Patent ID: 7924803

Claim:
A method for selecting antennas in an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) network, in which the network includes a base station and a plurality of mobile stations, in which the base station and the plurality of mobile stations communicate with each other using frames, comprising: transmitting a down-link (DL) subframe of a frame from a base station to a mobile station in an OFDMA network, in which the mobile station includes a plurality of antennas, and in which the DL subframe allocates one or more symbols and one or more subcarriers of an up-link (UL) subframe of the frame for antenna selection signals, in which the one or more symbols and the one or more subcarriers comprise a sounding zone that includes at least one symbol and all subcarriers of the UL subframe; transmitting the UL subframe including the antenna selection signals at the allocated subcarriers and symbols to the base station; and selecting a subset of the plurality of antennas in the base station based on the antenna selection signals.