Triple data buffer system for high data rate communication systems

A slot-aligned IQ data buffer scheme 100 has a third buffer 106 that allows a processing engine to slide the selection of a vector to be processed so that it aligns with the framing of the data. This is particularly advantageous for CDMA and WCDMA systems where there are overlaying coded data streams, each with its own frame timing, since data is processed cleanly at boundaries in the data such that the processing hardware can be minimized. A first level of muxing 108 selects a pair of buffers having the data to be processed from among three buffers. A second level of muxing 110a, 110b selects the sample number required. The third level of muxing 112a, 112b selects the correct chips for the alignment of the slot. The third stage is implemented with a barrel shifter to minimize hardware generally associated with use of multiplexing.