Wireless communication device and controlling method thereof

• US 20020082060A1
• Filed: 10/10/2001
• Published: 06/27/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Lee, Tae-Jin, Park, Jong-Hun, Kang, Hyun-Sook, Jang, Kyung-Hun
• Granted Patent: US 6,934,566 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/574
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3209 Monitoring remote activity, e.g. over telephone lines or network connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0216 using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic indication frame
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0219 where the power saving management affects multiple terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A wireless communication device and a controlling method thereof. The wireless communication device performing wireless communication includes a transceiver for transmitting and receiving data externally, and a controller for processing the data received from the transceiver, the wireless communication device operating as a slave that is connected to a master, the controller receiving a polling data addressed to the device from a master through the transceiver, and temporarily stopping the operation of the transceiver during a sleep period which is determined according to the number of other slaves connected to the master. Since the wireless communication device operated as an active slave can stop its data transmission/reception during a communication standby period, i.e., until the beginning of the next polling slot, the power consumption can be considerably reduced without affecting the communication itself.

Claims

1. A wireless communications device performing wireless communication, comprising:

a transceiver for transmitting and receiving data externally; and

a controller for processing the data received from the transceiver, the wireless communications device operating as a slave that is connected to a master, said controller receiving polling data addressed to the wireless communications device from said master through the transceiver, and temporarily stopping the operation of the transceiver for a sleep period which is determined according to the number of other slaves connected to the master.

2. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the controller calculates the sleep period by multiplying a predetermined time slot by double the number of the other slaves.

3. The device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the predetermined time slot corresponds to 625 μ

second.

4. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the master sequentially transmits said polling data according to a predetermined slave order, and the controller, upon receipt of the polling data addressed to the device, stops the operation of the transceiver for the sleep period after a completion of the data transmission.

5. A controlling method for a wireless communications device, comprising the steps of:

i) detecting whether polling data addressed to the device is received from a master;

ii) transmitting data to the master when the polling data addressed to the device is received, and stopping a data reception from the master for a predetermined sleep period;

iii) identifying whether the sleep period has elapsed; and

iv) repeating the steps i) and ii) at least once, when determining the sleep period has elapsed.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the sleep period is calculated by multiplying the predetermined time slot by two times the number of other slaves connected to the master, using connection state information received from the master.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the time slot corresponds to 625 μ

second.