Method and apparatus for received uplinked-signal based adaptive downlink diversity within a communication system

A method for wireless communication for a first user, comprising the steps of:

• determining a cell having a plurality of sectors;
• receiving a first diversity-encoded signal from a first downlink transmission beam from one of said sectors;
• and
• receiving a second diversity-encoded signal from a second downlink transmission beam from one of said sectors, the first downlink transmission beam being substantially uncorrelated with the second downlink transmission beam, the first downlink transmission beam being associated with a portion of a first sector of said plurality of sectors, the second downlink transmission beam being associated with a portion of a second sector of said plurality of sectors;
• wherein the first downlink transmission beam is associated with a first uplink multipath from a plurality of uplink multipaths associated with the first user, the second downlink transmission beam is associated with a second uplink multipath from the plurality of uplink multipaths, the first uplink multipath and the second uplink multipath being no less optimal than the remaining uplink multipaths from the plurality of uplink multipaths.

An apparatus, comprising:

• a searcher configured to identify a received user-derived signal;
• a beam controller coupled to the searcher;
• a first transmit beam switch coupled to the beam controller;
• a second transmit beam switch coupled to the beam controller;
• a diversity coder coupled to the first transmit beam switch and the second transmit beam switch, the diversity coder configured to send a first diversity encoded signal to the first transmit beam switch based on the received user-derived signal and to send a second diversity encoded signal to the second transmit beam switch based on the received user-derived signal;
• and
• an antenna array coupled to the first transmit beam switch and the second transmit beam switch, the antenna array configured to define a first downlink transmission beam and a second downlink transmission beam, the first downlink transmission beam being associated with a portion within a first sector, the second downlink transmission beam being associated with a portion within a second sector, the first downlink transmission beam being substantially uncorrelated to the second downlink transmission beam, the first downlink transmission beam being associated with the first diversity-encoded signal, the second downlink transmission beam being associated with the second diversity-encoded signal;
• wherein the first downlink transmission beam is associated with a first uplink multipath/from a plurality of uplink multipaths associated with a first user, the second downlink transmission beam is associated with a second uplink multipath from the plurality of uplink multipaths, the first uplink multipath and the second uplink multipath being no less optimal than the remaining uplink multipaths from the plurality of uplink multipaths.