Method for selective power management for a hand held host

• US 20040029621A1
• Filed: 10/31/2002
• Published: 02/12/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/12/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies General IP PTE Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Seshadri, Nambi, Karaoguz, Jeyhan
• Granted Patent: US 7,421,291 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/574
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/1615 Switching on; Switching off, e.g. remotely battery saving circuits associated with selective call operation H04W52/00; details of power consumption reduction in a PLL, H03L7/0802, H03L7/14, H03L2207/08, H03L2207/18; muting amplifiers by gain control see H03G3/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72448 with means for adapting the functionality of the device according to specific conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0238 where the received signal is an unwanted signal, e.g. interference or idle signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0258 controlling an operation mode according to history or models of usage information, e.g. activity schedule or time of day
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0264 by selectively disabling software applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/028 switching on or off only a part of the equipment circuit blocks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A hand held radio host includes circuitry for selectively providing power to radiating transceiver elements and non-radiating application elements according to a plurality of power modes of operation to achieve desired effects and in a way that saves power and extends battery life. In one embodiment of the invention, the hand held host operates in one of three modes. In a full power mode, any selected application element as well as all transceiver elements are powered on at the same time. Thus, for example, a cell phone module, a wireless personal access network module, a wireless local area network module and one of a pager/short message service message module may all be powered on at the same time to receive corresponding messages, calls, data sessions, etc. At the same time that all of the transceiver elements are powered on, any selected application element receives power. Thus, application elements such as address books, calendar functions, games, word processors, and similar other application elements may receive power when selected.

Claims

1. A method for selectively providing power to at least one of a plurality of transceiver elements of a hand held transceiver device, comprising:

determining a power mode of operation in a hand held transceiver device;

generating power control signals to a plurality of power delivery elements according to the power mode of operation; and

delivering power to corresponding transceiver modules to cause the hand held transceiver device to operate in one of a plurality of power modes of operation.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the power modes of operation include a silent mode, a fully enabled communication mode, and a periodic communication mode.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the silent mode of operation includes generating control signals to a specified group of power delivery elements to deliver power to transceiver modules that do not communicate with other devices by way of a wireless medium.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the fully enabled communication mode of operation includes generating control signals to a first specified group of power delivery elements to deliver power to transceiver modules that communicate with other devices by way of a wireless medium as well as to a second specified group of power delivery elements to deliver power to transceiver modules that do not communicate with other devices by way of a wireless medium.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the periodic communication mode of operation includes generating control signals to a first specified group of power delivery elements on a periodic basis to deliver power to transceiver modules that communicate with other devices by way of a wireless medium as well as to a second specified group of power delivery elements to deliver power to transceiver modules that do not communicate with other devices by way of a wireless medium.

6. The method of claim 1 further including providing a plurality of menu options to enable a user to select a power mode of operation.

7. The method of claim 6 further including providing a plurality of menu options to define a mapping between power modes of operation and corresponding transceiver elements.

8. The method of claim 7 further including providing power to all of the plurality of transceiver elements.

9. The method of claim 7 further including providing power to a first portion of the plurality of transceiver elements.

10. The method of claim 9 further including providing power on a periodic basis for a limited period to a second portion of the plurality of transceiver elements to enable the second portion of the plurality of transceiver elements to temporarily communicate with an external transceiver over a wireless medium.

11. A method for providing power to a plurality of transceiver elements of a hand held transceiver device, comprising:

determining whether the hand held transceiver device is in a first or a second power mode of operation;

providing power to a plurality of transceiver elements that can communicate over a wireless network of the hand held transceiver device if the hand held transceiver device is in the first power mode of operation; and

providing power only to at least one application element of the hand held transceiver device if the hand held transceiver device is in the second power (silent) mode of operation only, wherein only the plurality of transceiver elements that do not communicate over a wireless medium receives power in the second power mode.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising determining if the hand held transceiver device is in a third power mode of operation.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising providing power periodically to the at least one of the plurality of transceiver elements to enable the at least one of the plurality of transceiver elements to temporarily communicate with an external transceiver over a wireless medium.

14. The method of claim 11 further comprising a default power up mode of operation wherein the default power up mode of operation is one of the first or the second power modes of operation.

15. The method of claim 11 further comprising a default power up mode of operation wherein the default power up mode of operation is third power mode of operation.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein the default mode of operation is selectable by a user.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein:

all transceiver elements receive power in the first power mode of operation;

at least one application element receives power continuously and no transceiver elements receive power in the second mode of operation;

the transceiver elements that can communicate over a wireless medium receive power periodically in a third mode of operation; and

a custom power mode of operation is provided that enables a user to selectively map the transceiver elements to the first or second power modes of operation.

18. The method of claim 11 wherein the transceiver and application elements may be selectably mapped to the first and second power modes of operation.

19. The method of claim 11 further including monitoring a plurality of power mode selection hardware switches for depression by a user of the hand held device wherein each of the plurality of mode selection switches corresponds to a power mode of operation.

20. The method of claim 19 further including determining that one of the plurality of power mode selection hardware switches has been depressed and, responsive thereto, determining a power mode of operation and providing or denying power responsive thereto for each of the transceiver and application elements.

21. A method for providing power to a plurality of transceiver and application elements of a hand held transceiver device, comprising:

determining to provide power to a first portion of the transceiver elements; and

determining to not provide power to a second portion of transceiver elements.

22. The method of claim 21 further comprising providing power to the second portion of transceiver elements on a periodic basis.

23. The method of claim 21 further comprising determining to change to a new power mode of operation in which power is provided to the second portion of transceiver elements.

24. The method of claim 21 further comprising monitoring a switch to determine whether the switch was selected and whether to provide power to the second portion of transceiver elements.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the switch comprises a software based switch selected upon a display screen.

26. The method of claim 24 wherein the switch comprises a physical switch.

27. The method of claim 21 further comprising providing a display menu to a user on a display element to enable the user to select one of a plurality of power modes of operation.

28. The method of claim 27 further comprising providing a display menu to a user on a display element to enable the user to select what transceiver elements receive power for a specified power mode.

29. The method of claim 27 further comprising providing a display menu to a user on a display element to enable the user to select what transceiver elements receive power for a custom power mode.

30. The method of claim 29 wherein a plurality of power modes are provided in which the transceiver elements that are to receive power during one of a plurality of predefined modes are not selectable.

31. The method of claim 27 further comprising providing a display menu to a user on a display element to enable the user to select a default power mode of operation.

32. A method for power control of a hand held host having transceiver elements and non-radiating application elements, the method comprising:

operating in a silent mode of operation;

determining whether to provide power to at least one transceiver element; and

determining, if power is to be applied to the at least one transceiver element, whether to apply power continuously or periodically.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein, if power is to be applied to the at least one transceiver element periodically, providing power sufficiently long to enable the specific element to engage in a communication session with an external device.

34. The method of claim 32 further including displaying, on a hand held host display, selectable options to enable a user to select a power-mode mode of operation and monitoring switch activations to recognize and interpret the user'"'"'s selection.

35. The method of claim 34 further including displaying, on a hand held host display, selectable options to enable a user to select what hand held host elements receive power at power-up and monitoring specified switch activations to recognize and interpret the user'"'"'s selection.

36. The method of claim 35 wherein the user is able to select what transceiver elements receive power at power-up.

37. The method of claim 35 wherein the user is able to select what application elements receive power at power-up.

38. The method of claim 32 further including, after power-up, operating in a mode wherein at least one transceiver element is receiving power and further including monitoring for activation of a specified switch and, upon detection of the specified switch being activated, removing power from the at least one transceiver element to operate in a silent mode of operation.

39. The method of claim 38 further including transitioning to the silent mode of operation without removing power from any application elements that are receiving power at the time that the specified switch is activated.

40. The method of claim 32 further including providing power to transceiver elements according to a defined mode of operation.

41. The method of claim 32 further including providing power to a plurality of transceiver elements to determine if, for each transceiver element, whether a supporting wireless network is present and operational.

42. The method of claim 41 further including determining, for each detected wireless network, whether the detected wireless network has data or messages to be downloaded.