Method and apparatus for determining signal-to-noise ratio

1. A method of determining a signal-to-noise ratio in a wireless network, comprising:

despreading the received signals by applying an unused channelization code;

determining noise power based on output of the despreading;

cancelling the noise power from power of at least one of the received signals to produce at least a modified received signal power; and

determining, by a processor, a signal-to-noise ratio, SIR, based on the noise power and the modified received signal power, wherein

the despreading, the determining noise power and the canceling are performed for a plurality of fingers of a receiver, and

the determining a SIR includes,

determining an estimated noise power for each of the plurality of fingers based on the noise power determined for each of the plurality of fingers and a total antenna power for each of the plurality of fingers, and

determining a SIR based on the estimated noise powers for each of the fingers and the modified received signal power for each of the plurality of fingers.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the noise power includes power from noise and cross-finger interference, and the estimated noise power includes power from the noise but not from the cross-finger interference.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining an estimated noise power determines the estimated noise power, for a particular finger from the plurality of fingers, by subtracting a first sum from a second sum, the first sum is a sum of the total antenna power for each of the plurality of fingers except the particular finger, and the second sum is a sum of the noise power determined for each of the plurality of fingers.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the determining a SIR comprises:

determining, for each of the plurality of fingers, a finger SIR based on the modified received signal power for the finger and the estimated noise power for the finger; and

adding the finger SIRs for the plurality of fingers.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining an estimated noise power determines the estimated noise power, for a particular finger from the plurality of fingers, by subtracting a first sum from the total antenna power for the particular finger, and the first sum is a sum of signal powers for signals received by the particular finger.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the determining a SIR comprises:

determining, for each of the plurality of fingers, a finger SIR based on the modified received signal power for the finger and the estimated noise power for the finger; and

adding the finger SIRs for the plurality of fingers.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining a SIR comprises:

determining, for each of the plurality of fingers, a finger SIR based on the modified received signal power for the finger and the estimated noise power for the finger; and

adding the finger SIRs for the plurality of fingers.

8. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

performing uplink power control based on the determined SIR.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

performing uplink power control based on the determined SIR.

10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

performing uplink power control based on the determined SIR.

11. A receiver, comprising:

a plurality of fingers, each finger being configured to,

despread received signals by applying an unused channelization code,

determine a noise power based on output of the despreading,

cancel the noise power from power of at least one of the received signals to produce at least a modified received signal power; and

a signal-to-noise ratio, SIR, generator configured to generate a SIR based on the noise powers and the modified received signal powers, wherein the SIR generator is configured to,

determine an estimated noise power for each of the plurality of fingers based on the noise power determined for each of the plurality of fingers and a total antenna power for each of the plurality of fingers, and

generate the SIR based on the estimated noise powers for each of the fingers and the modified received signal power for each of the plurality of fingers.