Patent ID: 7356323

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: first and second receiver chains and at least one transmitter chain, which is a dedicated transmitter chain different and separate from the first and second receiver chains; N multiple antennas to connect to the first and second receiver chains and the transmitter chain, N being greater than two; a switch adapted to couple each receiver chain to an individual reception antenna during reception and the transmitter chain to an individual transmission antenna during transmission so that each receiver chain is coupled to a different one of said antennas, said switch comprising: a first sub-switch adapted to couple a first reception antenna, selected from at least two antennas, to the first receiver chain, a second sub-switch adapted to couple a second reception antenna, selected from at least two antennas, to the second receiver chain, and a third sub-switch, operationally coupled in series with the first sub-switch, adapted to couple a transmission antenna, selected from N antennas, via the first sub-switch to the transmitter chain during transmission and the first reception antenna to the first receiver chain via the first sub-switch during reception; and a combiner operationally coupled to the selected individual reception antennas via the first and second receiver chains to combine signals from the selected individual reception antennas to form a combined output.