Finger merge protection for rake receivers
First Claim
1. A device operable to prevent merging of demodulation elements (fingers), comprising:
- a controller operative to identify at least one candidate finger for which merging with a target finger is to be prevented, wherein the at least one candidate finger is identified from among a plurality of fingers assigned to process a plurality of multipath components in a received signal;
at least one comparator operative to receive and compare a position of the target finger designated to be adjusted with a position of each of the at least one candidate finger; and
a merge detector operative to determine whether merging is detected for any candidate finger, and wherein the target finger is allowed to be adjusted if merging is not detected for the at least one candidate finger.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Techniques to prevent fingers from merging. For each update command to adjust the timing of a particular “target” finger, a list of “candidate” fingers for which merging is to be prevented is determined. Detection for merging is then performed for each candidate finger, e.g., one at a time. For each candidate finger, a comparison is performed using the position of the target finger, the position of the candidate finger, and a merge threshold. A determination is then made whether merging is detected for the candidate finger based on the comparison result. The update command may be disallowed for the target finger if merging is detected for any candidate finger, and may be allowed if merging is not detected for all candidate fingers. A “preferred” target finger may be allowed to be adjusted even if merging is detected for a non-preferred candidate finger, which may be moved instead.
24 Citations
27 Claims
-
1. A device operable to prevent merging of demodulation elements (fingers), comprising:
-
a controller operative to identify at least one candidate finger for which merging with a target finger is to be prevented, wherein the at least one candidate finger is identified from among a plurality of fingers assigned to process a plurality of multipath components in a received signal; at least one comparator operative to receive and compare a position of the target finger designated to be adjusted with a position of each of the at least one candidate finger; and a merge detector operative to determine whether merging is detected for any candidate finger, and wherein the target finger is allowed to be adjusted if merging is not detected for the at least one candidate finger. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
-
-
18. A device operable to prevent merging of demodulation elements (fingers), comprising:
-
at least one comparator operative to receive and compare a position of a target finger designated to be adjusted with a position of each of at least one candidate finger for which merging is to be prevented, wherein the position of each candidate finger includes an adjustment, if any, allowed to be made to the candidate finger but not yet applied, and wherein the position of the target finger does not include an adjustment proposed to be made for the target finger; and a merge detector operative to determine whether merging is detected for any candidate finger, wherein the target finger is allowed to be adjusted if merging is not detected for the at least one candidate finger, and wherein merging is detected for a particular candidate finger if both a difference between the positions of the target and candidate fingers is equal to or less than a merge threshold and the difference decreases if the proposed adjustment is allowed for the target finger.
-
-
19. In a CDMA communication system, a device operable to prevent merging of demodulation elements (fingers), comprising:
-
a controller operable to provide commands to adjust positions of a plurality of fingers assigned to process a plurality of multipath components in a received signal and to identify at least one candidate finger for which merging with a target finger is to be prevented, wherein the at least one candidate finger is identified from among the plurality of fingers; and a finger merge protection (FMP) unit operative to, for each command received from the controller, compare a position of the target finger designated to be adjusted with a position of each of the at least one candidate finger, determine whether merging is detected for any candidate finger based on comparison results, and allow the command for the target finger if merging is not detected for the at least one candidate finger.
-
-
20. An apparatus operable to prevent merging of demodulation elements (fingers), comprising:
-
means for identifying at least one candidate finger for which merging with a target finger is to be prevented, wherein the at least one candidate finger is identified from among a plurality of fingers assigned to process a plurality of multipath components in a received signal; means for comparing a position of the target finger designated to be adjusted against a position of each of the at least one candidate finger; and means for determining whether merging is detected for any candidate finger based on comparison results, and wherein the target finger is allowed to be adjusted if merging is not detected for the at least one candidate finger. - View Dependent Claims (21)
-
-
22. An integrated circuit comprising:
-
a controller operative to identify at least one candidate finger for which merging with a target finger is to be prevented, wherein the at least one candidate finger is identified from among a plurality of fingers assigned to process a plurality of multipath components in a received signal; at least one comparator operative to receive and compare a position of the target finger designated to be adjusted with a position of each of the at least one candidate finger; and a merge detector operative to determine whether merging is detected for any candidate finger, and wherein the target finger is allowed to be adjusted if merging is not detected for the at least one candidate finger. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
-
-
25. A terminal in a wireless communication system, comprising:
-
a front-end unit operative to process a received signal to provide samples; a rake receiver including a plurality of demodulation fingers each configurable to process the samples to demodulate a respective multipath component in the received signal; a controller operative to identify at least one candidate finger for which merging with a target finger is to be prevented, wherein the at least one candidate finger is identified from among the plurality of fingers; and a finger merge protection (FMP) unit operative to, for each update command, compare a position of the target finger designated to be adjusted with a position of each of the at least one candidate finger, determine whether merging is detected for any candidate finger based on comparison results, and allow the update command for the target finger if merging is not detected for the at least one candidate finger.
-
-
26. In a wireless communication system, a method for preventing merging of demodulation elements (fingers), comprising:
-
identifying at least one candidate finger for which merging with a target finger is to be prevented, wherein the at least one candidate finger is identified from among a plurality of fingers assigned to process a plurality of multipath components in a received signal; comparing a position of the target finger designated to be adjusted with a position of each of the at least one candidate finger; determining whether merging is detected for any candidate finger based on comparison results; and allowing the target finger to be adjusted if merging is not detected for the at least one candidate finger. - View Dependent Claims (27)
-
Specification