Power savings with preamble in WLAN systems

• US 10,470,126 B2
• Filed: 03/16/2017
• Issued: 11/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Kim, Joonsuk, Mujtaba, Syed A., Wang, Xiaowen
• Primary Examiner(s): Ho, Chuong T
• Application Number:
  US15/461,162
• Publication Number:
  US 20180035379A1
• Time in Patent Office: 964 Days
• Field of Search: 370311, 370328, 370329, 370393
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0238 where the received signal is an unwanted signal, e.g. interference or idle signal
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

In order to reduce power consumption of an electronic device during communication with another electronic device in a wireless local area network (WLAN), the electronic device analyzes fields in a given packet prior to a payload of the given packet to look for information that specifies a destination of the given packet. For example, the information may include: a full associated identification (AID) of the destination, a partial media-access-control (MAC) address of the destination; and/or a compressed (MAC) address of the destination. The information may be included in the preamble of the given packet. In particular, the information may replace length information in a high-throughput signal field in the given packet. Moreover, if the destination is other than the electronic device, the electronic device dumps the given packet and changes a power state of the electronic device, thereby reducing the power consumption.

Claims

1. A method for processing a received packet, wherein the method comprises:

receiving, in receive circuitry, a packet wirelessly transmitted by an electronic device;

analyzing at least a high-throughput signal field of a preamble of the packet, the high-throughput signal field including information identifying a destination of the packet, wherein the information identifying the destination replaces length information in the high-throughput signal field;

determining that the destination does not correspond to the receive circuitry; and

dropping, responsive to determining that the destination does not correspond to the receive circuitry, the packet prior to completing decoding of the packet.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transitioning the receive circuitry to a lower-power state subsequent to determining that the destination does not correspond to the receive circuitry.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

decoding at least one field indicating a length of the packet prior to transitioning the receive circuitry to the lower-power state.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the packet comprises a format compatible with an IEEE 802.11 communication protocol.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the high-throughput signal field comprises a high-throughput signal field 1 (HT-SIG1) associated with the IEEE 802.11 communication protocol.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the information identifying the destination of the packet comprises one or more error detection bits.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the information comprises a full associated identification of the destination, a partial media access control address of the destination, or a compressed media access control address of the destination.

8. An integrated circuit, comprising:

a receive circuit configured to;

wirelessly receive a packet;

analyze at least a high-throughput signal field of a preamble of the packet, the high-throughput signal field including information identifying a destination of the packet;

determine that the destination does not correspond to the receive circuit;

drop, responsive to determining that the destination does not correspond to the receive circuit, the packet prior to completing decoding of the packet; and

transition to a lower-power state subsequent to determining that the destination does not correspond to the receive circuit.

9. The integrated circuit of claim 8, wherein the information identifying the destination replaces length information in the high-throughput signal field.

10. The integrated circuit of claim 8, the receive circuit further configured to decode at least one field indicating a length of the packet prior to transitioning to the lower-power state.

11. The integrated circuit of claim 8, wherein the packet comprises a format compatible with an IEEE 802.11 communication protocol.

12. The integrated circuit of claim 11, wherein the high-throughput signal field comprises a high-throughput signal field 1 (HT-SIG1) associated with the IEEE 802.11 communication protocol.

13. The integrated circuit of claim 8, wherein the information identifying the destination of the packet comprises one or more error detection bits.

14. The integrated circuit of claim 8, wherein the information comprises a full associated identification of the destination, a partial media access control address of the destination, or a compressed media access control address of the destination.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:

analyzing at least a high-throughput signal field of a preamble of a packet wirelessly received by receive circuitry, the high-throughput signal field including information identifying a destination of the packet;

determining that the destination does not correspond to the receive circuitry;

dropping, responsive to determining that the destination does not correspond to the receive circuitry, the packet prior to completing decoding of the packet; and

decoding at least one field indicating a length of the packet prior to transitioning the receive circuitry to a lower-power state.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the information identifying the destination replaces length information in the high-throughput signal field.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, the operations further comprising transitioning the receive circuitry to the lower-power state subsequent to determining that the destination does not correspond to the receive circuitry.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the packet comprises a format compatible with an IEEE 802.11 communication protocol.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the high-throughput signal field comprises a high-throughput signal field 1 (HT-SIG1) associated with the IEEE 802.11 communication protocol.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the information comprises a full associated identification of the destination, a partial media access control address of the destination, or a compressed media access control address of the destination.