Patent ID: 7526015

Claim:
A method for processing spread spectrum signals through a two step integration process in a circuit having an intermediate frequency signal preprocessing unit and a plurality of block integrators, wherein the circuit receiving a digitized signal, a local reference signal, and a pseudorandom noise code, comprising the steps of: a) generating a plurality of data streams by the intermediate frequency signal preprocessing unit using the digitized signal and the local reference signal, wherein each data stream is generated every predetermined time period includes pre-integration results generated by the intermediate frequency signal preprocessing unit at a predetermined rate; b) receiving at each block integrator a data stream and the pseudorandom noise code; c) obtaining a partial correlation by performing multiplication and addition calculations based on a predetermined number of pre-integration results of the data stream and a segment of the pseudorandom noise code; d) shifting the segment of the pseudorandom noise code by a predetermined position; e) repeating step c) and d) until a second predetermined number of partial correlations is achieved in each block integrator; f) shifting the predetermined number of pre-integration results received by each block integrator after a pre-integration result of the data stream is generated; and g) repeating step c) through f) until the first predetermined number of partial correlations is achieved in each block integrator; h) performing a first predetermined number of partial correlations at each block integrator based on the data stream and the pseudorandom noise code to obtain a first predetermined number of partial correlation results; and i) computing a predetermined number of complete correlation results based on the first predetermined number of partial correlation results; wherein the generation of a pre-integration result further comprising the steps of: multiplying each data point of the digitized signal by each respective data point of the local reference signal to produce multiplication results; and adding the multiplication results to produce a pre-integration result within a data length.