Patent ID: 8644184

Claim:
A method for beamforming in a communication system, the method comprising: receiving, at a first communication device, first feedback from a second communication device, the first feedback corresponding to a previous iteration of a beamforming procedure between the first communication device and the second communication device; determining, based on the first feedback, a first plurality of orthogonal transmit antenna weight vectors (AWVs) to be used by the first communication device during a current iteration of the beamforming procedure, the first plurality of orthogonal transmit AWVs including a first transmit AWV; generating a first plurality of training signals to be transmitted via a plurality of antennas over a communication channel, wherein the first plurality of training signals are to be transmitted by applying a different one of the first plurality of orthogonal transmit AWVs as each of the first plurality of training signals is transmitted, and wherein transmission of the first plurality of training signals is associated with a transmit beamforming training portion of the current iteration of the beamforming procedure; generating a second plurality of training signals to be transmitted via the plurality of antennas over the communication channel, wherein the second plurality of training signals are to be transmitted by applying the first transmit AWV as each of the second plurality of training signals is transmitted, and wherein transmission of the second plurality of training signals is associated with a receive beamforming training portion of the current iteration of the beamforming procedure; receiving, at the first communication device, second feedback from the second communication device, the second feedback responsive to the first plurality of training signals; and determining, based on the second feedback, a second plurality of orthogonal transmit AWVs to be used by the first communication device during a next iteration of the beamforming procedure.