Patent ID: 8144668

Claim:
A method for separating signals from multiple users in a direct sequence spread spectrum communication system in which said multiple users each use a substantially equal spreading code, said method comprising steps of, at a receiver coupled to said communication system: receiving a signal modulated by symbols; partitioning the signal into a set of delays; determining a correlation statistic between the delays; comparing the correlation statistic to a predetermined value wherein a high correlation indicates the delays are from the same user; identifying a plurality of significant signal components in response to successive steps of interference suppression; and associating, each with a distinct user, one or more of said significant signal components; wherein said steps of successive interference suppression include steps of identifying a delay of signal components having a largest correlation; adding the delay of the signal component having the largest correlation to a current active set of delays, active set of delays being a set of delays of the significant signal components; updating the current active subspace by adding spreading sequence shifted by the delay of the signal component having largest correlation; and projecting the received vector orthogonal to current active subspace.