Patent ID: 8611475

Claim:
A symbol boundary detection method for detecting a symbol boundary of a received signal, wherein the received signal comprises a plurality of data bursts which are transmitted via a plurality of path channels, each of the data bursts comprises a plurality of preamble symbols which are decoded, and the method comprises: generating a plurality of correlation patterns according to the decoded preamble symbols, wherein each of the correlation patterns has different parts of the decoded preamble symbols; performing a channel estimation procedure, comprising: performing a cross correlation of each of the correlation patterns with the received signal to yield a plurality of correlation results of channel impulse response (CIR); adjusting a position of a symbol window according to each of the correlation results to calculate a total inter-symbol interference (ISI) power contributed by the path channels, whereby a plurality of total ISI powers is calculated by repeatedly adjusting the position of the symbol window, wherein each of the total ISI powers corresponds to one of the positions, whereby a minimum of the ISI powers is determined; and choosing the position corresponding to the minimum of the ISI powers to act as an optimal symbol window to determine the symbol boundary of the received signal.