Patent ID: 8041395

Claim:
A base station system for cellular communication and broadcasting in a plurality of transmission modes within a geographic area divided into a plurality of cells, the base station system comprising: a plurality of antennas capable of generating beam patterns adjustable in azimuth, elevation, or both for purposes of transmitting signals to mobile devices; a signal distribution network coupled to the plurality of antennas, the signal distribution network enabling a plurality of input signals to be routed to one or more of the plurality of antennas; and a controller coupled to the signal distribution network and the plurality of antennas, the controller enabling the base station system to be switched between a first mode of operation used for a first application wherein at least one of the plurality of antennas has a beam pattern with a first azimuth pattern and a first elevation pattern, and a second mode of operation used for a second application wherein the at least one of the plurality of antennas has a beam pattern with a second azimuth pattern and a second elevation pattern, wherein the first mode of operation used for the first application is associated with a first group of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols to facilitate transmission to mobile devices within a cell; wherein the first group of OFDM symbols is transmitted via an antenna by turning on one of multiple switches; the second mode of operation used for the second application is associated with a second group of OFDM symbols to facilitate transmission to mobile devices in multiple cells over a single frequency network; wherein the second group of OFDM symbols is transmitted via multiple antennas by turning on multiple switches; the second azimuth pattern is wider than the first azimuth pattern, the second elevation pattern is more extended than the first elevation pattern, or the second azimuth pattern is wider than the first azimuth pattern and the second elevation pattern is more extended than the first elevation pattern; and the mode switching takes place during a cyclic prefix or a cyclic postfix between OFDM symbols.