Patent ID: 8503592

Claim:
A method for performing symbol boundary synchronization in a communication system, the method comprising: generating a symbol alignment estimate from a partial signal correlation based at least in part on: identifying symbols in a transmitted signal as a sum of a periodic known signal and a random signal; characterizing a cross-correlation of a channel output with a periodic component of the transmitted signal as a sum of a first convolution and a second convolution, the first convolution being a cross-correlation between two partial sequences, the second convolution being an estimate of an effective channel impulse response; and determining the symbol alignment estimate based in part on the cross-correlation of the channel output with the periodic component of the transmitted signal; and refining the symbol alignment estimate via a carrier phase calculation based in part on: determining carrier phases of two adjacent carriers; determining a phase error based at least in part on a phase difference between the two adjacent carriers as directly proportional to an offset from a start of a symbol; determining a phase difference contribution due to a communication channel and device hardware; and counter-rotating the determined carrier phases by an angle of a constellation point at a transmitter.