Patent ID: 9203482
Filing Date: 2015-12-01
Classification: H04B

Abstract:
1. A multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radio communications device comprising: four or more diverse antennas each suitable for receiving radio frequency signals of a radio communications technology; a plurality of receive chains each suitable for processing radio frequency signals of the radio communications technology to recover transmitted user data, said processing comprising performing a cyclic redundancy check and wherein there are at least twice as many antennas as receive chains; and a cyclic-redundancy check-triggered blind selector arranged to switch, for each receive chain, from an antenna currently selected for use in conjunction with that receive chain to recover the transmitted user data to a newly selected one of the antennas for use in conjunction with that receive chain, said selection of the newly selected antenna being performed by blind selection, wherein said cyclic-redundancy-check-triggered blind selector is arranged to perform said antenna selection without MIMO channel knowledge according to a pre-determined rule, and not by searching for the best antenna selection, the pre-determined rule defining a sequence for selection of antennas, said cyclic-redundancy-check-triggered blind selector being triggered to process said rule, said triggering being by the detection of one or more block errors in the cyclic redundancy check relating only to the currently selected antenna and not to any other of the antennas, whereby to trigger said blind selection, wherein said sequence for selection of antennas is such that for each of the plurality of receive chains, an antenna currently not selected for use in conjunction with any of the plurality of receive chains will be selected when said cyclic-redundancy-check-triggered blind selector is triggered.