Patent ID: 7173958

Claim:
A cell search method for use in a wideband code division multiple access (W-CDMA) system, the cell search method comprising: matching an incoming signal having an uncertain range of carrier frequency from a base station; over-sampling the incoming signal, thereby obtaining an over-sampled incoming signal; down-sampling the over-sampled incoming signal into a down-sampled incoming signal having a plurality of slot boundaries; and applying a trial to the down-sampled incoming signal, wherein the trial comprising: slot synchronizing the down-sampled incoming signal as a first stage; frame synchronizing and code group identifying the down-sampled incoming signal as a second stage; identifying a scrambling code of the down-sampled incoming signal as a third stage, wherein the first stage, the second stage, and the third stage are each further comprised of dividing the uncertain range of carrier frequency into a plurality of cells such that each of the plurality of cells has a sub-carrier frequency; testing the scrambling code against a threshold Î· 0 as a first verification; and testing the scrambling code of the first verification that has exceeded the threshold Î· 0 as a second verification.