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 wireless communication modes of operation, comprising:

generating, by a baseband processor in the WLAN transmitter, a mode selection signal that selects one of the 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 a plurality of channel bandwidths and a maximum bit rate for the selected one of the plurality of channel bandwidths;

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

converting the number of parallel transmit streams into a corresponding number of radio frequency (RF) signals, wherein a number of RF transmitters are enabled based on the mode selection signal and wherein the corresponding number of RF signals have the channel bandwidth and maximum bit rate indicated by the mode selection signal.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprises:

determining the 802.11 wireless communication mode of operation by the baseband processor based on operational conditions in a wireless local area network (WLAN).

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the operational conditions in the WLAN include at least one of: protocol diversity of wireless communication devices affiliated with the WLAN, capabilities of a target wireless communication device in the WLAN, or transmitter capabilities.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mode selection signal indicates for the selected 802.11 wireless communication mode of operation one or more of the following channel bandwidths: channel bandwidth of 20 MHz or channel bandwidth of 40 MHz.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein converting the outbound data further comprises:

selecting one of a plurality of bit rates of the selected 802.11 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 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 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 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 wireless communication mode comprises one or more of: Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK); Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK); Complimentary Code Keying (CCK); or Quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM).

8. A wireless local area network (WLAN) transmitter, the WLAN transmitter comprises:

a baseband processor configured to generate a mode selection signal that selects one of a plurality of channel bandwidths and a number of transmit antennas in accordance with one of a plurality of 802.11 wireless communication modes of operation; and

a plurality of radio frequency (RF) transmitters, wherein a number of the plurality of RF transmitters are enabled based on the mode selection signal, and wherein the number of the plurality of RF transmitters that are enabled generates a corresponding number of RF signals having the channel bandwidth indicated by the mode selection signal, the RF signals communicating a corresponding number of parallel transmit streams of outbound data.

9. The WLAN transmitter of claim 8 , wherein the baseband processor is further configured to:

select one of a plurality of encoding modes;

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

determine a number of transmit streams; and

convert the encoded data into streams of symbols in accordance with the number of transmit streams.

10. The WLAN transmitter of claim 9 , wherein the baseband processor is configured 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; and

processing the parallel streams of interleaved data to produce the streams of symbols.

11. The WLAN transmitter of claim 10 , wherein the baseband processor 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 to produce frequency domain symbols;

converting the frequency domain symbols into time domain symbols; and

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

12. The WLAN transmitter of claim 8 , wherein the baseband processor is operably coupled to select the one of the plurality of 802.11 wireless communication modes of operation based on operational conditions in a WLAN.

13. The WLAN transmitter of claim 12 , wherein the operational conditions in the WLAN include one or more of: protocol diversity of wireless communication devices affiliated with the WLAN, capabilities of a target wireless communication device in the WLAN, or transmitter capabilities.

14. The WLAN transmitter of claim 8 , wherein the baseband processor selects one of a plurality of channel bandwidths including at least: a 20 MHz or a 40 MHz channel bandwidth.

15. The WLAN transmitter of claim 14 , wherein the 20 or the 40 MHz channel bandwidth are in a 5 GHz frequency band.

16. A transmitter in a wireless local area network (WLAN), comprising:

a baseband processor configured to:

select one of a plurality of 802.11 wireless communication modes of operation, wherein the one of a plurality of 802.11 wireless communication modes of operation indicates one of a plurality of channel bandwidths and a number of antennas; and

convert outbound data into a plurality of parallel transmit streams; and

a plurality of radio frequency (RF) transmitters configured to:

generate, based on the plurality of parallel transmit streams, a number of RF signals corresponding to the selected number of antennas with the selected one of the plurality of channel bandwidths.

17. The transmitter of claim 16 , wherein the baseband processor is operable to determine the 802.11 wireless communication mode of operation based on operational conditions in the WLAN.

18. The transmitter of claim 17 , wherein the operational conditions include at least one of: protocol diversity of wireless communication devices affiliated with the WLAN, capabilities of a target wireless communication device in the WLAN, or transmitter capabilities.

19. The transmitter of claim 16 , wherein the one of the plurality of channel bandwidths includes at least: a channel bandwidth of 20 MHz or a channel bandwidth of 40 MHz.

20. The transmitter of claim 19 , wherein the plurality of channel bandwidths are in a frequency band of 5 GHz.