WLAN transmitter having high data throughput

1. A method of a wireless local area network (WLAN) transmitter to transmit in accordance with a plurality of 802.11 standard wireless communication modes of operation, comprising:

generating a mode selection signal by a baseband processing module in the WLAN transmitter that selects one of a plurality of 802.11 wireless communication modes of operation, wherein the mode selection signal indicates for the selected 802.11 wireless communication mode of operation one of plurality of frequency bands, one of a plurality of channel bandwidths, and a maximum bit rate for the selected one of a plurality frequency bands and the selected one of a plurality of channel bandwidths;

converting outbound data into a number of parallel transmit streams indicated by the mode selection signal; and

converting each of the number of parallel transmit streams into a corresponding number of RF signals by a number of a plurality of RF transmitters, wherein the number of the plurality of RF transmitters that are enabled is based on the mode selection signal and wherein the corresponding number of RF signals are in the frequency band with the channel bandwidth and maximum bit rate indicated by the mode selection signal.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of 802.11 wireless communication modes of operation includes an IEEE 802.11(n) mode of operation and one or more of the following: IEEE 802.11(a), 802.11(b) or 802.11(g) modes of operation.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprises:

determining the 802.11 wireless communication mode of operation by the baseband processing module based on operational conditions in a wireless local area network (WLAN) including at least one of: protocol diversity of wireless communication devices affiliated with the WLAN or capabilities of a target wireless communication device in the WLAN and transmitter capabilities.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the mode selection signal indicates for the selected 802.11 wireless communication mode of operation one or more of the following frequency bands, channel bandwidths and maximum bit rates:

frequency band of 2.4 GHz, channel bandwidth of 20-22 MHz, and a maximum bit rate of 54 Megabits per second (Mbps);

frequency band of 5 GHz, channel bandwidth of 20 MHz, and a maximum bit rate of 54 Mbps;

frequency band of 2.4 GHz, channel bandwidth of 20 MHz, and a maximum bit rate of 192 Mbps;

frequency band of 5 GHz, channel bandwidth of 20 MHz, and a maximum bit rate of 192 Mbps; or

frequency band of 5 GHz, channel bandwidth of 40 MHz, and a maximum bit rate of 486 Mbps.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein converting the outbound data further comprises:

selecting one of a plurality of bit rates of the selected 802.11 standard wireless communication mode of operation based on the mode selection signal;

selecting one of a plurality of types of modulation of the selected 802.11 standard wireless communication mode of operation based on the mode selection signal; and

generating the number of parallel transmit streams with the selected bit rate and the selected modulation.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein converting the outbound data further comprises;

selecting one of a plurality of code rates of the selected 802.11 standard wireless communication mode of operation based on the mode selection signal;

selecting one of a plurality of number of coded bits per subcarrier of the selected 802.11 standard wireless communication mode of operation based on the mode selection signal; and

generating the number of parallel transmit streams with the selected code rate and the selected number of coded bits per subcarrier.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the plurality of types of modulation of the selected 802.11 standard wireless communication mode comprises one or more of: Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK); Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK); Complimentary Code Keying (CCK); 16 QAM; 64 QAM; or 256 QAM.

8. A wireless local area network (WLAN) transmitter having high data throughput, the WLAN transmitter comprises:

a baseband processing module that operates in a plurality of 802.11 wireless communication modes of operation and that generates a mode selection signal to select one of the plurality of 802.11 wireless communication modes of operation, wherein the mode selection signal indicates one of plurality of frequency bands, one of a plurality of channel bandwidths, a maximum bit rate for the selected one of a plurality frequency bands and the selected one of a plurality of channel bandwidths and a number of transmit antennas for the selected 802.11 wireless communication mode of operation; and

a plurality of radio frequency (RF) transmitters, wherein a number of the plurality of RF transmitters are enabled based on the number of transmit antennas indicated by the mode selection signal and wherein each of the number of plurality of RF transmitters that are enabled converts a stream of symbols into a corresponding RF signal such that the corresponding RF signals produced are within the frequency band and have the channel bandwidth and the maximum bit rate for the selected 802.11 wireless communication mode of operation.

9. The WLAN transmitter of claim 8 , wherein the baseband processing module is operably coupled to:

select one of a plurality of encoding modes for the selected of 802.11 wireless communication mode of operation based on the mode selection signal;

encode data in accordance with the one of the plurality of encoding modes to produce encoded data;

determine a number of transmit streams based on the mode selection signal; and

convert the encoded data into streams of symbols in accordance with the number of transmit streams indicated by the mode selection signal.

10. The WLAN transmitter of claim 9 , wherein the baseband processing module is operably coupled to convert the encoded data into streams of symbols by:

interleaving the encoded data over multiple symbols and subcarriers of a channel to produce interleaved data;

demultiplexing the interleaved data into a number of parallel streams of interleaved data, wherein the number of parallel streams corresponds to the number of transmit streams determined based on the mode selection signal; and

processing each of the parallel streams of interleaved data to produce the streams of symbols, wherein the processing is based on the mode selection signal.

11. The WLAN transmitter of claim 10 , wherein the baseband processing module is operably coupled to process each of the parallel streams of interleaved data to produce the streams of symbols by:

mapping the interleaved data into a quadrature amplitude modulated (QAM) symbol according to one of a plurality of QAM symbols for the selected 802.11 wireless communication mode of operation determined by the mode selection signal to produce frequency domain symbols;

converting the frequency domain symbols into time domain symbols; and

space and time encoding the time domain symbols of each of the parallel streams of interleaved data to produce the streams of symbols.

12. The WLAN transmitter of claim 8 wherein the plurality of 802.11 wireless communication modes of operation includes an IEEE 802.11(n) mode of operation and one or more of the following: IEEE 802.11(a), 802.11(b) or 802.11(g) modes of operation.

13. The WLAN transmitter of claim 12 , wherein the baseband processing module is operably coupled to select the 802.11 wireless communication mode of operation based on operational conditions in a wireless local area network (WLAN) including one or more of: protocol diversity of wireless communication devices affiliated with the WLAN or capabilities of a target wireless communication device in the WLAN and transmitter capabilities.

14. The WLAN transmitter of claim 12 , wherein the mode selection signal indicates one of the following values for frequency band, channel bandwidth and maximum bit rate for the selected 802.11 wireless communication mode of operation:

frequency band of 2.4 GHz, channel bandwidth of 20-22 MHz, and a maximum bit rate of 54 Megabits per second (Mbps);

frequency band of 5 GHz, channel bandwidth of 20 MHz, and a maximum bit rate of 54 Mbps;

frequency band of 2.4 GHz, channel bandwidth of 20 MHz, and a maximum bit rate of 192 Mbps;

frequency band of 5 GHz, channel bandwidth of 20 MHz, and a maximum bit rate of 192 Mbps; or

frequency band of 5 GHz, channel bandwidth of 40 MHz, and a maximum bit rate of 486 Mbps.

15. A wireless local area network (WLAN) transmitter having high data throughput, the WLAN transmitter comprises:

a baseband processing module operably coupled to:

generate a mode selection signal that selects one of a plurality of 802.11 wireless communication modes of operation, wherein the mode selection signal indicates for the selected 802.11 wireless communication mode of operation one of plurality of frequency bands, one of a plurality of channel bandwidths, a maximum bit rate for the selected one of a plurality frequency bands and the selected one of a plurality of channel bandwidths; and

a plurality of RF transmitters operably coupled to:

convert a number of parallel transmit streams into a corresponding number of RF signals by a number of the plurality of RF transmitters, wherein the number of the plurality of RF transmitters that are enabled is based on the mode selection signal and wherein the corresponding number of RF signals are in the frequency band with the channel bandwidth and maximum bit rate indicated by the mode selection signal.

16. The WLAN transmitter of claim 15 , wherein the plurality of 802.11 wireless communication modes of operation includes an IEEE 802.11(n) mode of operation and one or more of the following: IEEE 802.11(a), 802.11(b) or 802.11(g) modes of operation.

17. The WLAN transmitter of claim 16 , wherein the baseband processing module is further operably coupled to determine the 802.11 wireless communication mode of operation based on operational conditions in a wireless local area network (WLAN) including at least one of: protocol diversity of wireless communication devices affiliated with the WLAN or capabilities of a target wireless communication device in the WLAN and transmitter capabilities.

18. The WLAN transmitter of claim 17 , wherein the mode selection signal indicates for the selected 802.11 wireless communication mode of operation one or more of the following frequency bands, channel bandwidths and maximum bit rates:

frequency band of 2.4 GHz, channel bandwidth of 20-22 MHz, and a maximum bit rate of 54 Megabits per second (Mbps);

frequency band of 5 GHz, channel bandwidth of 20 MHz, and a maximum bit rate of 54 Mbps;

frequency band of 2.4 GHz, channel bandwidth of 20 MHz, and a maximum bit rate of 192 Mbps;

frequency band of 5 GHz, channel bandwidth of 20 MHz, and a maximum bit rate of 192 Mbps; or

frequency band of 5 GHz, channel bandwidth of 40 MHz, and a maximum bit rate of 486 Mbps.

19. The WLAN transmitter of claim 15 , wherein the baseband processing module is operable to select the 802.11 wireless communication mode of operation based on operational conditions in a wireless local area network (WLAN).

20. The WLAN transmitter of claim 19 , wherein the operational conditions include at least one of: protocol diversity of wireless communication devices affiliated with the WLAN or capabilities of a target wireless communication device in the WLAN and transmitter capabilities.