Directional pattern determining method capable of quickly selecting optimum directional pattern

A directional pattern determining method for a wireless communication apparatus provided with a plurality of steerable antenna devices, and a directional pattern memory for storing data on a plurality of combined directional patterns each including directional patterns to be set for the steerable antenna devices, said method comprising the steps of:

• classifying the plurality of combined directional patterns into groups and storing the combined directional patterns in the directional pattern memory, such that among the plurality of combined directional patterns, the combined directional patterns strongly correlated with each other are classified into the same group, while the combined directional patterns weakly correlated with each other are classified into the different groups;
• selecting one combined directional pattern from each group in the directional pattern memory;
• determining one combined directional pattern from the selected combined directional patterns, in accordance with a first communication quality of signals each received when each one of the selected combined directional patterns is set for the steerable antenna element;
• and
• setting the determined combined directional pattern for the steerable antenna element.