Patent ID: 7688910

Claim:
A wireless communication system for carrying out spatial multiplexing communication over spatial channels, the wireless communication system comprising: a transmitter having antennas; and a receiver having antennas; wherein the spatial channels are divided into groups including a first group of at least two spatial channels and a second group of at least two spatial channels, the transmitter transmits reference signals and user data over the spatial channels, the reference signals being transmitted in a time-division manner and in succession over spatial channels of the first group and spatial channels of the second group, and the receiver: receives the reference signals in the successive order; acquires a first partial channel matrix including a first matrix corresponding to the first group; spatially demultiplexes the user data using the first partial channel matrix; acquires a second partial channel matrix including a second matrix corresponding to the second group, wherein the first matrix and the second matrix are acquired as the reference signals are received over spatial channels of the first group and over spatial channels of the second group; generates a channel matrix based on the first partial channel matrix and the second partial channel matrix; and spatially demultiplexes the user data using the generated channel matrix.