Patent ID: 7733974

Claim:
A method for transmitting data to a subscriber in a wireless communication network comprising: evaluating performance requirements associated with the data and prevailing network conditions; determining the number of per-sector data streams to be used for transmitting the data to the subscriber, and whether said per-sector data streams provide spatial multiplexing, spatial diversity, or some mix thereof, based on said evaluation; identifying a set of candidate sectors, including a primary sector and one or more secondary sectors, for serving the subscriber by selecting one or more sectors from the subscriber's active set of sectors as the set of candidate sectors, and designating the primary and secondary sectors from the set of candidate sectors as a function of per-sector signal quality relative to the subscriber; and controlling transmission of the data to the subscriber via one or more data streams from the primary sector and one or more data streams from one or more of the secondary sectors, as said determined number of per-sector data streams.