Patent ID: 9571185
Date: 2017-02-14
CPC Classifications: H04B

Claim:
1. A method, in a wireless receiver, for processing a received multi-code code-division multiple-access (CDMA) signal, the method comprising, for each of a plurality of observation time intervals and for each of one or more candidate spreading codes: calculating a detection threshold for use in detecting whether the candidate spreading code is unused in the received multi-code CDMA signal, based on a target detection sensitivity and at least one of an estimate of received signal quality for the current observation time interval and an estimate of channel estimation quality, comparing an estimated signal power for the candidate spreading code to estimated noise and interference power corresponding to a spreading code that is known to be unused or corresponding to a spreading code that carries known symbol values, using the calculated detection threshold; and detecting whether the candidate spreading code is unused, based on said comparing.