Patent ID: 7394877

Claim:
A receiver for a communications system comprising: a signal detector, the signal detector containing circuitry to detect signals transmitted on a communications channel; a sampler coupled to the signal detector, the sampler containing circuitry to sample the signals detected on the communications channel by the signal detector at a variable sampling rate and produce a sequence of samples, wherein the sampler samples the communications channel at a first sampling rate when attempting to detect a packet and at a second sampling rate when the packet has been detected, wherein the second sampling rate has a different power consumption level than the first sampling rate; a correlator coupled to the sampler, the correlator containing circuitry to compare samples in the sequence of samples from the sampler and produce a correlation value based on the comparison, wherein the correlator is configured to correlate the sequence of samples with itself; and a processor coupled to the correlator and the sampler, the processor containing circuitry to detect the presence of the packet based on results produced by the correlator, decode and process data contained in the packet transmitted on the communications channel, and to control and change the sampling rate of the sampler; wherein the sampler comprises a latch coupled to the signal detector, the latch containing circuitry to capture a signal value at a first input and produce a sample corresponding to the captured signal value at an output; and a sampling clock coupled to the latch and the processor, the sampling clock containing circuitry to control the sampling rate of the sampler based on control information from the processor.