Patent ID: 7200133

Claim:
A rake finger receiver, for use in a wireless spread communication system, the wireless spread communication system including a base station and a plurality of mobile stations, each mobile station establishing a radio link to the base station so as to transmit a spread signal indicative of a plurality of information bits, the spread signals being transmitted in an environment with multipath interference so that a plurality of multipath components are generated in each of the spread signals, the base station including a plurality of antennas, each antenna receiving a wireless signal and outputting an antenna output signal, the rake finger receiver comprising: a multiplexer, coupled to the antennas, for receiving the antenna output signals, selecting one of the antenna output signals as an input signal according to a multiplex control signal, and outputting the input signal; a searcher, coupled to the multiplexer, for receiving the input signal, searching the input signal, according to a search control signal, for delay times of the multipath components corresponding to one of the radio links in the input signal, and outputting a propagation delay signal according to the delay times; a first switch fabric, including a plurality of input terminals and a plurality of output terminals, wherein the input terminals are coupled to the antennas respectively, and the first switch fabric is used for receiving the antenna output signals and outputting a plurality of first switch signals according to a first switch control signal; a rake fingers and tracking pool, including a plurality of rake fingers coupled to the respective output terminals of the first switch fabric, wherein each of the rake fingers receives at most one of the first switch signals, and produces a despread signal by despreading the received first switch signal and adjusting the propagation delay of the received switch signal, according to a rake finger control signal; a second switch fabric, coupled to the rake fingers, for receiving the despread signals and outputting a plurality of switched despread signals according to a second switch control signal; a combiner, coupled to the second switch fabric, for producing a combined signal by combining the switched despread signals according to channel parameters; a decoder, coupled to the combiner, for receiving the combined signal and producing a decoded signal by obtaining the information bits from the combined signal; a channel estimator, coupled to the rake fingers, for estimating channel characteristics of the despread signals and outputting the channel parameters according to the channel characteristics; and a rake finger controller, coupled to the searcher, the rake fingers and tracking pool, the combiner, the decoder, and the channel estimator, the rake finger controller being used for controlling the rake finger receiver and outputting the multiplex control signal, the search control signal, the first switch control signal, and the second switch control signal.