Multi-antenna multicarrier receiver and methods for adaptively adjusting a receive data rate based on channel utilization

A multicarrier receiver comprising:

• channel utilization determining circuitry to determine a current channel utilization of a communication channel;
• receiver capability change circuitry to change a receiver capability of the receiver based on the current channel utilization;
• and
• data rate selection circuitry to select a receive data rate based on the receiver capability,
• wherein the receiver capability change circuitry includes at least one of either circuitry to change a number of antennas used to receive multicarrier communication signals or circuitry to change a channel bandwidth for processing the multicarrier communication signals.

A wireless communication device comprising:

• a plurality of substantially omnidirectional antennas;
• and
• a multicarrier receiver to receive multicarrier communication signals with the antennas,
• wherein the multicarrier receiver comprises:
• channel utilization determining circuitry to determining a current channel utilization of a communication channel;
• receiver capability change circuitry to change a receiver capability of the receiver based on the current channel utilization;
• and
• data rate selection circuitry to select a receive data rate based on the receiver capability.

A machine-readable medium that provides instructions, which when executed by one or more processors, cause the processors to perform operations comprising:

• determining a current channel utilization of a communication channel;
• changing a receiver capability based on the current channel utilization;
• and
• selecting a receive data rate based on the receiver capability,
• wherein changing the receiver capability includes either changing a number of antennas used to receive the multicarrier receive signals or changing a channel bandwidth.