Patent ID: 8055207

Claim:
A receiver comprises: a plurality of radio frequency (RF) receiver modules coupled to a plurality of antennas, wherein the plurality of RF receiver modules convert inbound RF signals into a plurality of inbound analog signals; a plurality of analog baseband sections, wherein, when the receiver is in a first mode, only one of the plurality of analog baseband sections is selected from the plurality of analog baseband sections and selectively made active to adjust only one of the plurality of inbound analog signals to produce an adjusted inbound analog signal and, when the receiver is in a second mode, the plurality of analog baseband sections are made active to adjust the plurality of inbound analog signals to produce a plurality of adjusted inbound analog signals; a plurality of analog to digital conversion sections, wherein, when the receiver is in the first mode, only one of the plurality of analog to digital conversion sections corresponding to the selected analog baseband section is selectively made active to convert the adjusted inbound analog signal into an inbound digital signal and, when the receiver is in the second mode, the plurality of analog to digital conversion sections are made active to convert the plurality of adjusted inbound analog signals into a plurality of inbound digital signals; a digital baseband processing module, wherein, when the receiver is in the first mode, only a portion of the digital baseband processing module is made active to process the inbound digital signal into inbound data and, when the receiver is in the second mode, the digital baseband processing module is made active to process the plurality of inbound digital signals into second inbound data, wherein when in the first mode, only a single receive path is selectively made active to the digital baseband processing module and the digital baseband processing module performs baseband processing for the single receive path, and when in the second mode, plurality of receive paths are made active to the digital baseband processing module and the digital baseband processing module switches to perform baseband processing for the plurality of receive paths; and a multiplexing module coupled to the plurality of RF receiver modules and the plurality of analog baseband sections, wherein, when the receiver is in the first mode, the multiplexing module selects only one of the plurality of inbound analog signals intended for processing and couples only the one selected inbound analog signal to the one analog baseband section made active from the plurality of analog baseband sections, but when the receiver is in the second mode, the multiplexing module couples the plurality of inbound analog signals to the plurality of analog baseband sections, in which the multiplexing module is configured to switch any one of the inbound analog signals to any one of the plurality of analog baseband sections and switches the one selected inbound analog signal to the selected analog baseband section when the receiver is in the first mode.