Patent ID: 7664201

Claim:
A method for providing automatic gain control for a received quadrature digitally modulated communications signal having amplitude modulated and phase modulated components, comprising: (a) receiving said quadrature digitally modulated communications signal; (b) simultaneously sending said quadrature digitally modulated communications signal to first and second separate signal paths for independent processing; (c) converting said quadrature digitally modulated communications signal in the first path into logs of amplitudes of the quadrature digitally modulated signal; (d) converting the logs of the amplitudes of said quadrature digitally modulated signal obtained at step (c) into digital values representing the logs; said method being further characterized by comprising: (e) performing step (c) utilizing a logarithmic detector configured to provide a response time faster than one unit of transmitted information which may be one of a chip, a bit, and a symbol, for obtaining said logs of amplitudes of said quadrature digitally modulated signal; (f) amplitude limiting, in the second path, said quadrature digitally modulated communications signal obtained at step (a); (g) demodulating the signal produced at step (f) into I and Q components; (h) utilizing first and second analog to digital converters for converting the demodulated I and Q components into digital values; and (i) employing a third analog to digital converter for performing step (d).