ACHIEVING POWER SAVINGS THROUGH PACKET GROUPING

• US 20070286222A1
• Filed: 10/03/2006
• Published: 12/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Balasubramanian, Srinivasan
• Granted Patent: US 8,160,000 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/412
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/12 Arrangements for remote connection or disconnection of substations or of equipment thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0222 in packet switched networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Power savings may be achieved in a packet-switched system by grouping packets. For example, packets may be queued while a portion of the system is in a suspended state. In some embodiments, power savings are provided in a wireless system to increase talk time. Here, packets may be queued while one or more components such as a radio of the wireless device are in a suspended state.

Claims

1. A method of conserving power in user equipment, comprising:

queuing, in user equipment, a plurality of packets while a transceiver of the user equipment is in a suspended state; and

transmitting, by the user equipment, the queued packets during a single wake state of the transceiver.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the user equipment transmits the queued packets during a single acquisition of a channel in a packet-switched network.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the packet-switched network comprises a wireless local area network.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising generating a TXOP to transmit the queued packets.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the packets comprise VoIP packets.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising indicating in a current transmission of a queued packet that more of the queued packets are to be transmitted in a subsequent transmission during the single wake state.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the packets are queued for a configurable amount of time.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising, after the configurable amount of time has elapsed, switching the transceiver from the suspended state to the wake state to transmit the queued packets.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, during the single wake state, packets previously queued for transmission to the user equipment.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to a received indication, maintaining the transceiver in the wake state to receive packets queued for transmission to the user equipment.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the user equipment comprises a mobile device and the transceiver comprises a radio.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the suspended state is associated with a power save mode.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising assembling a set of the queued packets in an RTP/IP packet, wherein transmitting the queued packets comprises transmitting the RTP/IP packet.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein:

the packets are queued for a configurable amount of time; and

after the configurable amount of time has elapsed, the queued packets are assembled in the RTP/IP packet.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising selecting packets for transmission from the queued packets in accordance with whether a previous packet was successfully transmitted.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

removing a queued packet that has crossed a delay boundary from a set of queued packets that was not successfully transmitted;

adding a new packet to the set of queued packets to form a new set of packets; and

transmitting the new set of packets during the single wake state of the transceiver.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein transmitting the RTP/IP packet comprises transmitting the RTP/IP packet over a wireless local area network.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein when the transceiver is in the suspended state, transmitter components of the transceiver and receiver components of the transceiver are independently set to either a power save mode or an active mode.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting a length of a time period for the suspended state in response to dropped downlink frames.

20. An apparatus, comprising:

a transceiver adapted to transmit queued packets during a single wake state; and

a packet queuer adapted to queue a plurality of packets while the transceiver is in a suspended state.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the transceiver is further adapted to transmit the queued packets during a single acquisition of a channel in a packet-switched network.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the packet-switched network comprises a wireless local area network.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the transceiver is further adapted to generate a TXOP to transmit the queued packets.

24. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the packets comprise VoIP packets.

25. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the packet queuer is further adapted to queue the packets for a configurable amount of time;

the apparatus further comprising a state controller adapted to, after the configurable amount of time has elapsed, switch the transceiver from the suspended state to the wake state to transmit the queued packets.

26. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the transceiver is further adapted to receive, during the single wake state, packets previously queued for transmission to the apparatus.

27. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the transceiver further comprises a radio.

28. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the packet queuer is further adapted to assemble a set of the queued packets in an RTP/IP packet, wherein transmitting the queued packets comprises transmitting the RTP/IP packet.

29. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein:

the packet queuer is further adapted to queue the packets for a configurable amount of time; and

after the configurable amount of time has elapsed, the packet queuer is further adapted to assemble the queued packets in the RTP/IP packet.

30. An apparatus, comprising:

means for transmitting queued packets during a single wake state; and

means for queuing a plurality of packets while the means for transmitting is in a suspended state.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the means for transmitting transmits the queued packets during a single acquisition of a channel in a packet-switched network.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the packet-switched network comprises a wireless local area network.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the means for transmitting generates a TXOP to transmit the queued packets.

34. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the packets comprise VoIP packets.

35. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the means for queuing queues the packets for a configurable amount of time, the apparatus further comprising means for switching the means for transmitting, after the configurable amount of time has elapsed, from the suspended state to the wake state to transmit the queued packets.

36. The apparatus of claim 30, further comprising means for receiving, during the single wake state, packets previously queued for transmission to the apparatus.

37. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the means for transmitting and the means for receiving comprise a radio.

38. The apparatus of claim 30, further comprising means for assembling a set of the queued packets in an RTP/IP packet, wherein transmitting the queued packets comprises transmitting the RTP/IP packet.

39. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the means for queuing queues the packets for a configurable amount of time;

the apparatus further comprising means for assembling, after the configurable amount of time has elapsed, the queued packets in the RTP/IP packet.

40. A computer-readable medium including instructions stored thereon, comprising:

a first instruction set for queuing, in user equipment, a plurality of packets while a transceiver of the user equipment is in a suspended state; and

a second instruction set for transmitting, by the user equipment, the queued packets during a single wake state of the transceiver.

41. The computer-readable medium of claim 40, wherein the second instruction set comprises a third instruction set for transmitting the queued packets during a single acquisition of a channel in a packet-switched network.

42. The computer-readable medium of claim 41, wherein the packet-switched network comprises a wireless local area network.

43. The computer-readable medium of claim 42, further comprising a fourth instruction set for generating a TXOP to transmit the queued packets.

44. The computer-readable medium of claim 40, wherein the packets comprise VoIP packets.

45. The computer-readable medium of claim 40, wherein the first instruction set comprises a third instruction set for queuing the packets for a configurable amount of time;

the computer-readable medium further comprising a fourth instruction set for, after the configurable amount of time has elapsed, switching the transceiver from the suspended state to the wake state to transmit the queued packets.

46. The computer-readable medium of claim 40, further comprising a third instruction set for receiving, during the single wake state, packets previously queued for transmission to the user equipment.

47. The computer-readable medium of claim 40, wherein the user equipment comprises a mobile device and the transceiver comprises a radio.

48. The computer-readable medium of claim 40, further comprising a third instruction set for assembling a set of the queued packets in an RTP/IP packet, wherein the second instruction set comprises a fourth instruction set for transmitting the RTP/IP packet.

49. The computer-readable medium of claim 48, wherein the first instruction set comprises a fifth instruction set for queuing the packets for a configurable amount of time;

the computer-readable medium further comprising a sixth instruction set for, after the configurable amount of time has elapsed, assembling the queued packets in the RTP/IP packet.