Patent Document ID: 20030011516
Application ID: 10085210
Patent Flag: 0

Claim One:
1. A beamformer, which receives channel input data in a given number of input data channels, said beamformer comprising: at least one module, said module receiving cascaded beam inputs and a subset of the channel input data and said at least one module comprising; a covariance estimator, said covariance estimator being cascadable across at least another module, said covariance estimator including a covariance estimator output, whereby cascading said covariance estimator across said at least another module enables obtaining another beamformer receiving input data channels different from said number of input data channels; an interface to a processor; a plurality of buffers providing delayed channel input data; and a weighted sum calculator, said weighted sum calculator being cascadable with at least another module, wherein beamformer coefficients and the delayed channel input data are processed through the weighted sum calculator to produce output beam data in a given number of output beam channels, said beamformer coefficients being determined from the output of the covariance estimator, whereby cascading said weighted sum calculator with said at least another module enables obtaining still another beamformer producing output beam channels different from said number of output beam channels.