Method and apparatus for combining weight computation in a DS-CDMA RAKE receiver

A RAKE receiver circuit comprising:

• a RAKE processor circuit configured to
• obtain individual finger output signals by despreading a received signal in each of two or more RAKE fingers;
• generate channel estimates corresponding to the RAKE fingers;
• determine combining statistics comprising channel coefficient statistics, channel estimation error statistics, and noise statistics for the RAKE fingers;
• and
• compute RAKE combining weights for combining the individual finger output signals from the RAKE fingers into a RAKE combined signal based on the channel estimates and the combining statistics.

A computer readable medium storing a computer program comprising:

• program instructions to obtain individual finger output signals by despreading a received signal in each of two or more RAKE fingers;
• program instructions to generate channel estimates corresponding to the RAKE fingers;
• program instructions to determine combining statistics comprising channel coefficient statistics, channel estimation error statistics, and noise statistics for the RAKE fingers;
• and
• program instructions to compute RAKE combining weights for combining the individual finger output signals from the RAKE fingers into a RAKE combined signal based on the channel estimates and the combining statistics.

A mobile terminal comprising:

• a transmitter to transmit wireless signals to one or more remote receivers;
• a receiver to receive wireless signals from one or more remote transmitters, said receiver comprising a RAKE receiver circuit configured to:
• obtain individual finger output signals by despreading a received signal in each of two or more RAKE fingers;
• generate channel estimates corresponding to the RAKE fingers;
• determine combining statistics comprising channel coefficient statistics, channel estimation error statistics, and noise statistics for the RAKE fingers;
• and
• compute RAKE combining weights for combining the individual finger output signals from the RAKE fingers into a RAKE combined signal based on the channel estimates and the combining statistics.

A base station for use in a wireless communication network comprising:

• a transmitter to transmit wireless signals to one or more remote receivers;
• a receiver to receive wireless signals from one or more remote transmitters, said receiver comprising a RAKE receiver circuit configured to:
• obtain individual finger output signals by despreading a received signal in each of two or more RAKE fingers;
• generate channel estimates corresponding to the RAKE fingers;
• determine combining statistics comprising channel coefficient statistics, channel estimation error statistics, and noise statistics for the RAKE fingers;
• and
• compute RAKE combining weights for combining the individual finger output signals from the RAKE fingers into a RAKE combined signal based on the channel estimates and the combining statistics.