Patent ID: 7418053

Claim:
A method comprising: transmitting a training signal from each antenna of a base station to each of a plurality of client devices, each of the client devices independently analyzing each training signal to generate channel characterization data, wherein for a base station having N antennas transmitting to M client devices the channel characterization data comprises at least N * M components, each component defining a channel characterization between one of the N antennas and one of the M client devices; transmitting the channel characterization data including the N * M components back to the base station; storing the channel characterization data including the N * M components associated with each antenna/client device combinations; receiving data to be transmitted to each of the client devices; and precoding the data using the channel characterization data including each of the N * M components associated with each respective antenna/client device combination to generate precoded data signals for each antenna/client device combination; and transmitting the precoded data signals through each antenna of the base station to each respective client device.