Patent ID: 7324783

Claim:
A method for estimating an accurate signal quality metric of a received signal, the method comprising: receiving a signal; calculating an estimated signal quality metric {circumflex over (Z)} of the received signal, wherein the estimated signal quality metric {circumflex over (Z)} is based on Z ^ = [ E ⁢ {  r ⁡ ( t )  } ] 2 E ⁢ { r 2 ⁡ ( t ) } - [ E ⁢ {  r ⁡ ( t )  } ] 2 , wherein E is mean value and r(t) is the level of the received signal, [E{|r(t)|}] 2 is the estimated signal power, and E{r 2 (t)}−[E{|r(t)|}] 2 is a difference of the estimated total power and the estimated signal power; determining a correction factor based on a received signal variance and an estimated amplitude; and applying the correction factor to the estimated signal quality metric to determine a corrected signal quality metric.