Patent ID: 8484274

Claim:
A method for determining the optimal pad size for a digital signal of data, the method comprising the steps of: (a) performing a two-dimensional fast Fourier transform (FFT) operation on a two-dimensional N×N array of data, using a signal processor; wherein the two-dimensional fast Fourier transform (FFT) operation comprises (i) performing a one-dimensional FFT on each row of the two-dimensional array of data to generate transformed data, (ii) performing a matrix transpose operation on the transformed data to form transposed data; and (iii) performing a one-dimensional FFT on each row of the transposed second data resulting from (ii); (b) determining the amount of time needed to perform the two-dimensional FFT operation for the N×N array of data; (c) storing the amount of time needed and the size of the N×N array of data; (d) increasing the size of the two-dimensional array of data points by one in each dimension such that the array comprises a N+1×N+1 array of data; repeating the steps of (a), (b), and (c), using the N+1×N+1 array of data; repeating the steps of (d), (a), (b), and (c), a predetermined amount of times, with the two-dimensional array of data increasing in size by one in each dimension with each repetition; (e) generating a table of optimal pad sizes from the stored amounts of time needed to perform each two-dimensional FFT, relative to the corresponding size of the array of data; (f) collecting a two-dimensional digital signal to generate a collected data signal; (g) comparing the size of the collected data signal to the table of optimal pad sizes to determine an optimal pad size for the collected data signal; and (h) outputting the optimal pad size to a user.