Patent ID: 7660372

Claim:
A communication receiver, comprising: a demodulator that demodulates a received signal to generate a data symbol stream having a plurality of symbol frames, wherein each symbol frame has a plurality of symbols; and a processor coupled to the demodulator to identify a header sequence of symbols in a symbol frame of the data symbol stream by applying sequentially a predetermined number of symbols to a correlator to generate a correlator value for each set of symbols by correlating each set of symbols to a known header sequence of symbols, in which the processor is to compare and select N number of highest correlator values from the correlator values generated for a symbol frame, where N is greater than one, and in which timing addresses corresponding to the N number of the highest correlator values are to be stored in a first memory, instead of storing all the correlator values, and subsequently using the timing addresses stored in the first memory to select corresponding highest correlator values for L number of symbol frames, where L is greater than one, that correspond to the timing addresses stored in the first memory, accumulate and store corresponding highest correlator values for the L number of symbol frames in a second memory and to identify a largest accumulated highest correlator value stored in the second memory to determine location of the header sequence of symbols within each symbol frame for the plurality of symbol frames.