Patent ID: 7885237

Claim:
A method for operating a wireless terminal to perform cell search operations within a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) network, the method comprising: generating a wireless terminal clock using a wireless terminal oscillator; scanning a received signal in search of a WCDMA signal, the WCDMA signal produced by a base station using a base station clock that is produced using a base station oscillator that is more accurate than the wireless terminal oscillator; and for each of a plurality of Primary Synchronization (PSYNC) correlation branches: phase rotating the received signal based upon a respective frequency offset; correlating the phase rotated received signal with a Primary Synchronization Channel (P-SCH) code over a plurality of positions; and producing PSYNC correlation energies based upon the correlations for each of the plurality of positions; determining a frequency offset between the wireless terminal clock and the base station clock based upon the PSYNC correlation energies of the plurality of PSYNC correlation branches; and using the frequency offset, performing further cell search operations.