Patent ID: 8121222

Claim:
A signal receiving and processing system, comprising: sampling circuitry configured to receive an analog input datastream and to sample a set of samples from said analog input datastream to form a sampled datastream, said sampling circuitry also being configured to output a digital output signal that includes said sampled datastream and the sample times for each of the samples contained in the sampled datastream; and time-frequency (TF) generator circuitry coupled to receive said digital output signal from said sampling circuitry, said TF generator circuitry being configured to: (a) extract a first window of samples from said sampled datastream such that said first window of samples only contains a first portion of said samples of said datastream and such that each of said samples of said first window having a sample measurement D(t) and a sample time associated therewith, (b) construct a first set of time-frequency templates T(f,t) such that each individual template of said first set of time-frequency templates T(f,t) is constructed for a given template frequency versus said sample times of said samples contained within said extracted first window of samples, (c) compare the set of sample measurements D(t) from said first window of samples to each of said time-frequency templates of said first set of time-frequency templates T(f,t) by correlating the set of sample measurements D(t) from said first window with each of said time-frequency templates of said first set of time-frequency templates T(f,t), and (d) determine a correlation amplitude based on said comparison for each given one of said time-frequency templates of said first set of time-frequency templates T(f,t) such that the correlation amplitude represents the degree of correlation between each given one of said first set of time-frequency templates T(f,t) and said set of sample measurements D(t) from said first window relative to the degree of correlation between other of said time-frequency templates of said first set of time-frequency templates T(f,t) and said set of sample measurements D(t) from said first window.