Patent ID: 7379492

Claim:
A signal coding apparatus for a mobile communication system, the apparatus comprising: an adaptive modulation and coding (AMC) receiver of a mobile communication terminal for BLAST-decoding signals received from a plurality of reception antennas of the mobile communication terminal to produce a first output, and using the first output to produce a second output generated by the mobile communication terminal, the second output comprising estimate forward channel characteristics for a plurality of transmission antennas in an AMC transmitter of a base station in communication with the mobile communication terminal; wherein the AMC transmitter of the base station is configured for: selecting at least one adaptive coding rate and at least one modulation method according to the estimated forward channel characteristics in the second output provided by the mobile communication terminal, coding and modulating a plurality of transmission signal layers generated for transmission by the plurality of transmission antennas according to the selected adaptive coding rate and modulation method, and transmitting the plurality of transmission signal layers to the plurality of transmission antennas simultaneously by way of BLAST-coding.