Patent ID: 6891909

Claim:
A method of wireless communication, comprising the following steps: (a) acquiring first through N-th packets of data at a remote site; (b) transmitting said N packets of data from an antenna at said remote site in the form of modulated signals, each modulated signal having a bit pattern dictated by the acquired data; (c) receiving at least portions of said modulated signals of said N packets of data in first and second antenna fields; (d) demodulating said portions of said modulated signals of said N packets of data detected in said first antenna field; (e) after transmitting said N-th packet of data, transmitting an (N+1)-th packet from said antenna at said remote site, said (N+1)-th packet being transmitted in the form of a modulated signal having a known bit pattern not dictated by the acquired data; (f) receiving at least a portion of said modulated signal of said (N+1)-th packet in said first antenna field; (g) calculating the power of said modulated signal of said (N+1)-th packet from said first antenna field; (h) after transmitting said (N+1)-th packet, transmitting an (N+2)-th packet from said antenna at said remote site, said (N+2)-th packet being transmitted in the form of a modulated signal having a known bit pattern not dictated by the acquired data; (i) receiving at least a portion of said modulated signal of said (N+2)-th packet in said second antenna field; (j) calculating the power of said modulated signal of said (N+2)-th packet from said second antenna field; and (k) selecting one of said first and second antenna fields to provide detected modulated signals for demodulating subsequent to transmission of said (N+2)-th packet, the results of said selecting step being a function of the results of said calculating steps.