Patent ID: 7848446

Claim:
A method of generating a single-carrier signal from a number, N, of symbols, the method comprising: using a Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) to generate an initial set of N complex frequency components from the N symbols; generating N s different sets of permuted complex frequency components by, for each of N s times, permuting a derived set of complex frequency components by one of N s possible permutations, where 2≦N s , ≦N!, wherein the derived set of complex frequency components is derived from the initial set of N complex frequency components; generating N s candidate sets of at least N time-domain symbols by, for each of the N s sets of derived permuted frequency components, using an Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT) to generate a candidate set of at least N time-domain symbols from a respective one of the N s sets of derived permuted complex frequency components, wherein each of the sets of derived permuted complex frequency components is derived from the set of permuted complex frequency components; ascertaining which one of the N s different candidate sets of at least N time-domain symbols is associated with a smallest Peak-to-Average-Power Ratio (PAPR); and selecting, for further processing, that one of the N s different candidate sets of at least N time-domain symbols that is associated with the smallest PAPR, wherein permuting a derived set of complex frequency components by one of N s possible permutations comprises: cyclically shifting the derived set of complex frequency components by one of N s possible shift amounts, S i , wherein 0≦S i ≦(N−1) and S i ≠S j , for i≠j, 0≦i≦(N s −1), 0≦j≦(N s −1).