Multi-stream priority-based space-time coding

A method of space-time coding, comprising:

• establishing a priority for each of a plurality of data streams;
• modulating each of the plurality of data steams according to an allocated number of data bits of each of the plurality of data streams;
• determining a desired signal quality for each of the plurality of data streams based on the corresponding priority;
• jointly selecting a space-time code and weighting for each of the plurality of data streams based at least partially on the desired signal quality for each of the plurality of data streams, wherein at least one of the space-time codes is at least one of a vector or a matrix;
• space-time coding each of the modulated data streams by linearly combining the modulated data streams using the jointly selected space-time code and weighting;
• and
• transmitting the space-time coded modulated data streams.

A method of transmitting a plurality of space-time coded signals, comprising:

• modulating each of the plurality of data steams according to a priority of the data stream;
• space-time coding each of the modulated data streams with a corresponding constituent space-time code and weight, wherein the space-time code and weight of each modulated data stream is based at least partially on a desired signal quality for each of the plurality of modulated data streams, and wherein at least one of the constituent space-time codes is at least one of a vector or a matrix;
• summing the space-time coded modulated data streams;
• and
• transmitting the summed space-time coded modulated data streams.