Patent ID: 7369599

Claim:
A method for improving the acquisition time of positioning signals received by a mobile station, comprising: receiving a plurality of positioning signals in a reference receiver remote from the mobile station, including determining a code phase of the plurality of positioning signals comprising receiving a composite signal, wherein each among the plurality of received signals is based at least in part on at least a portion of the composite signal; wherein the determining a code phase of each among a plurality of received signals comprises calculating a correlation, for each among the plurality of received signals, between a corresponding code sequence and a signal based at least in part on the composite signal; wherein each among the plurality of received signals has a corresponding periodic code; wherein each among the code phases relates to a corresponding predetermined position within the corresponding periodic code; wherein the code sequence relates at least in part to the corresponding periodic code; determining a time difference between the code phases of at least a first and a second positioning signal among the plurality of received positioning signals; transmitting said time difference to the mobile station; and receiving the first and second positioning signals at the mobile station, including reducing the search space for the code phase of the second positioning signal based at least in part on said time difference.