Method and apparatus for enhancing communication reception at a wireless communication terminal

A method for enhancing communication reception at a wireless communication terminal, the method comprising the steps of:

• transmitting a first signal including N multicarrier tones from a first antenna, N being an integer greater than 1;
• transmitting a second signal including at least one pilot tone from a second antenna, said pilot tone corresponding to one of said N multi-carrier tones;
• receiving a feedback signal based on an analysis of the first signal and second signal as received at a wireless terminal and;
• adapting transmission of communication involving the N multi-carrier tones in accordance with the received feedback signal.

A method for enhancing wireless communication reception at a terminal, the method comprising the steps of:

• transmitting a first data frame signal including N multi-carrier tones from a first antenna, N being an integer greater than 1, at least one of which is a pilot tone;
• transmitting, in a second frame signal data, a pilot tone from a second antenna, said pilot tone corresponding to one of said N multi-carrier tones wherein said pilot tone falls within a first correlation bandwidth of said N multi-carrier tones;
• receiving a feedback signal indicative of reception at the terminal of the transmissions;
• and
• processing a communication to be transmitted to the terminal in accordance with the feedback signal.

A method for enhancing wireless communication reception at a plurality of terminals, the method comprising the steps of:

• providing a multicarrier signal of X tones where X is an integer and X>2;
• creating Y clusters of tones from said X tones where Y is an integer 2.ltoreq.Y.ltoreq.X each cluster including N carrier tones where N is an integer .gtoreq.1;
• and
• for each cluster of carrier tones,
• transmitting from a first antenna a first subset of the cluster's carrier tone, one of said tones constituting a first pilot tone;
• transmitting from a second antenna a second subset of the cluster's carrier tones one such tone constituting a second pilot tone;
• receiving a feedback signal from one of the plurality of terminals, said feedback signal being representative of a processing of the first and second pilot tones;
• and
• processing said cluster of carrier tones in response to said feedback signal.

A system for providing enhanced communication reception at a wireless communication terminal, the system comprising:

• a first transmission antenna;
• a second transmission antenna;
• a receiver antenna;
• a multi-carrier tone generator;
• a feedback reception circuit coupled to the receiver antenna;
• and
• a processing circuit coupled to said feedback reception circuit, said multi-carrier tone generator and said first and second transmission antennae such that transmission by the first and second transmission antennae of multi-carrier tones generated by the generator is affected by a feedback signal from a wireless communication terminal received by said feedback reception circuit.

A system for improving communication transmission from a base station to a wireless communication terminal, the system comprising:

• a complex data source;
• a multi-carrier tone generator;
• a first transmission antenna;
• a first transmission processing path coupling said complex data source, said multicarrier tone generator and said first transmission antenna;
• a second transmission antenna;
• a second transmission processing path coupling said complex data source said multi-carrier tone generator and said second transmission antenna;
• a feedback reception circuit;
• and
• processing control circuitry coupled to said feedback reception circuit, said first transmission processing path and said second transmission processing path, said processing control circuitry affecting the coupling of the complex data source and the multi-carrier tone generator to said first transmission antenna and said second transmission antenna in response to said feedback reception circuit.

A system for improving communication transmission from a base station to a wireless communication terminal, the system comprising:

• N transmission antennae where N is an integer and N.gtoreq.2;
• a receiver antenna;
• a multi-carrier tone generator;
• a feedback reception circuit coupled to the receiver antenna;
• and
• a processing circuit coupled to said feedback reception circuit, said multi-carrier tone generator and said N transmission antennae such that transmission by the N transmission antennae of multi-carrier tones generated by the generator is affected by a feedback signal from a wireless communication terminal received by said feedback reception circuit.