Patent ID: 6801790
Filing Date: 2004-10-05
Classification: H01Q,H04B

Abstract:
An antenna array comprising:at least one group of antennas comprising at least two pairs of antennas where each pair has orthogonally polarized antennas and at least one antenna from one pair is similarly polarized to at least one antenna from another pair; and switching circuitry coupled to the at least one group for dynamically reconfiguring the antenna array by selecting and activating certain antennas in the group based on characteristics of signals to be transmitted and/or being received by the antenna array or on an external control signal, based on which antennas are selected and activated by the switching circuitry, the antenna array being able to independently and simultaneously operate on different signals in a beam forming/steering mode, a MIMO BLAST mode, and/or a diversity mode, wherein some of the antennas that are selected and activated for one of the modes are also selected and activated for at least another one of the modes.