ACK/NACK detection in wireless communication

A receiver having improved acknowledgment or negative acknowledgment signal detection in a mobile terminal of a wireless communication system, comprising:

• a front end receiver for receiving a radio signal from a base station connected to said mobile terminal, said radio signal normally including either an acknowledgment signal or a negative acknowledgment signal;
• a control unit for estimating a probability of a discontinuous transmission;
• a threshold computation unit for calculating a minimum acknowledgment signal threshold for said mobile terminal to correctly detect said acknowledgment signal using said probability of said discontinuous transmission;
• and
• a detector unit for detecting whether said acknowledgment signal was received or whether a negative acknowledgment signal was received using said minimum acknowledgment signal threshold.

A method for improving detection of acknowledgment or negative acknowledgment signals in a mobile terminal at a time when said mobile terminal is connected to multiple base stations, comprising:

• receiving a radio signal from said multiple base stations at said mobile terminal, each radio signal normally including either an acknowledgment signal or a negative acknowledgment signal;
• estimating a probability of a discontinuous transmission for each one of said base stations;
• calculating a minimum acknowledgment signal threshold for said mobile terminal to correctly detect said acknowledgment signal for each one of said base stations using said probability of a discontinuous transmission for a respective one of said base stations;
• and
• detecting whether said acknowledgment signal was received for each one of said base stations or whether a negative acknowledgment signal was received for each one of said base stations using said minimum acknowledgment signal threshold for a respective one of said base stations.