Methods and communication devices for performing cell search and detection

1. A mobile communication device comprising:

a cell search circuit configured to:

process a first block of signal waveform data to extract a first discrete parameter set, wherein the first discrete parameter set identifies one or more first potential cells present in the first block of signal waveform data,

process the second block of signal waveform data to extract a second discrete parameter set, wherein the second discrete parameter set identifies one or more second potential cells present in the second block of signal waveform data,

compare the first discrete parameter set and the second discrete parameter set to identify one or more matching cells, and

a radio frequency (RF) transceiver configured to transmit or receive radio signals based on the identification of one or more matching cells,

wherein the cell search circuit is further configured to discard the first block of signal waveform data before processing the second block of signal waveform data to extract the second discrete parameter set.

2. The mobile communication device of claim 1 , further comprising a signal memory, wherein the cell search circuit is configured to discard the first block of signal waveform data by discarding the first block of signal waveform data from the signal memory before processing the second block of signal waveform data to extract the second discrete parameter set.

3. The mobile communication device of claim 1 , wherein the first discrete parameter set and the second discrete parameter set each comprise one or more cell identity and cell timing pairs.

4. The mobile communication device of claim 3 , wherein the cell search circuit is configured to compare the first discrete parameter set and the second discrete parameter set to identify one or more matching cells by:

comparing the one or more cell identity and cell timing pairs of the first discrete parameter set to the one or more cell identity and cell timing pairs of the second discrete parameter set to identify one or more matching cell identity and cell timing pairs.

5. The mobile communication device of claim 1 , wherein the cell search circuit is configured to process the first block of signal waveform data to extract the first discrete parameter set by:

performing synchronization sequence detection on the first block of signal waveform data, wherein the first discrete parameter set identifies one or more synchronization sequences transmitted by the one or more first potential cells.

6. The mobile communication device of claim 1 , wherein the cell search circuit is configured to compare the first discrete parameter set and the second discrete parameter set to identify the one or more matching cells by:

identifying one or more cells that are represented in both the first discrete parameter set and the second discrete parameter set as the one or more matching cells.

7. The mobile communication device of claim 1 , wherein the cell search circuit is configured to compare the first discrete parameter set and the second discrete parameter set to identify the one or more matching cells by:

identifying the one or matching cells based on one or more of cell identity parameters, cell timing parameters, cell duplex mode parameters, or cell cyclic prefix length parameters.

8. The mobile communication device of claim 1 , wherein the cell search circuit is configured to process the first block of signal waveform data to extract the first discrete parameter set by:

identifying one or more candidate cells that are detectable in the first block of signal waveform data;

identifying one or more strongest candidate cells of the one or more candidate cells; and

generating the first discrete parameter set with the one or more strongest candidate cells as the one or more first potential cells.

9. The mobile communication device of claim 1 , wherein the cell search circuit is configured to process the first block of signal waveform data to extract the first discrete parameter set by:

identify one or more first candidate cells that are detectable in the first block of signal waveform data;

exclusively selecting the one or more first potential cells as a smaller subset of the one or more first candidate cells; and

storing the first discrete parameter set in a database.

10. The mobile communication device of claim 1 , wherein the RF transceiver is configured to transmit or receive radio signals based on the identification of the one or more matching cells by one or more of:

transmitting or receiving radio signals with a target cell of the one or more matching cells;

establishing a radio connection with the target cell of the one or more matching cells;

performing radio measurements on the target cell of the one or more matching cells; or

transmitting a report on the target cell to a cellular communication network.

11. A method for identifying network cells, the method comprising:

processing a first block of signal waveform data to extract a first discrete parameter set, wherein the first discrete parameter set identifies one or more first potential cells present in the first block of signal waveform data;

processing the second block of signal waveform data to extract a second discrete parameter set, wherein the second discrete parameter set identifies one or more second potential cells present in the second block of signal waveform data;

comparing the first discrete parameter set and the second discrete parameter set to identify one or more matching cells; and

transmitting or receiving radio signals based on the identification of the one or more matching cells,

discarding the first block of signal waveform data before processing the second block of signal waveform data to extract the second discrete parameter set.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the first discrete parameter set comprises one or more first cell identity and cell timing pairs that identify the one or more first potential cells and the second discrete parameter set comprises one or more second cell identity and cell timing pairs that identify the one or more second potential cells.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein comparing the first discrete parameter set and the second discrete parameter set to identify the one or more matching cells comprises:

performing ghost cell filtering with the first discrete parameter set and the second discrete parameter set to identify the one or more matching cells as real cells.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein processing the first block of signal waveform data to extract the first discrete parameter set comprises:

performing synchronization sequence detection on the first block of signal waveform data, wherein the first discrete parameter set identifies one or more synchronization sequences transmitted by the one or more first potential cells.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein processing the first block of signal waveform data to extract the first discrete parameter set comprises:

identifying one or more candidate cells that are detectable in the first block of signal waveform data;

identifying one or more strongest candidate cells of the one or more candidate cells; and

generating the first discrete parameter set with the one or more strongest candidate cells as the one or more first potential cells.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein transmitting or receiving radio signals based on the identification of the one or more matching cells comprises one or more of:

transmitting or receiving radio signals with a target cell of the one or more matching cells;

establishing a radio connection with the target cell of the one or more matching cells;

performing radio measurements on the target cell of the one or more matching cells; or

transmitting a report on the target cell to a cellular communication network.

17. A mobile communication device comprising:

a shared result database;

a radio frequency (RF) transceiver; and

a cell search circuit configured to:

sequentially process each of a plurality of signal waveform data blocks to extract a discrete cell parameter set for each of the plurality of signal waveform data blocks and discard each respective signal waveform data block of the plurality of signal waveform data blocks after extracting the corresponding discrete cell parameter set;

store the discrete parameter cell parameter set for each of the plurality of signal waveform data blocks in a shared result database; and

identify one or more matching cells based on the shared result database,

the RF transceiver configured to transmit or receive radio signals based on the identification of the one or more matching cells.

18. The mobile communication device of claim 17 , wherein the cell search is further configured to discard each respective signal waveform data block of the plurality of signal waveform data block after extracting the corresponding discrete cell parameter set from the respective signal waveform data block.