Apparatus and method for controlling power in sleep mode in a mobile communication terminal

• US 20060030353A1
• Filed: 09/08/2005
• Published: 02/09/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Jun, Si-Bum
• Application Number:
  US11/221,665
• Publication Number:
  US 20060030353A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/550.100
• 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 52/0235 where the received signal is a power saving command
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

An apparatus and method are provided for controlling power in sleep mode in a mobile communication terminal. A radio communicator including a power supply converts a radio signal received through an antenna into a baseband signal using a reference oscillating frequency of a voltage controlled oscillator. A radio frequency identification (RFID) tag generates power using an interrogation signal from a base station, and outputs a “wake-up” signal to be used to determine whether a radio signal has been received using the generated power. A controller controls the power supply to supply the power to the radio communicator in response to the wake-up signal from the RFID tag. Accordingly, an amount of power consumption in the mobile communication terminal can be reduced.

Claims

1. An apparatus for controlling power in sleep mode in a mobile communication terminal, comprising:

a radio communicator for converting a radio signal received through an antenna into a baseband signal using a reference oscillating frequency of a voltage controlled oscillator;

a power supply for supplying power to the radio communicator;

a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag for receiving an interrogation signal from a base station and generating power using the received interrogation signal, and outputting a wake-up signal to be used to determine whether a radio signal has been received using the generated power; and

a controller for controlling the power supply to supply the power to the radio communicator in response to the wake-up signal from the RFID tag.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the radio communicator comprises:

a radio receiver for converting the radio signal received through the antenna into an intermediate frequency (IF) signal using the reference oscillating frequency, and outputting the IF signal;

a baseband analog (BBA) processor for converting the IF signal output from the radio receiver into the baseband signal; and

the voltage controlled oscillator for providing the reference oscillating frequency to the radio receiver.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller checks the baseband signal output from the radio communicator, terminates the sleep mode when a desired received signal is present, and maintains the sleep mode when a desired received signal is absent.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the RFID tag comprises:

an interrogation signal receiver for receiving the interrogation signal from the base station;

a power generator for converting the interrogation signal received by the interrogation signal receiver into a direct current (DC) and generating DC power; and

a wake-up signal generator for receiving the DC power from the power generator and generating the wake-up signal.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an output intensity of the interrogation signal from the base station is decided according to a reception radius of the mobile communication terminal.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the interrogation signal from the base station includes an identification (ID) of a mobile communication terminal targeted to receive the interrogation signal.

7. A method for controlling power in sleep mode in a mobile communication terminal, comprising the steps of:

receiving, from a base station, an interrogation signal for power control in the sleep mode;

generating power using the received interrogation signal; and

generating a wake-up signal to determine whether a radio signal has been received using the generated power.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising the steps of:

determining whether a radio signal has been received according to the wake-up signal; and

maintaining the sleep mode if a radio signal destined for the mobile communication terminal has not been received, and terminating the sleep mode if a radio signal destined for the mobile communication terminal has been received.

9. A method for controlling power in sleep mode in a mobile communication terminal, comprising the steps of:

receiving, from a base station, an interrogation signal in the sleep mode, the interrogation signal including at least one specific terminal identification (ID);

generating power using the received interrogation signal;

determining whether the terminal'"'"'s own ID is included in the interrogation signal using the generated power; and

when the terminal'"'"'s own ID is included in the interrogation signal, generating a wake-up signal to determine whether a radio signal has been received.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising the steps of:

determining whether a radio signal has been received according to the wake-up signal; and

maintaining the sleep mode if a radio signal destined for the mobile communication terminal has not been received, and terminating the sleep mode if a radio signal destined for the mobile communication terminal has been received.