Patent ID: 7301990

Claim:
An apparatus in a wireless communication system, comprising: an equalizer comprising a single filter operative to filter a stream of samples with a plurality of sets of coefficients to provide a plurality of streams of transmit chip estimates during a cycle time, wherein the stream of samples includes a plurality of signals transmitted from a plurality of transmission sources, and wherein each set of coefficients of the plurality of sets of coefficients is for a respective one of the plurality of transmission sources and is used to provide a corresponding stream of transmit chip estimates of the plurality of transmit chip estimates, wherein the single filter is time division multiplexed to filter the stream of samples with one set of coefficients of the plurality of sets of coefficients at a time during the cycle time, and wherein the single filter is operated at a speed such that the single filter processes signals associated with at least two transmission sources of the plurality of transmission sources during the cycle time; at least one channel processor operative to process the plurality of streams of transmit chip estimates to provide a plurality of streams of data symbol estimates, one stream of data symbol estimates for each of the plurality of transmission sources; and a combiner operative to combine the plurality of streams of data symbol estimates to provide a stream of combined data symbol estimates.