Patent ID: 7676003

Claim:
A method for processing a signal envelope generated by demodulating a received signal that includes a train of pulses that is transmitted at a carrier frequency and is modulated at a given baud rate with data symbols in accordance with a predetermined communication protocol, which defines features of the modulated signal, the method comprising: measuring a duration of a selected feature in the signal envelope as defined by the communication protocol; estimating the baud rate of the signal based on the measured duration without counting the pulses in the received signal; and decoding the data symbols by processing the signal envelope responsively to the estimated baud rate, wherein demodulating the signal causes a temporal stretch of the envelope relative to a transmission period of the train of pulses making up the selected feature in the modulated signal, and wherein estimating the baud rate comprises deducting the temporal stretch from the measured duration in order to estimate the baud rate.