Patent ID: 8244174

Claim:
For azimuth angle estimation of the location of a mobile station with respect to a nearby base station covering a service area using common sectorization via multiple directional antennas respectively transmitting at different azimuth angles, a radio-signal processing apparatus comprising: a memory having information that associates directional sector antennas of the nearby base station and expected antenna radiation gains corresponding to azimuth directions relative to the nearby base station; and a processor arrangement that determines received signal strengths of respective signals received from different ones of the directional sector antennas of the nearby base station and that determines an azimuth angle of departure estimation by comparing the stored information, including at least some of the expected antenna radiation gains, with the received signal strengths, wherein the comparison is a function of respectively transmitted and received pilot channel energies communicated in different sectors and a function of an assessment of total sector powers received and transmitted.