generally , there is a specific relationship between the average of the timing metrics and the timing error . as shown in fig1 , the specific relationship has a characteristic curve of an “ s ” shape , so this characteristic curve is often referred to as an “ s - curve ”. the points p and points n are stable synchronous points . since the s - curve is like a periodic curve , the sign of the average of the timing metrics is opposite in every t 2 / 2 , such as the region r 1 and the region r 2 in fig1 . according to the observation mentioned above , in practical applications more timing metrics can be obtained based on the fact that the s - curve is like a periodic curve . that is , typically a timing metric is obtained every symbol period t 2 ( i . e ., a t - spaced timing metric ); however , actually , a timing metric can be obtained less than a symbol period t 2 by shortening the sampling period , e . g ., every t 2 / 2 performing a sampling process and calculating the sampled data to generate the timing metric . if a timing metric is obtained every t 2 / 2 , this timing metric is referred to as a t / 2 - spaced timing metric . please refer to fig2 . fig2 shows a functional block diagram of a digital signal receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention . in this embodiment , the mueller and muller method is taken as an example to illustrate the operational principle of the digital signal receiver 200 . for a detailed description of the mueller and muller method please refer to k . h . mueller and m . muller , “ timing recovery in digital synchronous data receivers ,” ieee trans . communications , vol . com - 24 , pp . 516 - 531 , may 1976 . after being sampled by the sampling circuit 210 , the signal s 1 is turned into a digital data d 1 . the digital data d 1 is afterward transmitted to both the digital signal processing circuit 220 for further process and the timing error detector 230 for generating the timing metric . assuming that the timing error detector 230 initially gets two data d 1 [( k ) t 2 / 2 ] and d 1 [( k + 2 ) t 2 / 2 ] ( where k is an integer and t 2 being the symbol period ) to generate a timing metric m 1 , then the timing error detector 230 gets the next two data d 1 [( k + 1 ) t 2 / 2 ] and d 1 [( k + 3 ) t 2 / 2 ], which are respectively sampled with a t 2 / 2 delay with respect to the former two data , to generate the next timing metric m 2 . according to the s - curve statistically , the signs of the timing metric m 1 and the timing metric m 2 are opposite , and therefore a timing metric processing circuit 240 is required to process the timing metric m 1 and the timing metric m 2 in advance . afterward , the result m ′ generated from the timing metric processing circuit 240 is transmitted to a symbol timing correction circuit 250 , which utilizes the result m ′ as a reference information to correct symbol timing . please refer to fig3 . fig3 shows a circuitry of the timing error detector 230 and the timing metric processing circuit 240 according to a first embodiment of the present invention . in this embodiment , a timing error detector 310 includes quantizers 311 and 312 . after timing error detector 310 processes the digital data d 1 , and timing metric m is generated . the timing metric m is transmitted to the timing metric processing circuit 240 and then a result m ′ is generated . the result m ′ is transmitted to the symbol timing correction circuit 250 for further processing . the timing error detector 310 utilizes the mueller and muller method architecture , and use t 2 / 2 delay time for delaying the digital data d 1 to get the correct symbol timing more effectively . on the other hands , based on the characteristic of the s - curve , the timing metric processing circuit 320 is modified to obtain more effective timing metrics compared to the timing metric processing circuit of prior art . the delay time of the delay circuit 322 is modified from t 2 to t 2 / 2 and allocated behind the delay circuit 322 is a multiplier 324 , which receives timing metrics m and multiplies the timing metrics m by 1 and − 1 in turn , i . e ., the sign in one of two incoming timing metrics will be changed . originally , only one timing metric m is obtained in one symbol period t 2 ; however , by modifying the timing metric processing circuit 320 , more timing metrics m can be obtained in one symbol period t 2 . because that one timing metric m is obtained in less than one symbol period t 2 , the symbol timing correction becomes more efficient . please refer to fig4 . fig4 shows a circuitry of the timing error detector 230 and the timing metric processing circuit 240 according to a second embodiment of the present invention . in this embodiment , the timing error detector 310 is the same as the mention above , and the timing metric processing circuit 410 utilizes two delay circuits 412 and 414 , the delay times of which are t 2 and t 2 ′. the periods of the delay times t 2 and t 2 ′ are the same , i . e ., the periods of the two delay times can both be set t 2 , but the phase difference between the two delay times is t 2 / 2 . allocated behind the delay circuit 414 is a multiplier 416 , which multiplies every timing metric passing through the multiplier 416 by − 1 . that is , the sign of every timing metric m changes after the timing metric passes through the delay time 414 . the delay times of delay circuits 412 and 414 are both t 2 , and the phase between them is set t 2 / 2 , i . e ., a timing metric is effectively obtained every t 2 / 2 . moreover , the sign of one of two successive timing metrics is changed , which corresponds to the characteristic of the s - curve . as a result , more timing metrics can be obtained within a symbol period t 2 , i . e ., a timing metric is generated within less than a symbol period t 2 , providing a more effective correction on the symbol timing . please refer fig5 . fig5 shows a circuitry of the timing error detector 230 and the timing metric processing circuit 240 according to a third embodiment of the present invention . in this embodiment , a timing error detector 510 includes quantizers 511 and 512 . the timing error detector 510 also adopts the same mueller and muller method to generate timing metrics . the timing error detector 510 changes the sign in one of two successive timing metrics , summing one timing metric and the other sign - changed timing metric to generate a result , and then outputs the result . more specifically , the timing error detector 510 gets the two data d 1 [( k ) t 2 / 2 ] and d 1 [( k + 2 ) t 2 / 2 ] to generate a timing metric m 1 , and subsequently gets the two data d 1 [( k + 1 ) t 2 / 2 ] and d 1 [( k + 3 ) t 2 / 2 ] to generate a timing metric m 2 . the timing error detector 510 changes the sign of the timing metric m 2 and then adds the sign - changed m 2 with m 1 , i . e ., actually , the timing error detector 510 outputs a data of m 1 - m 2 to the timing metric processing circuit 520 . the timing metric processing circuit 520 adopts a delay circuit 522 of a delay time of t 2 , meaning that the timing metric processing circuit 520 generates a timing metric m ′ every timing period t 2 . each timing metric m ′ practically comprises information of two timing metrics ( e . g ., m 1 and m 2 ). as a result , the symbol timing correction circuit 250 also practically receives one timing metric m ′ every symbol period ; however , each timing metric m ′ comprises more information for correction . therefore , the symbol timing can be more effectively corrected . according to the embodiments mentioned above , two data processing methods can be summarized referring to the timing error detector 230 and the timing metric processing circuit 240 . by utilizing one of the two methods , all timing metrics can be turned into effective information . 1 . changing the sign of odd or even timing metrics ( the method adopted by the first and the second embodiments ). since the fact that the s - curve is like a periodic curve implies that the signs of two timing metrics , whose phase difference is half symbol period , are opposite , the signs of all timing metrics are made the same . therefore , the sign in one of two successive timing metrics is changed . in practical applications , it is optional to change the signs of the odd timing metrics or the even timing metrics . 2 . subtracting two successive timing metrics , i . e ., subtracting the even timing metrics from the odd timing metrics or subtracting the odd timing metrics from the even timing metrics ( the method adopted by the third embodiment ). for example , assuming that timing metrics m [ 1 ], m [ 2 ], m [ 3 ], m [ 4 ], . . . are generated in sequence , therefore , modified timing metrics such as m [ 1 ]- m [ 2 ], m [ 3 ]- m [ 4 ], . . . or m [ 2 ]- m [ 1 ], m [ 4 ]- m [ 3 ], . . . are utilized to correct the symbol timing of the receiver . in summary , typically only one timing metric is generated within one symbol period ; however based on the method and apparatus disclosed in the present invention , a timing metric is generated within less than one symbol period . in other words , more than one timing metrics ( e . g ., 2 timing metrics ) correspond to one symbol period . since more timing metrics are therefore obtained , correction of the symbol timing is more effectively achieved . those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention . accordingly , the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims .