Patent ID: 8199793

Claim:
A device for detection of active spreading codes for a signal in a communication system and estimation of powers of the active spreading codes, wherein a received signal comprises a sequence of data symbols that are spread in the received signal and the spreading is defined by a spreading code and/or a spreading factor, wherein the device comprises: correlation means for performing multiple correlations at a single level of a spreading code tree and producing output samples, said multiple correlations comprising: performing first multiple correlations with all possible orthogonal codes at a level spreading factor=Lmax, where Lmax is the largest active spreading factor of the communication system; and then performing multiple correlations with all possible orthogonal codes at a level spreading factor=Lmin, wherein Lmin is the lowest active spreading factor of the communication system; and activity determination and power estimation means for observing said output samples produced at said Lmax and Lmin level, deciding on activity for all existing codes, and estimating powers of active spreading codes by extracting and processing information from said output samples.