Patent ID: 8773967

Claim:
A method for relaying signals between a first signal source and a second signal source by a relay station that comprises at least two antennas for receiving/transmitting signals from/to the first and second signal sources, the method comprising: in a first time slot, receiving at the relay station a first signal from the first signal source and a first signal from the second signal source; in a second time slot, receiving at the relay station a second signal from the first signal source and a second signal from the second signal source; at the relay station, generating a first network coded signal by network coding the first signals received from the first and second signal sources in the first time slot, and generating a second network coded signal by network coding the second signals received from the first and second signal sources in the second time slot; in a third time slot, transmitting the first network coded signal by a first antenna of the relay station, and transmitting the second network coded signal by a second antenna of the relay station; and in a fourth time slot, transmitting the first network coded signal by the second antenna of the relay server, and transmitting the second network coded signal by the first antenna of the relay server wherein, the first time slot, the second time slot, the third and the fourth time slot are each consecutive time slots.