Patent ID: 8971210
Filing Date: 2015-03-03
Classification: H04B,H04L,H04W

Abstract:
1. A configurable network adapter comprising: a plurality of N analog front end signal processors, each comprising a transmitter accepting an input signal, a receiver generating an output signal, and an antenna port; said N being an integer greater than 1; a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) equalizer having a first mode for N inputs and a second mode for less than N inputs; a MIMO modulator having a first mode for generating N outputs and a second mode for generating less than N outputs; a Single Input Single Output (SISO) equalizer having an input and an output; a SISO modulator having an input and an output; a first outer receiver coupled to said MIMO equalizer output, said first outer receiver coupled to the input of a first Media Access Controller (MAC); a first outer transmitter coupled from the output of said first MAC to said MIMO modulator input; a second outer receiver having an input coupled to said SISO equalizer and an output coupled to a second MAC; a second outer transmitter having an input coupled to an output of said second MAC and an output coupled to said SISO modulator input; where in a first mode of operation, each of said N analog front end signal processor transmitter signal inputs are coupled to one of said MIMO modulator outputs and each of said N analog front end signal processor receiver signal outputs are coupled to one of said MIMO equalizer inputs, said configurable network adapter thereby generating M streams of data for an N×M MIMO stream; and in a second mode of operation, each of N−1 of said N analog front end signal processor transmitter signal inputs are coupled to one of said MIMO modulator outputs and an Nth said analog front end transmitter signal input is coupled to said SISO modulator output, and each of N−1 of said analog front end signal processor receiver signal outputs are coupled to one of said MIMO equalizer inputs, and the Nth receiver signal output is coupled to said SISO equalizer input, said configurable network adapter thereby generating M−1 streams of data for an (N−1)×(M−1) MIMO stream; said MIMO equalizer and said MIMO modulator operative on N front end signal processors in said first mode and operative on N−1 analog front end signal processors in said second mode, said SISO equalizer not operative in said first mode and operative on one analog front end signal processor in said second mode.