Patent ID: 8284718

Claim:
A wireless communication method for distributing a data stream from a wireless server apparatus to a plurality of wireless client apparatuses using a Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) wireless transmission scheme, each of the wireless client apparatuses comprising a larger number of antennas than the number of streams to be received by the wireless client apparatus, and among the antennas, selectively using a combination of antennas including a number of antennas whose number is equal to the number of the streams to be received, the method comprising the steps of, before start of streaming of the data stream: requesting, by the wireless server apparatus, the plurality of wireless client apparatuses for the number of antenna combinations; returning, by each of the wireless client apparatuses, the number of antenna combinations to the wireless server apparatus; determining, by the wireless server apparatus, a first training time according to the maximum of the returned numbers of antenna combinations, and notifying each of the wireless client apparatuses of the determined first training time; determining, by each of the wireless client apparatuses, a second training time required to estimate transmission path conditions between the wireless server apparatus and the wireless client apparatus for one antenna combination, based on the notified first training time; transmitting, by the wireless server apparatus, a training signal to each of the wireless client apparatuses during the first training time; estimating, by each of the wireless client apparatuses, the transmission path conditions using the training signal during the second training time for each of the antenna combinations; and selecting and setting, by each of the wireless client apparatuses, the antenna combination based on the estimated transmission path conditions.