Patent ID: 7151951

Claim:
An apparatus for supporting downlink wireless communication to wireless mobile communication stations via a multi-beam antenna system, comprising: an input for receiving a data stream associated with a wireless mobile communication station; a divider coupled to said input for producing from said data stream a set of beam signals; an adjuster coupled to said divider for receiving said beam signals, said adjuster including an input for receiving feedback information that the wireless mobile communication station has provided via a wireless communication link, said adjuster operable for adjusting at least one of said beam signals based on said feedback information to produce an adjusted set of beam signals; a beamforming unit coupled to said adjuster for receiving therefrom said adjusted set of beam signals, said beamforming unit having an input for receiving beamforming control information, and said beamforming unit responsive to said adjusted set of beam signals and said beamforming control information for producing antenna information for the multi-beam antenna system; and an output coupled to said beamforming unit for providing said antenna information to the multi-beam antenna system, wherein said multi-beam antenna system generates at least two non-coherent fixed beams, and wherein said feedback information provided by said wireless mobile communication system comprises transmit diversity information derived from the reception of said at least two non-coherent fixed beams.