The invention relates to a differential phase detection method, which is suitable for real-time detection of a burst sequence in a received signal, comprising the following steps: calculating the complex phase difference of every two continuous samples in the received signal; comparing each phase difference with an upper limit and a lower limit, detecting the burst and finding the end point of the burst; and estimating a burst frequency of the burst when the burst is detected. The invention detects the burst sequence in the received signal, and finds out the end point of the burst sequence, and the end point of the burst sequence can be regarded as a timing reference by the receiver, and can be realized in a simple, rapid and low-cost method. The frequency of the burst sequence is detected by means of the burst sequence, and the burst sequence is used to adjust the frequency of the local oscillator to maintain the synchronization between the receiving end and the transmitting end.