Patent ID: 7693550

Claim:
A method for the transmission of a global pilot signal from a base station of a radio communication system to a user station, wherein the base station comprises a plurality of antennas each antenna assigned with a different characteristic pilot bit sequence, and wherein the global pilot signal being generated by overlaying the different pilot bit sequences emitted by multiple antennas of the base station, the method comprising: a) dividing the plurality of antennas into a first group and a second group, each group including at least two antennas; b) transmitting an overlayed combination of the different pilot bit sequences corresponding to the antennas of only the first group and not transmitting the pilot bit sequences corresponding to the antennas of the second group; c) changing the compositions of the first and second group, including moving at least one antenna from the second group into the first group; and d) transmitting an overlayed combination of the different pilot bit sequences corresponding to the antennas of the changed first group and not transmitting the pilot bit sequences corresponding to the antennas of the changed second group, wherein the combination of pilot bit sequences transmitted at step (d) is different than the combination of pilot bit sequences transmitted at step (b).