Abstract: A parameter estimator for estimating one or more parameter(s) from a correlation function derived from a signal using a dynamically variable search window is described. The parameter estimator may be employed in a subscriber station to estimate the time of arrival of one or more base station pilot signals in a wireless communication system. This information may be utilized in an overall advanced forward link trilateration (AFLT) process for estimating the location of the subscriber station.

Abstract: An apparatus, such as a subscriber unit or a base station within a spread spectrum communication system, may add one or more additional “virtual” paths to a list of candidate paths when assigning demodulation elements. These “virtual” paths are added as candidate paths even though a corresponding peak was not necessarily detected within a received spread spectrum system. The list of paths may include a first path having a time offset approximately equal to a time offset for one of the demodulation elements, and the virtual path having a short time separation from the first path. The time separation between the paths may be, for example, less than 2 chips.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for searching for neighboring base stations by waking from a power-saving sleep mode to receive an incoming signal. The incoming signal is received and at least a portion of the incoming signal is stored. The stored information signal is then processed with each of several different codes to determine a power level corresponding to each of the different codes.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for searching for neighboring base stations by waking from a power-saving sleep mode to receive an incoming signal. The incoming signal is received and at least a portion of the incoming signal is stored. The stored information signal is then processed with each of several different codes to determine a power level corresponding to each of the different codes.

Abstract: A system and method for accurately determining time of arrival using a mathematical model that mimics a correlation function. A correlation value is sampled at a predetermined periodic interval and a maximum correlation value, coinciding with a particular point in time, is determined. The mathematical model uses the maximum measured correlation value and correlation values at adjacent sample points to determine coefficients for the selected mathematical model. The coefficients may be calculated and used to determine the actual peak, which may fall in-between the sample points. The actual peak value is used to accurately determine the time of arrival of a signal. Time of arrival signals from a plurality of remote transmitters are used along with conventional triangulation techniques to accurately determine the location of the wireless unit.

Abstract: A position determination system and apparatus for utilizing a network of cellular base stations to determine position of a mobile station includes taking a plurality of statistically independent data measurements of the pilot signals from the base stations. Each of the data measurements includes an earliest time of arrival, providing multiple independent measurements for each of the pilot signals. For each cellular base station, a representative measurement is calculated responsive to the independent measurements, which is used to determine position of the mobile station using an AFLT algorithm and/or in conjunction with a GPS algorithm. In some embodiments, the data measurements for each pilot signal further include an RMSE estimate and time of measurement for each time of arrival, and an energy measurement for all resolvable paths. If the mobile station comprises a cell phone, a cell search list and a GPS search list may be provided by a cell base station.

Abstract: A message that has its energy spread over a frame of encoded data is decoded. First, encoded data are received so as to obtain a quantity of the encoded data that is less than all the encoded data in the frame and also is less than all the encoded data representing the message. Then, the quantity of encoded data received is supplemented, without receiving additional encoded data, so as to obtain a frame of data. Typically, the data will be supplemented by zero padding the data, such as by initializing a frame buffer to all zeros and then overwriting the zero data with actual data as it is received. Finally, ordinary frame decoding is performed on the frame of data so generated, in order to decode the message.

Abstract: A method of producing a reliability metric for a parameter estimate derived from a signal using correlation analysis is described. The method begins by obtaining an indication of whether a non line of sight signal condition is present or likely and/or obtaining an indication of whether a multi-path signal condition is present or likely. Responsive to one or both of these indications, the method derives a reliability metric for the parameter estimate. In one embodiment, the parameter estimate is an estimate of time of arrival (TOA) of the signal, and the reliability metric is root mean square error (RMSE) of the time of arrival estimate. This embodiment obtains an indication of whether a non line of sight signal condition is present or likely based on a measure of the strength of the correlation function at the peak thereof.

Abstract: A parameter estimator for estimating one or more parameter(s) from a correlation function derived from a signal using a dynamically variable search window is described. The parameter estimator may be employed in a subscriber station to estimate the time of arrival of one or more base station pilot signals in a wireless communication system. This information may be utilized in an overall advanced forward link trilateration (AFLT) process for estimating the location of the subscriber station.

Abstract: A parameter estimator for estimating one or more parameter(s) from a correlation function derived from a signal using a dynamically variable integration time is described. The parameter estimator may be employed in a subscriber station to estimate the time of arrival of one or more base station or sector pilot signals in a wireless communication system. This information may be utilized in an overall advanced forward link trilateration (AFLT) process for estimating the location of the subscriber station.

Abstract: A parameter estimator for estimating one or more parameter(s) from a signal is described. A correlation function is derived from the signal, and the correlation function analyzed to determine if one or more first peak(s) are present, and, if so, distinguishable from the sidelobe(s) of a second peak. If the one or more first peak(s) are present and distinguishable from the sidelobe(s) of the second peak, the one or more parameter(s) are estimated from the one or more first peak(s). If the one or more first peak(s) are not present, or, if present, are not distinguishable from the sidelobe(s) of the second peak, the one or more parameter(s) are estimated from the second peak. The parameter estimator may be employed in a subscriber station to estimate a parameter such as the time of arrival of one or more base station or sector pilot signals in a wireless communication system.

Abstract: A decoder for decoding convolutionally encoded precoding data is described. The precoding sequence consists of two subsequences t and b; the value of t corresponds to a convolutional encoder state at a particular time. The a priori probability Pr(ti) that the subsequence t has a particular value ti is generated. In the preferred embodiment, the metric function that is applied to a test sequence including ti is then biased by adding (&sgr;2/&agr;2) ln(Pr(ti)), where &agr;2 is the signal average energy per symbol of the transmitted data, &sgr;2 is the variance of the noise added by a channel through which the data is transmitted. The resulting metric is then used by an MLSE decoder such as a Viterbi decoder to decode the received data.

Abstract: An apparatus, such as a subscriber unit or a base station within a spread spectrum communication system, provides advanced control over the time-tracking of demodulation elements when unresolvable multipath situations arise. The apparatus provides merge protection that prevents clustered demodulation elements from contracting beyond a minimum time span. In addition, the apparatus provides a master/slave feature for synchronizing the time-tracking of the demodulation elements when clustered around a multipath signal.

Abstract: An apparatus, such as a subscriber unit or a base station within a spread spectrum communication system, may add one or more additional “virtual” paths to a list of candidate paths when assigning demodulation elements. These “virtual” paths are added as candidate paths even though a corresponding peak was not necessarily detected within a received spread spectrum system. The list of paths may include a first path having a time offset approximately equal to a time offset for one of the demodulation elements, and the virtual path having a short time separation from the first path. The time separation between the paths may be, for example, less than 2 chips.

Abstract: The present invention comprises methods and apparatus for determining the rate at which data was encoded when such data is received at a receiver. According to the present invention, the rate is determined by computing, for a plurality of possible rates, a final test statistic based on a plurality of measures. The final test statistics are compared and based upon certain selection criteria (for example, without limiting the foregoing, which final test statistic corresponds the highest value), the rate is selected. In the preferred embodiment, the measures comprise statistics based on the cyclical redundancy check, Viterbi metrics, re-encoded symbol error rate, and distance to next largest Viterbi metric.