, and then pre-candidate pilots. The scan of the pre-candidate pilots continues until all but a predetermined number of pre-candidate pilots have been promoted or demoted. Then the searcher receiver alternately scans the predetermined number of pre-candidate pilots and the neighbor pilots. The searcher receiver terminates alternate scans of the predetermined number of pre-candidate pilots and the neighbor pilots when a one of the neighbor pilots is promoted, and resumes the scan of the pre-candidate pilots.