Patent ID: 8705451

Claim:
An apparatus for switching Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO) modes, the apparatus comprising: an MIMO mode determining unit determining a current MIMO mode of a mobile station; a staying time determining unit determining a first staying time in a first MIMO mode of the mobile station and a second staying time in a second MIMO mode of the mobile station, wherein the staying time determining unit determines the first staying time when the MIMO mode determining unit determines the current MIMO mode of the mobile station as the first MIMO mode for transmitting the same data through a plurality of antennas, and determines the second staying time when the MIMO mode determining unit determines the current MIMO mode of the mobile station as the second MIMO mode for transmitting different data by antenna; an MIMO mode switching unit switching the MIMO mode of the mobile station to the second MIMO mode when the first staying time is greater than or equal to a first threshold staying time; a CINR determining unit determining a CINR value of the mobile station received from the mobile station; and a threshold value setting unit resetting a threshold CINR value by increasing the threshold CINR value by a certain value when the second staying time is less than or equal to a second threshold staying time, wherein the MIMO mode switching unit switches the MIMO mode of the mobile station to the second MIMO mode when the first staying time is greater than the first threshold staying time and the CINR value is greater than the threshold CINR value.