Forward power control apparatus and method for use in a multi-carrier communication system

An apparatus for calculating SIR for a forward power control operation in a mobile station of a multi-carrier communication system supporting multiple carriers, comprising:

• a first and second PN despreaders for multiplying associated received carrier signals respectively by a PN code and outputting first and second PN despread signals;
• a plurality of first orthogonal code despreaders for multiplying the first PN despread signals by a traffic channel orthogonal code and outputting traffic channel despread signals;
• a plurality of second orthogonal code despreaders for multiplying the second PN despread signals by a sync channel orthogonal code and outputting sync channel despread signals;
• a plurality of signal energy measurers for measuring signal energies of the respective carriers by processing the traffic channel despread signals;
• a plurality of interference energy measurers for measuring interference energies of the respective carriers by processing the sync channel despread signals;
• and
• a plurality of SIR calculators for calculating SIR values of the respective carriers by receiving the signal energies and the interference energies, measured by the signal energy measurers and the interference energy processors, and outputting the calculated SIR values as forward power control information.

A forward power control apparatus for a multi-carrier communication system supporting multiple carriers and having multiple fingers, comprising:

• a plurality of first and second PN despreaders, included in the respective fingers, for multiplying associated received carrier signals by a PN code and outputting first and second PN despread signals;
• a plurality of first orthogonal code despreaders, included in the respective fingers, for multiplying the first PN despread signals by a traffic channel orthogonal code and outputting traffic channel despread signals;
• a plurality of second orthogonal code despreaders, included in the respective fingers, for multiplying the second PN despread signals by a sync channel orthogonal code and outputting sync channel despread signals;
• a plurality of signal energy measurers, included in the respective fingers, for measuring signal energies of the respective carriers by processing the traffic channel despread signals;
• a plurality of interference energy measurers, included in the respective fingers, for measuring interference energies of the respective carriers by processing the sync channel despread signals;
• a plurality of SIR calculators, included in the respective fingers, for calculating SIR values of the respective carriers in the respective fingers by receiving the signal energies and the interference energies, measured by the signal energy measurers and the interference energy measurers;
• a plurality of summers for summing up the SIR values of the respective carriers in the respective fingers, calculated by the SIR calculators;
• a plurality of comparators for comparing the SIR values of the respective carriers with a predetermined threshold and outputting a compared signal;
• and
• a multiplexer for multiplexing output signals of the respective comparators and outputting the multiplexed signals as forward power control information.

A method for performing forward power control in a mobile station of a mobile communication system, comprising the steps of:

• (a) multiplying a received signal by a unique PN code and outputting a PN despread signal;
• (b) multiplying the PN despread signal by a sync channel orthogonal code and a traffic channel orthogonal code and outputting first and second orthogonal code despread signals;
• (c) measuring interference energy by processing the first orthogonal code despread signal;
• (d) measuring signal energy by processing the second orthogonal code despread signal;
• (e) calculating SIR depending on the measured signal energy and interference energy;
• and
• (f) comparing the calculated SIR with a predetermined threshold and transmitting a compared signal to a base station as a forward power control command.