Patent ID: 7801235

Claim:
A method for use with a wireless device having at least three antennas, said method comprising: measuring a quality metric for each antenna associated with a first diversity state during reception of a first wireless packet, said first diversity state being one of a plurality of predefined diversity states, wherein each diversity state within said plurality of predefined diversity states has two associated antennas; selecting one of said antennas associated with said first diversity state to receive a payload portion of said first wireless packet based on said measured quality metrics; and identifying with a state machine a next diversity state in the plurality of predefined diversity states for use during reception of a next wireless packet based on (a) said first diversity state and (b) said antenna selected from said first diversity state to receive said payload portion of said first wireless packet; setting a present diversity state equal to the next diversity state; and for each new wireless packet received after said next wireless packet, identifying a diversity state to use during reception of said new wireless packet based on a diversity state used during reception of a previous wireless packet and an antenna selected from said diversity state used during reception of said previous wireless packet.