Patent ID: 7429949

Claim:
A method of generating beamforming weights for a plurality of antenna elements in a physical array thereof, the method comprising: estimating a direction of arrival of a co-channel interfering signal; deriving a first series of beamforming weights corresponding to each antenna element in the physical antenna array, wherein the series of derived beamforming weights define a null in an angular direction from the physical antenna array corresponding to the direction of arrival of the interfering signal; broadening the null to accommodate deviation of the estimated direction of arrival from a true direction of arrival of the signal; identifying a series of virtual weights to accommodate information content of the broadened null corresponding to a virtual antenna array comprising a plurality of real antenna elements corresponding to the plurality of antenna elements of the physical array and a plurality of virtual antenna elements; and transforming the series of virtual weights to a second series of beamforming weights corresponding to each antenna element in the physical antenna array that incorporate the broadened null; wherein the second series of beamforming weights may be applied to the plurality of physical antenna elements to minimize interference from the co-channel interferer during communications with a desired user.