Patent ID: 8279958

Claim:
A receiver for receiving a sequence of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed (OFDM) symbols transmitted via a channel, each OFDM symbol comprising a plurality of data bearing sub-carriers on which data is transmitted and a plurality of pilot bearing sub-carriers on which pilot data is transmitted, the pilot sub-carriers being arranged within the OFDM symbols in accordance with a pilot sub-carrier pattern, the receiver comprising: a channel estimator which includes a pilot data extractor that extracts pilot data from the pilot sub-carriers of each OFDM symbol, a pilot data extrapolator that generates extrapolated pilot data based on pilot data extracted from the pilot data sub-carriers, and a pilot data interpolator operable to process the pilot data by interpolating between the extrapolated pilot data in time and frequency to produce an estimate of the channel; a discontinuity detector that detects a discontinuity in the pilot data contained within the received OFDM symbols; and a controller which upon detection of a pilot data discontinuity by the discontinuity detector is operable to provide a control signal to the channel estimator which causes at least one of the a pilot data extractor, the pilot data extrapolator and the pilot data interpolator to compensate for the pilot data discontinuity in the pilot data.