Patent ID: 8897834

Claim:
A wireless communication apparatus, comprising: a processor; and a memory with instructions stored therein, wherein the instructions are accessible and processable by the processor, wherein the processor is configured to: obtain an antenna subset list that identifies one or more configurations of virtual antennas associated with a scheduling unit that is associated with at least one base station, wherein at least one identified configuration of virtual antennas includes a plurality of virtual antennas and wherein the antenna subset list indicates whether one virtual antenna or multiple virtual antennas of the at least one identified configuration can be selected for transmission; use the antenna subset list to aid in selecting which virtual antenna(s) in the configuration of virtual antennas to use for transmissions, wherein the processor further employs an antenna subset mask to prevent one or more of the virtual antenna(s) indicated as being available in the antenna subset list from being selected for transmissions; and send an antenna selection signal that contains information requesting the scheduling unit to use the selected virtual antenna(s) for transmissions.