Patent ID: 8189713

Claim:
A wireless communication device, comprising: a radio frequency (RF) transceiver configured to up convert one or more base band signals to one or more transmitting RF signals; an RF amplifier circuit configured to amplify the one or more transmitting RF signals to produce one or more amplified RF signals, wherein the RF amplifier circuit includes: a matrix of configurable RF amplifier elements A ij connected in M rows, wherein M is an integer of at least 2, wherein i=1, 2 . . . M and j=1, 2 . . . N, wherein N is an integer, wherein the output of the RF amplifier element A ij is connected to the input of the RF amplifier element A i(j+1) , wherein the RF amplifier element A ij is configured to be controlled to at least three states, wherein the RF amplifier element A ij is configured to amplify an RF signal by a gain g ij >1 in a first state, wherein g ij is the ratio of the output RF power over the input RF power for the RF amplifier element A i , wherein the RF amplifier element A ij is configured to pass the RF signal without amplification to the input of the RF amplifier element A i(j+1) in a second state, wherein the RF amplifier element A ij is configured to substantially block the RF signal from reaching the input of the RF amplifier element A i(j+1) in a third state; a plurality of input nodes each in communication with the RF transceiver and connected to the input of one of the RF amplifier elements A i1 ; and a plurality of output nodes each configured to output the amplified RF signal from one of the RF amplifier elements A iN ; and one or more antennas each configured to transmit a wireless signal in response to the amplified RF signal from one or more of the plurality of the output nodes.