Prior art

I have performed a search for US patent 8374096 on the USPTO database.

Here's an analysis of the most relevant prior art cited in US patent 8374096:

US20050232208A1: Transmitting high rate data within a MIMO WLAN

• Full Citation: US20050232208A1 (Hansen Christopher J.)
• Publication Date: October 20, 2005.
• Brief Description: This patent application describes transmitting high-rate data within a MIMO WLAN, which involves transmitting data using multiple antennas.
• Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This reference potentially anticipates claims related to transmitting data in a MIMO WLAN, particularly aspects concerning the use of multiple antennas and sounding packets that may include data, as broadly described in claims 1 and 9 of US8374096. While US8374096 focuses on antenna selection using sounding packets, the concept of transmitting data concurrently with training information for a MIMO channel is a shared underlying principle.

US20060270343A1: Method and apparatus for antenna mapping selection in MIMO-OFDM wireless networks

• Full Citation: US20060270343A1 (Interdigital Technology Corporation)
• Publication Date: November 30, 2006.
• Brief Description: This patent application details a method and apparatus for antenna mapping selection in MIMO-OFDM wireless networks. This directly addresses the selection of antennas in a MIMO context, which is central to US8374096.
• Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This reference strongly anticipates claims 1, 6, 7, 11, and 15 of US8374096, which cover the core method of selecting antennas, estimating a channel matrix, and using sounding packets for different antenna subsets. The specific focus on "antenna mapping selection" in a MIMO wireless network directly overlaps with the inventive concept of US8374096.

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/127,006: Training Frames for MIMO Stations (This is referred to in the description of US8374096, but no publication number is provided for direct search. However, the description within US8374096 itself provides sufficient detail to assess its relevance as prior art.)

• Full Citation: U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/127,006, filed by Andreas Molisch, Jianxuan Du and Daqing Gu on May 11, 2005.
• Filing Date: May 11, 2005.
• Brief Description: This prior art describes a training method where a long sequence of training frames is transmitted from a receive station to a transmit station, and in response, the transmit station transmits a short sequence of training frames. This allows both the transmit and receive stations to perform channel estimation and antenna selection.
• Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This reference potentially anticipates aspects of claims 1, 6, 7, 11, 13, 14, and 15 of US8374096, particularly those related to using training frames (sounding packets) for channel estimation and antenna selection in a MIMO system, where both transmit and receive stations can be involved in the selection process. The fundamental idea of using sequences of frames for antenna selection training is present.