Virtual finger method and apparatus for processing digital communication signals

An apparatus configured to demodulate a composite signal containing a plurality of multi-path components, the apparatus comprising:

• buffers configured to be switchable between a write state with digital samples and a read state by a correlating element;
• a despreading element that operates via random access of buffers that are currently in read state to accumulate energy for a particular multi-path component;
• a weighting element that weights the despread energy for a particular multi-path component using a channel estimate of the particular multi-path component;
• and
• an accumulator that iteratively accumulates the despread energy for each particular multi-path component into a buffer.

A demodulator operable with spread spectrum signals in a multi-path communication environment, the demodulator comprising:

• a despreader that obtains digital samples from a first memory buffer by randomly accessing the first memory buffer, whereby the despreader is adaptable to arbitrary sample rates and symbol times;
• a channel estimator that obtains digital sample information from the despreader and provides a channel estimate of a particular multi-path component;
• and
• an accumulator that accumulates the digital samples from the despreader into a second memory buffer based on the channel estimate from the channel estimator.