Patent ID: 6438389
Filing Date: 2002-08-20
Classification: H01Q,H04B

Abstract:
A wireless communication system comprising:a) a beam former for receiving signals from a plurality of antennas, and for combining the antenna signals to form N beam signals corresponding to N distinct beams; b) K beam selector switches, wherein each beam selector switch selects exactly one beam signal from the N beam signals, and wherein K is an integer greater than or equal to 2; c) a signal quality measurement device for measuring signal quality of the-N beam signals; d) a computer for receiving signal quality measurements from the measurement device, and for comparing the signal quality measurements, wherein the computer commands the beam selector switches to select high quality beam signals from among the N beam signals; e) K RF chains for receiving the K selected beam signals, wherein each RF chain is in communication with a single beam selector switch; f) a combiner for combining signals from the RF chains to produce an output signal.