Wireless communications device performing block equalization based upon prior, current and/or future autocorrelation matrix estimates and related methods

A wireless communications device comprising:

• a wireless receiver for receiving wireless signals comprising alternating known and unknown symbol portions;
• and
• a demodulator connected to said wireless receiver and comprising
• a channel estimation module for generating respective channel estimates for at least one prior unknown symbol portion and a current unknown symbol portion based upon adjacent known symbol portions,
• an autocorrelation module for generating autocorrelation matrices for the at least one prior and current unknown symbol portions based upon respective channel estimates,
• a channel match filter module for generating respective channel matching coefficients for the current unknown symbol portion,
• a signal energy removal module for removing a known signal energy quantity from the unknown symbol portions,
• a factorization-module for dividing the autocorrelation matrices into respective upper and lower autocorrelation matrices,
• a transformation module for transforming the channel matching coefficients into upper and lower channel matching coefficients, and
• a back-substitution module for determining the current unknown symbol portion based upon a weighted average of the upper and lower autocorrelation matrices for the current and at least one prior unknown symbol portions, and the upper and lower channel matching coefficients for the current unknown symbol portion.

A wireless communications method comprising:

• receiving wireless signals comprising alternating known and unknown symbol portions;
• generating respective channel estimates for at least one prior unknown symbol portion and a current unknown symbol portion based upon adjacent known symbol portions;
• generating autocorrelation matrices for the at least one prior and current unknown symbol portions based upon respective channel estimates;
• generating respective channel matching coefficients for the current unknown symbol portion;
• dividing the autocorrelation matrices into respective upper and lower autocorrelation matrices;
• transforming the channel matching coefficients into upper and lower channel matching coefficients;
• and
• determining the current unknown symbol portion based upon the upper and lower autocorrelation matrices for the current and at least one prior unknown symbol portions and the upper and lower channel matching coefficients for the current unknown symbol portion.

A wireless communications method comprising:

• receiving wireless signals comprising alternating known and unknown symbol portions;
• generating respective channel estimates for at least one future unknown symbol portion and a current unknown symbol portion based upon adjacent known symbol portions;
• generating autocorrelation matrices for the at least one future and current unknown symbol portions based upon respective channel estimates;
• generating respective channel matching coefficients for the current unknown symbol portion;
• dividing the autocorrelation matrices into respective upper and lower autocorrelation matrices;
• transforming the channel matching coefficients into upper and lower channel matching coefficients;
• and
• determining the current unknown symbol portion based upon the upper and lower autocorrelation matrices for the current and at least one future unknown symbol portions and the upper and lower channel matching coefficients for the current unknown symbol portion.