Patent Publication Number: US-2023147527-A1

Title: Antenna Allocation Between Different Radio Access Technologies

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATION 
     The present disclosure is part of a non-provisional patent application claiming the priority benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/277,215, filed 9 Nov. 2021. The content of aforementioned application is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present disclosure is generally related to wireless communication, and more particularly, to methods and apparatus for optimizing allocation of antennas between communication services employing different radio access technologies (RATs). 
     BACKGROUND 
     Unless otherwise indicated herein, approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims listed below and are not admitted as prior art by inclusion in this section. 
     With the norm of multiple antennas being equipped on a user equipment (UE), multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) techniques have been widely applied in various wireless communication environments as a prominent feature for enhancing communication reliability, increasing data transmission rate, and/or reducing communication latency. For example, in the year 2009, MIMO is formally included in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11n wireless local area network (WLAN) operating standard, with a maximum MIMO number of 4R×4T, or 4×4 (i.e., four individual receivers receiving four spatially encoded streams and four individual transmitters transmitting four spatially encoded streams). Namely, four spatially encoded streams are allowed in a connection link between a UE and a WLAN router or access point. MIMO continues to be a key feature of recent IEEE WLAN standards such as 802.11ac (in 2013) and 802.11ax (in 2021), both supporting a maximum MIMO number of 8×8 (i.e., eight individual receivers receiving eight spatially encoded streams and eight individual transmitters transmitting eight spatially encoded streams). 
     MIMO has also been adopted by various cellular mobile networks. For example, 4 th  generation (4G) Long-Term Evolution (LTE) networks allow for single-user MIMO (SU-MIMO) connection between a UE and a network base station, whereas 4G LTE-Advanced standard further extends the application to multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO). In recent releases of the 3 rd  Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standard for 5 th  Generation (5G)/New Radio (NR) mobile communications, MIMO is taken to the next level, with MIMO techniques supported at a much larger scale for enhanced network performance. The MIMO feature in 5G NR, often referred to as Massive MIMO, has been defined to support MIMO numbers of 32×32, 64×64, and beyond. 
     In general, each spatial stream of a MIMO scheme demands at least one dedicated physical antenna for the spatial stream to be received and/or transmitted. While it may not be difficult for a base station to incorporate or otherwise be equipped with as many antennas as demanded by the MIMO-based communication services intended to be provided by the base station, there is generally an upper limit on the quantity of antennas a UE is able to bear. This is because each antenna takes up some precious real estate of the UE, whereas the UE is often a cellular phone or another handheld or wearable mobile device having a certain physical size. Namely, in practical communication applications, the maximum MIMO number is often dictated or otherwise limited by the number of antennas equipped on a UE, rather than by the maximum MIMO number defined in or otherwise allowed by various communication standards. For example, a cell phone, given its limited physical size, may only be equipped with four modem antennas for communicating with a base station of a cellular network, as well as two Wi-Fi antennas for communicating with a WLAN access point. With the number of the modem antennas on the UE being four, the maximum MIMO number of a cellular communication link between the cell phone and the base station is limited to 4 (i.e., using a 4×4 MIMO scheme), even if the cellular network is a 5G NR network which is capable of providing better quality for the communication link by performing 6×6, 8×8 or 32×32 MIMO communications. Likewise, with the number of the Wi-Fi antennas on the UE being two, the maximum MIMO number of a Wi-Fi communication link between the cell phone and the WLAN access point is limited to 2 (i.e., using a 2×2 MIMO scheme), regardless the WLAN access point may be operating according to the 802.11ax standard and is capable of performing 8×8 MIMO communications. 
     SUMMARY 
     The following summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be limiting in any way. That is, the following summary is provided to introduce concepts, highlights, benefits and advantages of the novel and non-obvious techniques described herein. Select implementations are further described below in the detailed description. Thus, the following summary is not intended to identify essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended for use in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. 
     An objective of the present disclosure is to propose solutions or schemes that address the aforementioned issues or limitations. More specifically, various schemes proposed in the present disclosure pertain to enhancing communication performance by properly allocating antennas between connections using different RATs. 
     In one aspect, a method is provided which is implementable in a UE that has a first connection to a first network and a second connection to a second network. The first and second connections employ a first RAT and second RAT, respectively. The method may involve the UE detecting a precondition of changing a first MIMO setting of the first connection. The method may also involve the UE communicating to the first network an intent to change the first MIMO setting of the first connection. The method may also involve the UE reconfiguring the first connection by changing the first MIMO setting responsive to the detecting. The method may further involve reconfiguring the second connection corresponding to the reconfiguring of the first connection. 
     In another aspect, an apparatus may include a first transceiver that is configured to establish a first connection to a first network using a first RAT. The apparatus may additionally include a second transceiver configured to establish a second connection to a second network using a second RAT. The apparatus may further include a processor that is configured to detect a precondition of changing a first MIMO setting of the first connection. The processor may also be configured to communicate to the first network, via the first transceiver, an intent to change the first MIMO setting of the first connection. The processor may further be configured to reconfigure the first connection and the second connection according to the intent. Specifically, responsive to the detecting of the precondition, the apparatus may reconfigure the first connection by changing the first MIMO setting, and subsequently reconfigure the second connection corresponding to the reconfiguring of the first connection. The apparatus may also include a plurality of antennas, which may be divided into a first group and a second group. The one or more antennas of the first group are configured to engage with the first transceiver to service the first connection, whereas the one or more antennas of the second group are configured to engage with the second transceiver to service the second connection. 
     It is noteworthy that, although description provided herein may be in the context of certain radio access technologies, networks and network topologies such as Wi-Fi or 5G NR, the proposed concepts, schemes and any variation(s)/derivative(s) thereof may be implemented in, for and by other types of radio access technologies, networks and network topologies such as, for example and without limitation, Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), ZigBee, infrared, Long-Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced, LTE-Advanced Pro, 5th Generation (5G), New Radio (NR), Internet-of-Things (IoT), Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT), Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Thus, the scope of the present disclosure is not limited to the examples described herein. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure and are incorporated in and constitute a part of the present disclosure. The drawings illustrate implementations of the disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure. It is appreciable that the drawings are not necessarily in scale as some components may be shown to be out of proportion than the size in actual implementation in order to clearly illustrate the concept of the present disclosure. 
         FIG.  1    is a diagram of an example network environment in which various proposed schemes in accordance with the present disclosure may be implemented. 
         FIG.  2    is a diagram illustrating various antennas of an example user equipment in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. 
         FIG.  3    is a diagram of two example schemes in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. 
         FIG.  4    is a diagram of an example scheme in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. 
         FIG.  5    is a table showing communication requirements corresponding suitable MIMO settings for various applications. 
         FIG.  6    is a diagram of two example schemes in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. 
         FIG.  7    is a block diagram of an example user equipment in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. 
         FIG.  8    is a flowchart of an example process in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED IMPLEMENTATIONS 
     Detailed embodiments and implementations of the claimed subject matters are disclosed herein. However, it shall be understood that the disclosed embodiments and implementations are merely illustrative of the claimed subject matters which may be embodied in various forms. The present disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the exemplary embodiments and implementations set forth herein. Rather, these exemplary embodiments and implementations are provided so that description of the present disclosure is thorough and complete and will fully convey the scope of the present disclosure to those skilled in the art. In the description below, details of well-known features and techniques may be omitted to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the presented embodiments and implementations. 
     Overview 
     Implementations in accordance with the present disclosure relate to various techniques, methods, schemes and/or solutions pertaining to optimizing allocation of antennas of a user equipment (UE) between various communication services employing different radio access technologies (RATs). According to the present disclosure, a number of possible solutions may be implemented separately or jointly. That is, although these possible solutions may be described below separately, two or more of these possible solutions may be implemented in one combination or another. 
     A UE, which is a portable, mobile or wearable apparatus such as a smartphone, typically employs various wireless communication and computing functions. For example, a smartphone is usually capable of performing several wireless communication operations simultaneously, each through a respective RAT, such as 4G LTE, 5G NR, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Global Positioning System (GPS), near-field communication (NFC), millimeter wave (mmWave), etc. Moreover, many of the RATs support multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) techniques, with each wireless connection link comprising multiple spatial streams each following a respective propagation path when traveling in free space between a transmitter of the UE and a remote receiver, also between a remote transmitter and a receiver of the UE. For each spatial stream, the UE is required to dedicate at least one respective antenna for transmitting and receiving radio signals. 
     As alluded to elsewhere herein above, although various wireless communication standards support a high MIMO number, i.e., the number of spatial streams employed in MIMO schemes, the actual usage of the MIMO schemes is often limited by the number of antennas equipped in a UE. With the number of antennas limited to a quantity due to the practical physical size of the UE, the benefit that could have been resulted with a higher number of MIMO streams is often compromised. 
       FIG.  1    is a diagram of an example network environment  100  in which various solutions and schemes in accordance with the present disclosure may be implemented.  FIG.  2   ˜ FIG.  8    illustrate examples of implementation of various proposed schemes in the network environment  100  in accordance with the present disclosure. The following description of various proposed schemes is provided with reference to  FIG.  1   ˜ FIG.  8   . 
     Referring to  FIG.  1   , network environment  100  may involve a UE  160  having a wireless connection  161  (herein interchangeably referred to as “first connection”) to a network  110  (herein interchangeably referred to as “first network”). Additionally, the UE  160  also has a wireless connection  162  (herein interchangeably referred to as “second connection”) to a network  120  (herein interchangeably referred to as “second network”). Each of the first connection  161  and the second connection  162  is realized via a respective RAT. For example, the UE  160  may be a smartphone, the first network  110  may be a cellular network or another type of wide area network (WAN), and the second network  120  may be a wireless local area network (WLAN). Each of the first network  110  and the second network  120  may be connected to the Internet  130 . 
     As shown in  FIG.  1   , the first connection  161  is established between the UE  160  and a base station  114  of the first network  110 , whereas the base station  114  is connected to a core network  113  of the first network  110 . In an event that the base station  114  is an eNodeB of an LTE, LTE-Advanced or LTE-Advanced Pro network, the first connection  161  may be established via a RAT of 4G LTE (herein interchangeably referred to as “RAT1”). In an event that the base station  114  is a gNB or transmit-receive point (TRP) of a 5G NR network, the first connection  161  may be established via a RAT of 5G NR. Likewise, the second connection  162  is established between the UE  160  and an access point or wireless router  124  of the second network  120 , whereas the wireless router  124  is connected to a local area network (LAN)  123  of the second network  120 . In an event that the wireless router  124  employs an IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi standard (e.g., IEEE 802.11ax), the second connection  162  may be established via a RAT of the IEEE 802.11 standard(s) (herein interchangeably referred to as “RAT2”). 
     Each of the first connection  161  and the second connection  162  may include a downlink (DL) that originates from the base station  114  or the wireless router  124  and ends at the UE  160 , as well as an uplink (UL) that originates from the UE  160  and ends at the base station  114  or the wireless router  124 . Moreover, each of RAT1 and RAT2 may support various MIMO techniques, and each of the first connection  161  and the second connection  162  may thus have two or more spatial streams. The UE  160  is required to dedicate at least one antenna for each of the spatial streams. The UE  160  may include a plurality of antennas for performing various wireless communication functions using different RATs.  FIG.  2    is an example illustration of the UE  160 , which shows some of the plurality of antennas equipped in the UE  160 . As shown in  FIG.  2   , the antennas equipped in the UE  160  include cellular or modem antennas  211 ,  212 ,  213  and  214 , as well as Wi-Fi antennas  221  and  222 . When operating in the network environment  100 , the cellular antennas  211 - 214  may be used for MIMO-based communications through the first connection  161 , whereas the Wi-Fi antennas  221  and  222  may be used for MIMO-based communications through the second connection  162 . The antennas, as shown in  FIG.  2   , are often equipped at edge or end regions the UE  160  so that the transmitting and receiving of radio signals via the antennas are less likely impeded by other computing, displaying or data processing activities simultaneously performed by the UE  160 . 
       FIG.  3    illustrates a proposed scheme  310  in accordance with the present disclosure, wherein a user  330  carrying the UE  160  is moving from an outdoor environment to an indoor environment. When the user  330  is outdoor, the UE  160  may perform wireless communication functions mainly via the first connection  161  established between the UE  160  and the base station  114 . The first connection  161  may employ a 4×4 MIMO scheme using the cellular antennas  211 - 214  of the UE  160 . Meanwhile, little wireless communication might be realized via Wi-Fi connections when the user  330  is outdoor and far away from any Wi-Fi access point, such as the wireless router  124  fixedly located inside the house  370 . That is, the UE  160  may receive, via the Wi-Fi antennas  221  and  222 , very weak Wi-Fi signals transmitted from the wireless router  124  when located outdoors. 
     As the user  330 , carrying the UE  160 , is moving closer to, and even inside, the house  370 , the Wi-Fi signals from the wireless router  124  that are received by the Wi-Fi antennas  221  and  222  may become stronger (i.e., having a higher intensity), as the UE  160  is within a closer proximity to the wireless router  124 . Meanwhile, the radio signals of the first connection  161  received by the UE  160  may become weaker (i.e., having a lower intensity) due to the UE  160  having moved indoors. The UE  160  may detect that the wireless router  124  is available as a better target for data connection, and subsequently establish the second connection  162  to the wireless router  124 . The UE  160  may further detect that the wireless router  124  is capable of performing Wi-Fi communications having a MIMO number of 2, 4, 6 or 8 (i.e., employing 2×2, 4×4, 6×6 or 8×8 MIMO schemes). However, given that the UE  160  has only two Wi-Fi antennas  221  and  222 , the UE  160  may establish the second connection  162  using only a MIMO number of 2 (i.e., with a 2×2 MIMO scheme). 
     In some embodiments, the UE  160  may increase the MIMO number beyond the quantity of Wi-Fi antennas equipped thereon by using one or more of the cellular antennas  211 - 214  for MIMO-based communication with the wireless router  124 , especially when the first connection  161  and the second connection  162  operate in frequency bands that are close to one another. (For instance, 4G LTE, 5G NR and IEEE 802.11b/g/n/ax all use frequency bands in the range of 2.3-2.5 GHz; both 4G LTE and IEEE 802.11j use frequency bands in the range of 4.9-5.2 GHz.) Specifically, UE  160  may reconfigure the first connection  161  by reducing the MIMO number thereof, thereby releasing some of the cellular antennas  211 - 214  from transmitting and/or receiving radio signals of the first connection  161 . The UE  160  may subsequently reconfigure the second connection  162  by additionally using the released cellular antenna(s) in the second connection  162  to realize MIMO-based communications at a higher MIMO number. 
     For instance, when the user  330  is outdoor, the first connection  161  may have a MIMO number of 4, and all four cellular antennas  211 - 214  may be employed. As the user  330  and the UE  160  move indoor, the UE  160  may detect the existence of the wireless router  124  and connect to the wireless router  124  with the second connection  162  using a default MIMO scheme. The default MIMO scheme may be a 2×2 MIMO scheme, as the UE  160  is equipped with two Wi-Fi antennas, i.e., the Wi-Fi antennas  221  and  222 . The UE  160  may further detect the 4×4, 6×6 and 8×8 MIMO features that the wireless router  124  is capable of operating with. In order to increase the MIMO number of the second connection  162  beyond 2, the UE  160  may intend to change the MIMO setting of the first connection  161  from a MIMO number of 4 to a MIMO number of 2, so that two of the cellular antennas  211 - 214  may be released from the first connection  161 . The UE  160  may communicate the intent to the first network  110  by sending to the base station  114  a request of reducing the MIMO number of the first connection  161  from 4 to 2. The request may be sent in a form of UE assistance information (UAI) via the uplink of the first connection  161 . The UAI is specific to the UE  160  and may additionally include other communication assistance information pertinent to the first connection  161 . After sending the request to the base station  114 , the UE  160  may proceed to reconfigure the first connection  161  from a 4×4 MIMO scheme to a 2×2 MIMO scheme. As a result, two of the cellular antennas  211 - 214 , e.g., the cellular antennas  213  and  214 , are released from the operation of the first connection  161 . The UE  160  may correspondingly reconfigure the second connection  162  from a 2×2 MIMO scheme to a 4×4 MIMO scheme, which includes four spatial streams transmitted and received by the Wi-Fi antenna  221 , the Wi-Fi antenna  222 , the cellular antenna  213  and the cellular antenna  214 , respectively. As a result, the quality (e.g., data rate and/or latency) of the second connection  162  may be improved beyond what was resulted with the 2×2 MIMO scheme, because MIMO schemes with a MIMO number of 4 is now implemented in the second connection  162  with the addition of the released cellular antennas  213  and  214 . 
     The UE  160  may use a similar method to further increase the MIMO number of the second connection  162 . For example, the UE  160  may send a separate request to the base station  114  to further reduce the MIMO number of the first connection  161  from 2 to 1, thereby releasing one more cellular antenna (e.g., the cellular antenna  212 ) from the first connection  161 . The UE  160  may further disable its Bluetooth (BT) function such that a BT antenna equipped in the UE  160  (not shown in  FIG.  2   ) may also be made available for the second connection  162 . With the BT antenna and the cellular antenna  212  available, the UE  160  may then reconfigure the second connection  162  to a 6×6 MIMO scheme, which includes six spatial streams transmitted and received by the Wi-Fi antennas  221  and  222 , the cellular antennas  212 - 214 , and the BT antenna, respectively. 
     In some embodiments, in addition to sending to the base station  114  the request of reducing the MIMO number of the first connection  161 , the UE  160  may, after sending the request and before reconfiguring the first connection  161 , further receive a confirmation from the base station  114  acknowledging or otherwise indicating that the request has been granted. Namely, by sending the confirmation, the base station  114  notifies the UE  160  that the first connection has been reconfigured on the base station  114 &#39;s end using a MIMO scheme of a reduced MIMO number as requested. The confirmation may be received via the downlink of the first connection  161 . Upon receiving the confirmation, the UE  160  may then reconfigure the first connection  161  to a lower MIMO number. Namely, both the UE  160  and the base station  141  partake in the reconfiguration of the first connection  161  through the handshaking procedure. The handshaking procedure is beneficial, and thus preferred, as opposed to the UE  160  single-handedly lower the MIMO number setting without notifying the base station  114 , because with the handshaking procedure both ends of the first connection  161  are in sync regarding the MIMO number reduction that is taking place, thereby avoiding the UE  160  missing packets transmitted in the downlink of the first connection  161 , or at least keeping the missed packets to a minimum. 
     In some embodiments, the UE  160  may reconfigure the first connection  161  after sending the request to the base station  114  but not necessarily after receiving the confirmation from the base station  114 . In some other embodiments, the UE  160  may reconfigure the first connection  161  even prior to sending the request to the base station  114  and receiving the confirmation from the base station  114 . In either case, the UE  160  may have reconfigured the first connection  161  prior to the base station  114  reconfigures the first connection  161 . As long as the UE  160  receives the confirmation from the base station  114  within a reasonably short period of time after the UE  160  reconfigures the first connection  161 , the number of lost packets, if any, would be kept relatively small and cause little degradation in the communication performance. 
     Also illustrated in  FIG.  3    is a proposed scheme  320  in accordance with the present disclosure, wherein a user  330  carrying the UE  160  is moving from an indoor environment to an outdoor environment. The scheme  320  may follow the scheme  310  in terms of a sequence in time. When the user  330  is indoor, the UE  160  may perform communication functions (e.g., connecting to the Internet  130 ) mainly via the second connection  162  established between the UE  160  and the wireless router  124  located inside the house  370 . The second connection  162  may employ a 2×2 MIMO scheme using the Wi-Fi antennas  221  and  222  of the UE  160 . In some embodiments, the second connection  162  may employ a 4×4 MIMO scheme using the Wi-Fi antennas  221  and  222  as well as the cellular antennas  213  and  214 , as described elsewhere herein above and pertinent to the scheme  310 . Meanwhile, while located indoor, the UE  160  may maintain the first connection  161  using possibly a lower MIMO setting such as a 2×2 MIMO scheme. 
     Referring to the scheme  320 , as the UE  160  moves with the user  330  from inside to the outside of the house  370 , the UE  160  may detect that the radio signal from the base station  114  as received is becoming stronger, and the Wi-Fi signals from the wireless router  124  as received is becoming weaker. The UE  160  may determine that a MIMO scheme higher than 2×2 would be beneficial to enhance the communication quality of the first connection  161 . For instance, the UE  160  may thus have an intent to restore the MIMO setting of the first connection  161  from 2×2 back to 4×4. The UE  160  may communicate the intent to the first network  110  by sending to the base station  114  a request of increasing the MIMO number of the first connection  161  from 2 to 4. The request may be sent in a form of UAI specific to the UE  160  via the uplink of the first connection  161 . The UE  160  may also reconfigure the second connection  162  from a 4×4 MIMO scheme to a 2×2 MIMO scheme so that the cellular antennas  213  and  214  that had been lent to the MIMO operation of the second connection  162 , as described above with the scheme  310 , are released and made available again for the first connection  161 . After sending the request to the base station  114 , the UE  160  may proceed to reconfigure the first connection  161  from a 2×2 MIMO scheme to a 4×4 MIMO scheme, employing all of the cellular antennas  211 - 214 . 
     In some embodiments, up detecting certain precondition regarding the first connection  161  or the second connection  162 , the UE  160  may have an intent to further increase the MIMO number of the first connection  161  beyond the quantity of the cellular antennas equipped in the UE  160 . For instance, the user  330 , while being outside the house  370 , may start to download a lengthy movie in ultra-high definition (UHD) resolution for later offline viewing. The download of the UHD movie demands a high transmission bandwidth in the downlink of the first connection  161 , which is not readily attainable by the 4×4 MIMO scheme currently employed by the first connection  161 . Specifically, the UE  160  may start by downloading the UHD movie via the first connection  161  using a 4×4 MIMO scheme, while monitoring the transmission speed of the downlink of the first connection  161 . The UE  160  may then determine that a transmission bottleneck in the first connection  161  has occurred by observing that the transmission speed of the downlink has been constantly below a predetermined threshold specific to downloading a UHD movie for a predetermined period of time. Accordingly, the UE  160  may have an intent to change the MIMO setting of the first connection  161  to a higher MIMO number, e.g., a 6×6 MIMO scheme. To this end, the UE  160  may reconfigure the second connection  162  by disabling the second connection  162  completely, thereby freeing up the Wi-Fi antenna  221  and  222 . The UE  160  may then communicate to the base station  114  the intent regarding employing the 6×6 MIMO scheme. Specifically, the UE  160  may send to the base station  114  a request of changing the MIMO number for the first connection  161  to 6, followed by receiving a reconfirmation from the base station  114  indicating the request has been granted. Upon receiving the confirmation, the UE  160  may increase the MIMO number of the first connection  161  from 4 to 6. The 6×6 MIMO scheme may thus be realized by using the cellular antennas  211 - 214  in conjunction with the Wi-Fi antenna  221  and  222  that are released from the termination of the second connection  162 , i.e., from disabling the Wi-Fi connection function of the UE  160 . 
     In some embodiments, the UE  160  may detect a transmission bottleneck resulted not from an insufficient number of spatial streams, but from a poor radio signal as received by the UE  160 . The poor radio signal may be manifested in a poor signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) possibly due to severe multipath propagation issues that happen to exist in the outdoor environment where the UE  160  is located. Accordingly, the UE  160  may have a intent to change the MIMO setting of the first connection  161  not by increasing the MIMO number thereof, but by increasing a quantity of antennas employed for transmitting and/or receiving at least one spatial stream of the first connection  161 . Specifically, the UE  160  may additionally employ either or both of the Wi-Fi antenna  221  and  222 , which are released from the UE  160 &#39;s termination of the second connection  162 , for one or more spatial streams of the first connection  161 . The additional antenna(s) may be used in conjunction of the cellular antennas  211 - 214  for improving the SNR of the spatial stream(s) using beamforming or maximum ratio combining (MRC) techniques. 
       FIG.  4    illustrates a proposed scheme  400  in accordance with the present disclosure, wherein the UE  160  may have an intent to change MIMO settings of the first connection  161  and/or the second connection  162  based on a geolocation of the UE  160 . As shown in  FIG.  4   , a house  470  has several rooms, including a living room  471 , a bathroom  472 , a kitchen  473 , and a bedroom. Based on the location at which the UE  160  is located in the house  470 , a corresponding preferred connection configuration (PCC) or profile may be applied to the first connection  161  and/or the second connection  162 . Namely, the PCC is specific to the geolocation of the UE  160 , or to a combination of the UE  160  and the geolocation. The PCC governs connection parameters of the first connection  161  and/or the second connection  162 , including various MIMO settings thereof. The PCC is intended to achieve an optimized, best-in-history, or otherwise satisfactory communication performance of the first connection  161  and the second connection  162 . The UE  160  may include a PCC database  460 , wherein various PCCs (e.g., PCCs  461 ,  462  and  463 ) are stored. When the UE  160  is located within the living room  471 , the UE  160  may intend to apply the PCC  461  for the first connection  161  and the second connection  162 . Likewise, when the UE  160  is located in the bathroom  472 , the UE  160  may intend to apply the PCC  462 , whereas when the UE  160  is located in the kitchen  473 , the UE  160  may intend to apply the PCC  463 . 
     The PCCs are specific to the geolocation of the UE  160  mainly because each geolocation may have a respectively different wireless communication environment. As shown in  FIG.  4   , the wireless router  124  is located in the living room  471 , and thus the PCC  461  may allocate most wireless communication resources of the UE  160 , such as a majority of various antennas of the UE  160 , to be used for the second connection  162 , especially if an entrance door  474  to the living room  471  is closed. On the other hand, the bathroom  472  is located in an upper level of the house  470 , not in the same level as the wireless router  124 . While being farther away from the wireless router  124 , the bathroom  472  has a skylight window  475 , through which the UE  160  has strong radio reception from the base station  114 . Therefore, the PCC  462  may allocate most wireless communication resources of the UE  160 , such as a majority of various antennas of the UE  160 , to be used for the first connection  161 . For example, the PCC  462  may configure the MIMO setting of the first connection  161  to employ a 4×4 MIMO scheme, especially when the user  330  intend to operate a task or application on the UE  160  that demands a high-speed transmission for the first connection  161 , e.g., to watch a high-definition movie while using the bathroom  472 . As for the kitchen  473 , being located in the back of the house  470 , the kitchen  473  has poor reception for both the radio signal from the base station  114  and the radio signal from the wireless router  124 . In an event that the UE  160  is located in the kitchen  473 , the PCC  463  may be applied, which may allocate most wireless communication resources of the UE  160  to be used for the second connection  162 , but in a way different from how the PCC  461  governs the first connection  161  and the second connection  162 . For instance, the PCC  463  may configure the MIMO setting of the first connection  161  to employ a 2×2 MIMO scheme using the cellular antennas  211  and  212 , thereby freeing up the other two cellular antennas of the UE  160 , i.e., the cellular antennas  213  and  214 . In addition, the PCC  463  may further configure the MIMO setting of the second connection  162  to employ a 2×2 MIMO scheme with beam forming. The PCC  463  may configure the UE  160  to employ the Wi-Fi antennas  221  and  222  in conjunction with the cellular antennas  213  and  214  for the beamforming towards the wireless router  124  located in the living room  471 . The beamforming may thus improve the reception of the radio signal transmitted from the wireless router  124 . 
     In some embodiments, the geolocation of the UE  160  may be determined by a positioning system, such as a GPS, or a meshed system comprising a plurality of sensors deployed in various locations. For example, a plurality of indoor sensors, transmitters, or beacons, such as beacons  481 ,  482  and  483 , may be deployed at various locations of the house  470 . The UE  160  may determine its own geolocation by communicating with the indoor beacons, likely through lower-power RATs such as NFC. 
     In some embodiments, each of the PCCs stored in the PCC database  460  may be a historical connection configuration, i.e., a connection configuration that has been employed in the past by the UE  160  at the corresponding geolocation. A PCC may be determined or otherwise updated by the UE  160  examining various historical connection configurations, as well as the associated communication performance, that have been employed at the corresponding geolocation. The UE  160  may designate as the PCC a historical configuration that resulted in a satisfactory, or even the best, communication performance in the past. The UE  160  may retrieve the PCC from the PCC database  460  every time the UE  160  is at or near the corresponding geolocation. The UE  160  may compare the PCC and the current connection configuration and, in an event that there is a difference between the two, initiate an intent to change a MIMO setting of the first connection  161  and/or a MIMO setting of the second connection  162 . 
     In some embodiments, the PCCs stored in the PCC database  460  of the UE  160  may also depend on the application(s) being performed by the UE  160 . Specifically, different applications may impose different requirements in determining the corresponding PCC in terms of various key performance indices (KPIs) such as communication latency and data transmission rate. The table  500  of  FIG.  5    demonstrates example preferred MIMO settings as the UE  160  operates different applications. As shown in the table  500 , the preferred MIMO setting varies depending on the application the UE  160  is intended to perform. Moreover, the preferred MIMO setting is also dependent on the radio frequency bandwidth (RF BW) of the second connection  162 , as different IEEE 802.11 standards may have different RF BW values. 
       FIG.  6    illustrates a proposed scheme  610  and a proposed scheme  620  in accordance with the present disclosure. The scheme  620  may follow the scheme  610  in terms of a sequence in time. In each of the proposed schemes  610  and  620 , the UE  160  is performing Wi-Fi tethering. That is, a laptop computer  631  is connected to the Internet  130  via a combination of the first connection  161  and the second connection  162 , wherein the UE  160  serves as a Wi-Fi hotspot. Specifically, the laptop computer  631  is connected to the UE  160  via the second connection  162  using RAT2 (e.g., IEEE 802.11ax), whereas the UE  160  is connected to the Internet  130  by firstly connecting to the base station  114  via the first connection  161  using RAT1 (e.g., 5G NR). Moreover, the UE  160  is also connected to a wireless monitor  632  via the second connection  162 . By default, the UE  160  may allocate antennas to the first connection  161  and second connection  162  based on the quantities of the different types of antennas equipped in the UE  160 . That is, the UE  160  may follow a default setting and allocate the cellular antennas  211 - 214  to service the first connection  161 , whereas the UE  160  may allocate the Wi-Fi antennas  221  and  222  to service the second connection  162 . 
     In the scheme  610 , the user  330  may be typing up a reporting email on the laptop computer  631  in a park, whereas the email is regarding a sport event that was conducted a few days ago. Meanwhile, for writing the reporting email, the user  330  is playing back several video clips of the tryout event, previously recorded and stored in the UE  160 , by streaming the video clips to the wireless monitor  632 . While the UE  160  performs these tasks, the UE  160  may observe transmission data buffers (e.g., the uplink data buffers) of the first and second connections  161  and  162  to monitor whether a transmission bottleneck has occurred in either connection. For instance, the UE  160  may observe that the amount of un-streamed data accumulated in the uplink data buffer of the second connection  162  has been increasing, or that the uplink data buffer of the second connection  162  has been full, either of which may be an indication that a transmission bottleneck has occurred in the second connection  162 . The UE  163  may thus intend to change a MIMO setting of the first connection  161  as well as a MIMO setting of the second connection  162 . For instance, the UE  160  may have an intent to decrease the MIMO number of the first connection  161 , as well as a need to increase the MIMO number of the second connection  162 . The UE  160  may communicate the intent to the base station  114  by sending a request of reducing the MIMO number for the first connection  161  from 4 to 2. Upon receiving a confirmation from the base station  114  indicating that the request has been granted, the UE  160  may reconfigure the first connection  161  accordingly, thereby releasing two cellular antennas. The UE  160  may subsequently reconfigure the second connection  162  by increasing the MIMO number thereof from 2 to 4 using the two cellular antennas in conjunction with the two Wi-Fi antennas of the UE  160 . 
     In the scheme  620 , the user  330  may have finished writing the reporting email and sent out the reporting email to a recipient via the Internet  130 . The wireless monitor  632  has been disconnected from the UE  160  and turned off, whereas the laptop  631  remains connected to the UE  160  for receiving a returning email. Meanwhile, the user  330  starts a live streaming session, which greatly increases transmission requirements of the first connection  161  especially regarding the uplink thereof. As a result, while monitoring the transmission data buffers of the first and second connections  161  and  162 , the UE  160  may observe an increase in the amount of un-streamed data accumulated in the transmission data buffer of the first connection  161 , or that the transmission buffer has been full, either of which may be an indication that a transmission bottleneck has occurred in the first connection  161 . The UE  163  may thus intend to change a MIMO setting of the first connection  161  as well as a MIMO setting of the second connection  162 . For instance, the UE  160  may have an intent to increase the MIMO number of the first connection  161 , as well as an intent to decrease the MIMO number of the second connection  162 . Accordingly, the UE  160  may communicate the intent to the base station  114  by sending a request of increasing the MIMO number for the first connection  161  from 2 to 4. Meanwhile, the UE  160  may reconfigure the second connection  162  by decreasing the MIMO number thereof from 4 to 2, thereby freeing up the two cellular antennas that was borrowed from the first connection  161  previously in the scheme  610 . Upon receiving a confirmation from the base station  114  indicating that the request has been granted, the UE  160  may subsequently reconfigure the first connection  161  by changing the MIMO setting from using a 2×2 MIMO scheme to a 4×4 MIMO scheme, which may employ all four cellular antennas of the UE  160 . 
     In addition to monitoring the transmission data buffers (i.e., as described above pertinent to the schemes  610  and  620 ) or the transmission speed (i.e., as described above pertinent to the scheme  320 ) for detecting an occurrence of a transmission bottleneck, the UE  160  may use other methods to identify or otherwise detect a potential transmission bottleneck, so that the UE  160  may reconfigure the first connection  161  and/or the second connection  162  accordingly. For example, before the actual transmission of data, the UE  160  may perform a speed test for each of the first connection  161  and the second connection  162 . A lower-than-expected speed test value may be an indication of a potential bottleneck. As another example, the UE  160  may constantly perform a latency test for each of the first connection  161  and the second connection  162 . A longer-than-expected latency value may be an indication of a potential bottleneck. 
     Illustrative Implementations 
       FIG.  7    illustrates an example apparatus  700  in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. Apparatus  700  may perform various functions to implement schemes, techniques, processes and methods described herein pertaining to enhancing communication performance by properly allocating antennas between connections using different RATs, including scenarios/schemes described above as well as process(es) described below. 
     Apparatus  700  may embody the UE  160  of  FIGS.  1 - 4  and  6   . Apparatus  700  may be a portable or mobile apparatus, a wearable apparatus, a wireless communication apparatus or a computing apparatus. For instance, apparatus  700  may be implemented in a smartphone, a smartwatch, a personal digital assistant, a digital camera, or a computing equipment such as a tablet computer, a laptop computer or a notebook computer. Apparatus  700  may be implemented in the form of one or more integrated-circuit (IC) chips such as, for example and without limitation, one or more single-core processors, one or more multi-core processors, one or more reduced-instruction set computing (RISC) processors, or one or more complex-instruction-set-computing (CISC) processors. Apparatus  700  has several components or modules, including some components selected from a first transceiver  710 , a second transceiver  720 , a processor  730 , a positioning module  740 , a first transmission data buffer  750 , a second transmission data buffer  760 , a preferred connection configuration (PCC) database  770 , a plurality of antennas  780 , as well as a baseband processing module  790 . Apparatus  700  may further include one or more other components not pertinent to the proposed scheme of the present disclosure (e.g., internal power supply, display device and/or user interface device), and, thus, such component(s) of apparatus  700  are neither shown in  FIG.  7    nor described below in the interest of simplicity and brevity. 
     In some embodiments, some of the modules  710 - 790  as listed above are modules of software instructions being executed by one or more processing units (e.g., a processor) of a computing device or electronic apparatus. In some embodiments, some of the modules  710 - 790  are modules of hardware circuits implemented by one or more integrated circuits (ICs) of an electronic apparatus. Though the modules  710 - 790  are illustrated as being separate modules, some of the modules can be combined into a single module. 
     The first transceiver  710  may be configured to establish a first connection (e.g., the first connection  161 ) to a first network by employing a first RAT, whereas the second transceiver  720  may be configured to establish a second connection (e.g., the second connection  162 ) to a second network by employing a second RAT. The first network to which the first transceiver  710  is connected may be the network  110 , and the second network to which the second transceiver  720  is connected may be the network  120 . In some embodiments, the first network may be a cellular network or some other types of wide area network (WAN), whereas the second network may be a wireless local area network (WLAN). The first RAT may be 4G LTE or 5G NR, whereas the second RAT may be one of the IEEE 802.11 standards. The first connection may be a wireless connection between apparatus  700  and a base station of the first network, such as the base station  114 . The first connection may be a wireless connection between apparatus  700  and a Wi-Fi router or access point of the second network, such as the Wi-Fi router  124 . 
     Each of the first transceiver  710  and the second transceiver  720  may include a transmitter (Tx.) and a receiver (Rx.) for transmitting and receiving radio signals to the network  110  or  120  via the connection  161  or  162 . Moreover, each of the first transceiver  710  and the second transceiver  720  may also include a speed test module and/or a latency test module for monitoring communication performance/matrices of the connections  161  and  162 . The processor  730  may detect a precondition of changing a MIMO setting of the connections  161  and/or  162 , e.g., a transmission bottleneck as described in the scheme  320 ,  610  or  620 , based on the latency and/or speed matrices provided by the speed test module and/or the latency test module. 
     In one aspect, the processor  730  may be implemented in the form of one or more single-core processors, one or more multi-core processors, one or more RISC processors, or one or more CISC processors. That is, even though a singular term “a processor” is used herein to refer to the processor  730 , the processor  730  may include multiple processors in some implementations and a single processor in other implementations in accordance with the present disclosure. In another aspect, the processor  730  may be implemented in the form of hardware (and, optionally, firmware) with electronic components including, for example and without limitation, one or more transistors, one or more diodes, one or more capacitors, one or more resistors, one or more inductors, one or more memristors and/or one or more varactors that are configured and arranged to achieve specific purposes in accordance with the present disclosure. In other words, in at least some implementations, the processor  730  is a special-purpose machine specifically designed, arranged and configured to perform specific tasks including enhancing communication performance by properly allocating antennas between connections using different RATs in accordance with various implementations of the present disclosure. 
     To this end, the processor  730  may be configured to perform an operation of detecting a precondition of changing a first MIMO setting of the first connection. The processor  730  may be configured to subsequently perform an operation of communicating to the first network, via the first connection, an intent to change the first MIMO setting of the first connection. For instance, the processor  730  may detect a precondition of changing a MIMO setting of the connection  161  as described elsewhere herein above. The processor  730  may further communicate to the cellular network  110  an intent to change the MIMO setting of the first connection. In some embodiments, the processor  730  may communicate the intent to a base station of the first network, such as the base station  114  of the cellular network  110 , by sending a request of changing the MIMO setting of the connection  161  to the base station  114 . The request may be part of the UE assistance information (UAI) that is specific to the apparatus  700 . The request may be sent using the uplink (UL) of the connection  161 . 
     The processor  730  may subsequently reconfigure the first connection by changing the first MIMO setting, and then reconfigure the second connection accordingly. For instance, in an event that the processor  730  detects a precondition that triggers an intent to reduce the MIMO number of the connection  161  from 4 to 2, the processor  730  may accordingly reconfigure the connection  161  so that two of the cellular antennas  211 - 214  are released or disengaged from servicing the connection  161 . The processor  730  may subsequently reconfigure the connection  162  by increasing the MIMO number thereof from 2 to 4, which is realized by engaging the two released antennas with the transceiver  720  to service the connection  162 . For instance, each of the two released antennas may be used to service an additional spatial stream of the connection  162 . 
     In at least some embodiments, apparatus  700  may not reconfigure the connection  162  until a confirmation is received by the transceiver  710 . The confirmation is sent from the base station  114  via the downlink (DL) of the connection  161 , whereas the confirmation indicates that the request has been granted by the network  110 , especially by the base station  114 . 
     The positioning module  740  is configured to determine or otherwise detect an immediate geolocation of apparatus  700 . In some embodiments, the positioning module  740  may provide the geolocation via a global positioning system (GPS). Alternatively, the positioning module  740  may provide the geolocation based on a mesh positioning system employing a plurality of sensors, transmitters or location beacons such as beacons  481 - 483  provided inside the house  470 . 
     Each of the transmission data buffers  750  and  760  is configured to store data that is queued to be transmitted by the transceivers  710  and  720 , respectively. For example, the transmission data buffer  750  may be used to buffer data that is to be transmitted by the transceiver  710  to the cellular network  110  via the uplink of the connection  161 . Likewise, the transmission data buffer  760  may be used to buffer data that is to be transmitted by the transceiver  720  to the WLAN  120  via the uplink of the connection  162 . The processor  730  may be configured to monitor the status of the transmission data buffers  750  and  760 , based on which the processor  730  may detect a precondition that may trigger an intent to change a MIMO setting of either or both of the first connection  161  and the second connection  162 , e.g. an occurrence of a transmission bottleneck in the first connection  161  and/or the second connection  162 . For example, a full or nearly full transmission data buffer  750  may indicate that there is likely a transmission bottleneck in the connection  161 , at least in the uplink thereof. The processor  730  may accordingly communicate to the network  110  an intent to change a MIMO setting of the connection  161  to relieve or otherwise mitigate the transmission bottleneck. 
     The PCC database  770  is configured to store a plurality of preferred connection configurations (PCCs), each of which governs certain communication parameter settings (e.g., a MIMO number) of the first and second connections  161  and  162 . For instance, PCCs  461 ,  462  and  463  may be stored in the PCC database  770  in an event that the UE  160  of  FIG.  4    is embodied by apparatus  700 . As described elsewhere herein above, each entry stored in the PCC database  770  is specific to a geolocation of apparatus  700 . Moreover, each entry of the PCC database  770  is a historical connection configuration that had been applied in the past to govern the connections  161  and  162  and resulted in a satisfactory, or even the best, communication performance in the past. 
     As described above, the positioning module  740  is configured to provide the immediate location of apparatus  700 . Based on the immediate geolocation, the processor  730  is configured to examine the PCC database  770  to select a PCC entry therein that has a corresponding geolocation that is in a vicinity of the immediate location of apparatus  700 . The processor  730  may then compare the selected entry with the connection configuration that is currently applied for the first and second connections  161  and  162 . A difference between the current configuration and the selected configuration may constitute a precondition that triggers an intent to change the MIMO setting of the first connection  161  and/or the second connection  162 , unless the current configuration results in a better communication performance than the selected configuration did. Should the current configuration result in an improved communication performance, the processor  730  may be configured to replace the selected entry with the current configuration in the PCC database  770 . 
     The plurality of antennas  780  may include antennas that are able to receive radio signals encompassing the transmission bands of the first and second connections  161  and  162 . The plurality of antennas  780  may embody the cellular antennas  211 - 214  as well as the Wi-Fi antennas  221  and  222 . Moreover, the plurality of antennas  780  may further include antennas that can only be allocated to servicing either of the first connection  161  and the second connection  162 , but not both of the first connection  161  and the second connection  162 . The plurality of antennas  780  may further include other types of antennas that service various other wireless communications performed by apparatus  700 , such as NFC, mmWave, BT, and GPS communications. 
     The baseband processing module  790  is configured to process data in the baseband and outside the transceivers  710  and  720 . For instance, in a downlink, the radio signal received by the antennas  780  is processed by the transceivers  710  and  720  before being passed to the baseband processing module  790 . In an uplink, the baseband data is processed by the baseband processing module  790  before being sent to the transceivers  710  and  720  for transmission. In some implementations, the baseband processing module  790  may include an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), as well as digital processing circuitry. 
     Illustrative Processes 
       FIG.  8    illustrates an example process  800  in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. Process  800  may be an example implementation of schemes described above whether partially or completely, with respect to enhancing communication performance by properly allocating antennas between connections using different RATs in accordance with the present disclosure. Process  800  may represent an aspect of implementation of features of apparatus  700 . Process  800  may include one or more operations, actions, or functions as illustrated by blocks  810 ,  820 ,  830  and  840 . Although illustrated as discrete blocks, various blocks of process  800  may be divided into additional blocks, combined into fewer blocks, or eliminated, depending on the desired implementation. Moreover, the blocks of process  800  may be executed in the order shown in  FIG.  8    or, alternatively, in a different order. Furthermore, one or more of the blocks/sub-blocks of process  800  may be executed repeatedly or iteratively. Process  800  may be implemented by apparatus  700  as well as any variations thereof. Solely for illustrative purposes and without limitation, process  800  is described below in the context of apparatus  700  implemented as a UE having a first connection to a first network via a first RAT and a second connection to a second network via a second RAT. In some implementations, the first network may be a cellular network (e.g., the network  110 ) or a wide area network (WAN), whereas the second network may be a WLAN (e.g., the network  120 ). The first connection may be a wireless connection (e.g., the connection  161 ) between the UE and a base station (e.g., the base station  114 ) of the first network. The second connection may be a wireless connection (e.g., the connection  162 ) between the UE and a wireless router or access point (e.g., the wireless router  124 ) of the second network. Process  800  may begin at block  810 . 
     At  810 , process  800  may involve the processor  730  of apparatus  700  detecting a precondition of changing a first MIMO setting of the first connection. In some embodiments, a transmission bottleneck in either the first connection or the second connection may constitute the precondition. For instance, the processor  730  may monitor the status of the transmission data buffers  750  and  760  and detect a precondition of increasing the MIMO number of the first connection, as a transmission bottle neck has occurred or is likely to occur because the transmission data buffer  750  is full or nearly full. As another example, the processor  730  may detect another precondition of changing a first MIMO setting of the first connection, because the current connection configuration sets a MIMO number of the first connection higher than a preferred MIMO number suggested by the corresponding historical connection configuration stored in the PCC database  770 . Process  800  may proceed from  810  to  820 . 
     At  820 , process  800  may involve the processor  730  communicating an intent to change the MIMO setting of the first connection, as triggered by the precondition detected at  810 , to the first network, i.e., the network to which apparatus  700  is connected via the first RAT. For example, the UE  160  may communicate to the network  110  an intent to change the MIMO number of the first connection  161  by sending to the base station  114  a request of changing the MIMO number. In some embodiments, the request is sent to the base station  114  via UAI, which is specific to the UE  160 . In some embodiments, after the request is sent, process  800  may involve the processor  730  further receiving a confirmation from the network  110  (e.g., from the base station  114 ), wherein the confirmation indicates that the request has been granted by the network  110  (i.e., by the base station  114 ). Process  800  may proceed from  820  to  830 . 
     At  830 , process  800  may involve the processor  730  reconfiguring the first connection by changing the first MIMO setting. In some embodiments, the first network may also be involved in the reconfiguring of the first connection. For example, as described elsewhere herein above, a handshaking procedure may be executed between the UE  160  and the base station  114  prior to the actual changing of the MIMO setting of the first connection. In some alternative implementations, the processor  730  may change the MIMO setting of the first connection prior to or even without receiving the confirmation from the base station  114 , as described elsewhere herein above. Process  800  may proceed from  830  to  840 . 
     At  840 , process  800  may involve the processor  730  reconfiguring the second connection. The reconfiguration of the second connection at  840  corresponds to the reconfiguration of the first connection at  830 . 
     In some implementations, the reconfiguration of the first connection may involve decreasing a first MIMO number of the first connection by a fixed number, an integer (e.g., reducing from 4 to 2), whereas the reconfiguration of the second connection may involve increasing a second MIMO number of the second connection by the same fixed number (e.g., increasing from 2 to 4 or from 1 to 3). The decreasing of the first MIMO number may result in releasing one or more antennas (e.g., the cellular antennas  213  and  214  as shown in the scheme  310 ) from servicing the first connection. Moreover, the increasing of the second MIMO number may result from employing the one or more antennas in the second connection. 
     In some implementations, the reconfiguration of the first connection may involve increasing a first MIMO number of the first connection by a fixed number, an integer (e.g., increasing from 2 to 4), whereas the reconfiguration of the second connection may involve decreasing a second MIMO number of the second connection by the same fixed number. The decreasing of the second MIMO number may result in releasing one or more antennas (e.g., the cellular antennas  213  and  214  as shown in the scheme  320 ) from servicing the second connection. Moreover, the increasing of the first MIMO number may result from employing the one or more antennas in the first connection. 
     In some alternative implementations, the reconfiguration of the second connection may involve decreasing a second MIMO number of the second connection by releasing one or more antennas from servicing the second connection. Meanwhile, the reconfiguration of the first connection may involve increasing a quantity of antennas for at least one spatial stream of the first connection without changing a first MIMO number of the first connection. For instance, apparatus  700  may additionally employs the one or more antennas that have been released to realize beamforming or maximum ratio combining (MRC) for at least one spatial stream of the first connection. 
     ADDITIONAL NOTES 
     The herein-described subject matter sometimes illustrates different components contained within, or connected with, different other components. It is to be understood that such depicted architectures are merely examples, and that in fact many other architectures can be implemented which achieve the same functionality. In a conceptual sense, any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality is effectively “associated” such that the desired functionality is achieved. Hence, any two components herein combined to achieve a particular functionality can be seen as “associated with” each other such that the desired functionality is achieved, irrespective of architectures or intermedial components. Likewise, any two components so associated can also be viewed as being “operably connected”, or “operably coupled”, to each other to achieve the desired functionality, and any two components capable of being so associated can also be viewed as being “operably couplable”, to each other to achieve the desired functionality. Specific examples of operably couplable include but are not limited to physically mateable and/or physically interacting components and/or wirelessly interactable and/or wirelessly interacting components and/or logically interacting and/or logically interactable components. 
     Further, with respect to the use of substantially any plural and/or singular terms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from the plural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as is appropriate to the context and/or application. The various singular/plural permutations may be expressly set forth herein for sake of clarity. 
     Moreover, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims, e.g., bodies of the appended claims, are generally intended as “open” terms, e.g., the term “including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to,” the term “having” should be interpreted as “having at least,” the term “includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to,” etc. It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of the introductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim recitation to implementations containing only one such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases “one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or “an,” e.g., “a” and/or “an” should be interpreted to mean “at least one” or “one or more;” the same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should be interpreted to mean at least the recited number, e.g., the bare recitation of “two recitations,” without other modifiers, means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations. Furthermore, in those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, and C, etc.” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention, e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, and C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc. In those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, or C, etc.” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention, e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, or C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc. It will be further understood by those within the art that virtually any disjunctive word and/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in the description, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms. For example, the phrase “A or B” will be understood to include the possibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B.” 
     From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that various implementations of the present disclosure have been described herein for purposes of illustration, and that various modifications may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the various implementations disclosed herein are not intended to be limiting, with the true scope and spirit being indicated by the following claims.