Patent ID: 8064389

Claim:
A wireless communication system, comprising: an information source that provides an information content stream having a base layer and an enhanced layer; and a plurality of base stations, each base station coupled to the information source and having a plurality of antennas, wherein each base station transmits from a first antenna a first information stream derived from the base layer of the information content stream and exhibiting a first level of robustness, each first transmitted information stream substantially identical to every other first transmitted information stream, wherein each base station transmits from a second antenna a second information stream derived from the enhanced layer of the information content stream and exhibiting a second level of robustness, each second transmitted information stream substantially identical to every other second transmitted information stream, wherein at least one, but not all, of the base stations transmits a portion of the first and second information streams from third and fourth antennas respectively using a cyclic delay, and wherein the first level of robustness is achieved at least in part by a first coding rate and the second level of robustness is achieved at least in part by a second coding rate, each coding rate being a ratio of input bits to output bits at an encoder at each base station.