Patent ID: 7817088

Claim:
A method comprising: at a first device, computing a plurality of beamforming weight vectors as eigenvectors corresponding to the largest eigenvalues of a matrix quantity and such that there is a preferred order in which the plurality of beamforming weight vectors are to be applied to a corresponding plurality of signals streams for an initial transmission of the plurality of signal streams from the first device to a second device, wherein the preferred order is in descending order of eigenvector by size of its corresponding eigenvalue; at the first device comprising a first plurality of antennas, applying the plurality of beamforming weight vectors to the corresponding plurality of signal streams for simultaneous transmission to the second device; determining that the plurality of signal streams need to be retransmitted from the first device to the second device; and switching an order in which the plurality of beamforming weight vectors are applied to the plurality of signal streams for a retransmission attempt of the plurality of signal streams from the first device to the second device, wherein switching comprises switching the order of the plurality of eigenvectors with respect to the descending order.