Multi-band transmission system

An apparatus, comprising:

• a network interface device including:
• a separator circuit configured to separate data into a plurality of segments corresponding to a plurality of frequency bands, wherein the plurality of segments includes at least i) a first segment corresponding to a first frequency band and ii) a second segment corresponding to a second frequency band, and
• a first multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) processing circuit configured to:
• multiplex the first segment into a plurality of transmit spatial streams corresponding to a plurality of spatial channels, wherein the plurality of transmit spatial streams includes at least i) a first transmit spatial stream corresponding to a first spatial channel and ii) a second transmit spatial stream corresponding to a second spatial channel,
• wherein the first MIMO processing circuit is further configured to generate a plurality of beamforming signals corresponding to the second segment, wherein the plurality of beamforming signals includes at least i) a first beamforming signal corresponding to the first spatial channel and ii) a second beamforming signal corresponding to the second spatial channel;
• wherein the network interface device further includes a plurality of transmitters coupled to the first MIMO processing circuit, the plurality of transmitters including M transmitters corresponding to the first frequency band, and N transmitters corresponding to the second frequency band, wherein M is an integer greater than or equal to two, and N is an integer greater than or equal to two;
• and
• wherein the network interface device further includes:
• a plurality of receivers including R receivers corresponding to the first frequency band, and S receivers corresponding to the second frequency band, wherein R is an integer greater than M, and S is an integer less than N, and
• a second MIMO processing circuit coupled to the R receivers, wherein the second MIMO processing circuit is configured to perform MIMO processing to recover multiple receive spatial streams i) corresponding to the first frequency segment and ii) received via the plurality of spatial channels.

A method, comprising:

• separating, at a network interface device, data into a plurality of segments corresponding to a plurality of frequency bands, wherein the plurality of segments includes at least i) a first segment corresponding to a first frequency band and ii) a second segment corresponding to a second frequency band;
• multiplexing, at the network interface device and using multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) processing, the first segment into a plurality of transmit spatial streams corresponding to a plurality of spatial channels, wherein the plurality of transmit spatial streams includes at least i) a first transmit spatial stream corresponding to a first spatial channel and ii) a second transmit spatial stream corresponding to a second spatial channel;
• generating, at the network interface device, a plurality of beamforming signals corresponding to the second segment, wherein the plurality of beamforming signals includes at least i) a first beamforming signal corresponding to the first spatial channel and ii) a second beamforming signal corresponding to the second spatial channel;
• generating, using M transmitters of the network interface device, first transmit signals corresponding to at least the first transmit spatial stream and the second transmit spatial stream, wherein M is an integer greater than or equal to two;
• generating, using N transmitters of the network interface device, second transmit signals corresponding to at least i) the first beamforming signal and ii) the second beamforming signal, wherein N is an integer greater than or equal to two;
• receiving, at R receivers of the network interface device and via at least the first spatial channel and the second spatial channel, a plurality of first receive signals corresponding to the first frequency band, wherein R is an integer greater than M;
• receiving, at S receivers of the network interface device via at least the first spatial channel and the second spatial channel, one or more second receive signals corresponding to the second frequency band, wherein S is an integer less than N;
• and
• recovering, at the network interface device and using MIMO processing, multiple receive spatial streams i) corresponding to the first frequency segment and ii) received by the R receivers via the plurality of spatial channels.