Method and device for carrying out a plurality of correlation procedures in a mobile telephony environment

1. A method for performing correlation in a mobile radio system comprising:

storing sample values to a data memory;

reading the sample values from the data memory according to a predetermined reading rule, wherein reading the sample values comprises reading a fixed number of sample values in a single reading step from a plurality of separately addressable memory elements within the data memory;

selecting a first correlation sequence according to the read sample values;

performing a first correlation procedure on the read sample values according to the first correlation sequence;

selecting a second correlation sequence according to the read sample values;

performing a second correlation procedure on the read sample values according to the second correlation sequence; and

wherein the first correlation procedure is associated with a first type synchronization and the second correlation procedure is associated with a second type synchronization varied from the first type synchronization.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first type synchronization is time slot synchronization and the second type synchronization is frame synchronization.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second type synchronization is time slot synchronization and the first type is frame synchronization.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first type synchronization is associated with a mobile receiver.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the number of sample values is equal to the number of the memory elements within the data memory.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the number of memory elements is greater than the number of sample values read in the single step.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising repeating the method a number of times.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first correlation procedure is performed by a first hardware correlator.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second correlation procedure is performed concurrently with the first correlation procedure.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first correlation procedure is performed by a first hardware correlator and the second correlation procedure is performed by a second hardware correlator in parallel.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first correlation procedure and the second correlation procedure are performed by a hardware correlator using time-division multiplexing.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second correlation procedure generates an estimate of delay times on propagation paths for a received signal that comprised the sample values.

13. A circuit arrangement that performs correlation procedures in a mobile radio system, the arrangement comprising:

a data memory that stores sample values from a received signal, wherein the data memory comprises a plurality of addressable memory elements;

an address generator that produces addresses for reading sample values from the data memory according to a predetermined reading rule, wherein the address generator produces a plurality of addresses in a single step; and

at least one hardware correlator that employs the produced addresses and performs a first correlation procedure using a first correlation sequence and a second correlation procedure using a second correlation sequence, wherein the second correlation sequence is varied from the first correlation sequence.

14. The circuit arrangement of claim 13 , wherein the first correlation sequence is associated with a first task in a mobile radio receiver.

15. The circuit arrangement of claim 14 , wherein the second correlation sequence is associated with a second task.

16. The circuit arrangement of claim 15 , wherein the first task is frame synchronization and the second task is time slot synchronization.

17. The circuit arrangement of claim 13 , wherein the number of the addresses produced is less than the number of the plurality of addressable memory elements.

18. The circuit arrangement of claim 13 , wherein the at least one hardware correlator comprises a single hardware correlator.

19. The circuit arrangement of claim 18 , further comprising a multiplexer arranged upstream of the single hardware correlator.

20. The circuit arrangement of claim 13 , wherein the at least one hardware correlator comprises a first hardware correlator that performs the first correlation procedure and a second hardware correlator that performs the second correlation procedure.

21. The circuit arrangement of claim 20 , wherein the first hardware correlator comprises a plurality of correlation segments parallel.