Device for selective power management for a hand held host

• US 20040204175A1
• Filed: 10/31/2002
• Published: 10/14/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/12/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Seshadri, Nambi, Karaoguz, Jeyhan
• Granted Patent: US 7,266,389 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/572
• 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: 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, etc may receive power when selected.

Claims

1. A radio transceiver hand held host, comprising:

wireless communication circuitry for transmitting and receiving radio frequency communication signals, the wireless communication circuitry further including a plurality of transceiver elements;

a processor module coupled to receive and generate digital communication signals from and to the wireless communication circuitry;

logic for prompting the processor module to control power levels of a plurality of transceiver and application elements, collectively, host elements, according to an operational mode of the radio transceiver; and

a plurality of power delivery elements coupled to the corresponding host elements of the plurality of power delivery elements for selectively delivering power to the corresponding host element, the plurality of power delivery elements further coupled to receive control commands from the processor module.

2. The radio transceiver hand held host of claim 1 wherein each of corresponding plurality of power delivery elements comprise switches that couple a power source to a corresponding host element.

3. The radio transceiver hand held host of claim 1 wherein each of corresponding plurality of power delivery elements comprise drivers that selectively provide power to a corresponding host element.

4. The radio transceiver hand held host of claim 1 wherein the at least one logic module comprises logic formed in hardware.

5. The radio transceiver hand held host of claim 4 wherein the logic comprises state logic.

6. The radio transceiver hand held host of claim 4 wherein the logic comprises a programmable gate array.

7. The radio transceiver hand held host of claim 1 wherein the logic module includes memory comprising computer instructions defining operational logic wherein the processor module is coupled to receive and execute the computer instructions.

8. The radio transceiver hand held host of claim 1 wherein the processor module includes logic for selectively powering a wireless personal area network (WPAN) module.

9. The radio transceiver hand held host of claim 8 wherein the WPAN module operates according to one of Bluetooth specification or 802.15 standard based protocols.

10. The radio transceiver hand held host of claim 1 wherein the processor module includes logic for selectively powering a wireless local area network (WLAN) module.

11. The radio transceiver hand held host of claim 10 wherein the WLAN module operates according to one of 802.11a or 802.11b standard based protocols.

12. The radio transceiver hand held host of claim 1 wherein the processor module includes logic for selectively powering a wireless headset transceiver module.

13. The radio transceiver hand held host of claim 1 wherein the processor module includes logic for selectively powering a game module.

14. The radio transceiver hand held host of claim 1 wherein the processor module includes logic for selectively powering an MP3 module.

15. The radio transceiver hand held host of claim 1 wherein the processor module includes logic for selectively powering a calculator module.

16. The radio transceiver hand held host of claim 1 wherein the processor module includes logic for selectively powering an audio module.

17. The radio transceiver hand held host of claim 1 wherein the processor module includes logic for selectively powering an Infrared Data Association (IrDA) standards serial infrared communications data link.

18. The radio transceiver hand held host of claim 1 wherein the processor module includes logic for selectively powering a remote I/O (RIO) module.

19. The radio transceiver hand held host of claim 1 wherein the processor module includes logic for selectively powering a cellular phone transceiver front end circuit.

21. The hand held device of claim 17 wherein the selective power module comprising a plurality of power delivery agents for delivering power to each of the first and second radio transceiver modules, the IrDA data link module and the first and second application modules, wherein each power delivery agent comprises an input node for receiving the control signals from the control module.

22. The hand held device of claim 19 wherein the control module comprises logic formed in hardware.

23. The hand held device of claim 22 wherein the logic is state logic.

24. The hand held device of claim 22 wherein the logic is programmable gate array.

20. A hand held device, comprising:

a first wireless transceiver module for transmitting and receiving radio frequency communication signals;

a second wireless transceiver module for transmitting and receiving radio frequency communication signals;

a first application module for providing a first application function;

a second application module for providing a second application function;

a selective power supply module coupled to selectively provide power to the first and second radio transceiver modules and the first and second application modules; and

a control module for generating control signals to the selective power supply module to control when and what modules of the first and second radio transceiver modules and the first and second application modules receive power.

25. The hand held device of claim 20 wherein the control module comprises a processor and a memory that includes computer instructions defining operational logic wherein the processor is coupled to receive and execute the computer instructions.

26. The hand held device of claim 20 wherein the control module includes logic for selectively powering a wireless personal area network (WPAN) module, wherein one of the first and second radio transceiver modules comprises the WPAN module.

27. The radio transceiver of claim 26 wherein the WPAN module operates according to 802.15 standard based protocol or according to Bluetooth specifications.

28. The hand held device of claim 20 wherein the control module includes logic for selectively powering a wireless local area network (WLAN) module, wherein one of the first and second radio transceiver modules comprises the WLAN module.

29. The hand held device of claim 28 wherein the WLAN module operates according to one of 802.11a or 802.11b standard based protocols.

30. The hand held device of claim 20 wherein the control module includes logic for selectively powering an Infrared Data Association (IrDA) standards serial infrared communications data link module;

31. The hand held device of claim 20 wherein the processor module includes logic for selectively powering an audio module, wherein one of the first and second application modules comprises the audio module.

32. The hand held device of claim 20 wherein the control module includes logic for selectively powering a remote I/O (RIO) device, wherein one of the first and second application modules comprises the RIO device.

33. The hand held device of claim 20 wherein the control module includes logic for selectively powering a cellular phone transceiver front end circuit, wherein one of the first and second radio transceiver modules comprises the WLAN cellular phone transceiver front end circuit.

34. The hand held device of claim 20 wherein the control module includes logic for selectively powering a wireless headset transceiver module, wherein one of the first and second radio transceiver modules comprises the wireless headset transceiver module.

35. The hand held device of claim 20 wherein the control module includes logic for selectively powering a game module, wherein one of the first and second application modules comprises the game module.

36. The hand held device of claim 20 wherein the control module includes logic for selectively powering an MP3 module, wherein one of the first and second application modules comprises the MP3 module.

37. The hand held device of claim 20 wherein the control module includes logic for selectively powering a calculator module, wherein one of the first and second application modules comprises the calculator module.

38. The hand held device of claim 20 further including a plurality of switches, each of the plurality of switches corresponding to a power mode of operation wherein the control module is coupled to receive and interpret a user selected mode of operation according to selected switch actions of the plurality of switches.

39. The hand held device of claim 38 wherein each of the corresponding power modes of operation is mapped to a power on state of each of the first and second radio transceiver modules and the first and second application modules.

40. A hand held device, comprising:

front end radio transceiver means for transmitting and receiving RF signals;

application means for performing at least one of a plurality of application functions;

infrared communication means for communicating over a wireless medium;

power means coupled to selectively provide power to the front end radio transceiver means, the application means and the infrared communication means; and

logic means coupled to the power means for providing control signals to the power means to prompt the power means to provide power according to a selected operational mode.

41. The hand held device of claim 40 wherein the logic means comprises logic for grouping a plurality of modules into groups of modules and logic for prompting the power means to selectively supply power to one or more of the groups of modules.

42. The hand held device of claim 41 wherein the logic means further comprises logic for powering only at least one group of modules that do not generates wireless communication signals.

43. The hand held device of claim 41 wherein the logic means further comprises logic for powering a group of modules that do not generate wireless communication signals and a group of modules that generates wireless communication signals.