Patent ID: 8396483

Claim:
A mobile station for use in a wireless communication system comprising: a steerable antenna; means for obtaining location information relating to a current location of the mobile station; a memory comprising a local database of optimal antenna pointing directions for given locations; a steering controller configured to control a pointing direction of the steerable antenna using the location information and the optimal pointing direction indicated in the local database for the current location of the mobile station; a receiver configured to receive, by wireless communication, one or more received updates to the local database, each received update indicating a difference, for each particular given location in the received update, between a first antenna pointing direction stored in the local database and a received improved antenna pointing direction that is associated with an improved signal strength or quality; a detector configured to detect an improved optimal antenna pointing direction detected to give an improved signal strength or quality compared to a corresponding optimal pointing directions indicated in the local database for the current location of the mobile station; and a transmitter configured to send, by wireless communication, a signal providing the detected improved optimal antenna pointing direction to a remote terminal of the system for storage in a remote database of the system, wherein the transmitted signal provides information indicating a difference, for the current location in the detected improvements, between a particular optimal antenna pointing direction stored in the local database and the detected improved optimal antenna pointing direction.