Patent ID: 7840235

Claim:
A system for selecting a subset of transmit antennas of a transmitter to transmit an RF input signal as a plurality of RF output signals that are subsequently received by a receiver, comprising: a first wireless communication device that comprises a transmitter that includes a first switching block, the first switching block being operatively coupled to the transmit antennas of the transmitter; and a second wireless communication device that comprises a receiver that includes a second switching block, the receiver being communicatively and wirelessly coupled with the transmitter, the second switching block being operatively coupled to receive antennas of the receiver, wherein the receiver establishes possible subsets of the transmit antennas, wherein the receiver determines sets of channel parameter statistics corresponding to the possible subsets of the transmit antennas, wherein the receiver selects transmission modes respectively corresponding to the sets of channel parameter statistics, wherein the transmission modes selected by the receiver include a particular modulation type from a plurality of available modulation types and a particular coding rate from a plurality of available coding rates, wherein the receiver computes output bit error rates of the receiver, each output bit error rate being computed based on at least one set of channel parameter statistics and at least one selected transmission mode, wherein the second switching block selects a particular possible subset of the transmit antennas based on a criterion predicated on at least the computed output bit error rates, and wherein the first switching block connects one or more RF chains of the transmitter to the transmit antennas of the selected particular possible subset.