Patent ID: 6967989

Claim:
A method for use in a rake receiver structure having K correlators, the method for time-sharing the K correlators to process correlation of a block of input samples of pilot, control, and data channels of a plurality of branches requiring N correlations for complete processing of said block, wherein K is less than N, the method comprising for said block of input samples the steps of: processing the pilot channels for the plurality of branches by the K correlators to derive pilot symbols for each of the plurality of branches before processing the control and data channels; determining a timing estimate for each of the plurality of branches from said pilot symbols; determining a signal quality for each of the plurality of branches from said pilot symbols; and subsequently processing the control and data channels of the plurality of branches by the K correlators, in an order determined by a plurality of branch attributes comprising at least one of the signal quality and the timing estimate determined for each of the plurality of branches.