Patent ID: 7613261

Claim:
A method of estimating symbol synchronization in an Offset Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (OQPSK) demodulator, comprising steps of: (i) correlating a digital reception signal with a preset reference symbol to acquire self-correlation values sequentially for individual symbol units; (ii) adding, out of the self-correlation values included in a plurality of symbol periods, each of the self-correlation value in due order in an arbitrary symbol and at least one other self-correlation value set apart by a symbol period from a time point of the self-correlation value to acquire an added correlation value; (iii) comparing between the added correlation value and the reference correlation value as to which is greater; (iv) detecting a maximum correlation value out of added correlation values included in a plurality of subsequent symbols from a time point where the added correlation value is greater than the reference correlation value; (v) setting a value corresponding to a predetermined proportion of the maximum added correlation value as a new reference correlation value; (vi) comparing between a subsequent added correlation value and the new reference correlation value as to which is greater; and (vii) estimating a time point at which the self-correlation value is greater than the new reference correlation value as a time point of synchronization and outputting a symbol synchronization signal at the time point of synchronization.