Patent attributes
A computing device with a Dynamic Antenna Configuration Manager (DACM) for sharing of spare antennas with dedicated (wireless mode-specific) primary antennas in the computing device, which supports multiple wireless modes of operation and includes at least one shared spare antenna operable as a broadband Radio Frequency (RF) antenna over all of the device-supported wireless modes. The DACM dynamically allocates spare antennas based on active wireless connections, device usage modes, device orientation/configuration, and other user visible metrics so as to optimize user experience. Such dynamic-sharing allows device support for multiple wireless protocols (or modes of operation), but with less than the total of individual protocol-specific maximum antennas. As a result, a dynamic (variable) number of Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) streams per wireless mode of operation may be supported within the space constraints imposed by device real estate, thereby providing the end user with a better wireless experience than with other design choices.