Hybrid power-saving mechanism for VoIP services

• US 20080107056A1
• Filed: 11/05/2007
• Published: 05/08/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: TeleCIS Wireless, Inc.
• Inventors: Choi, Hyun-Ho, Cho, Dong-Ho, Kim, Doo Seok
• Granted Patent: US 8,284,707 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/311
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0225 using monitoring of external events, e.g. the presence of a signal
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

An embodiment of the invention is a technique for power saving in mobile communication. At least one of a base station (BS) and a mobile station (MS) is initialized for power saving using a downlink (DL) status and an uplink (UL) status associated with the BS and the MS, respectively, during communication between the BS and the MS. A first PSC mode is entered when both the DL and UL statuses indicate a silence period. A second PSC mode is entered when at least one of the DL and UL statuses indicates a talk period.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

initializing at least one of a base station (BS) and a mobile station (MS) for power saving using a downlink (DL) status and an uplink (UL) status associated with the BS and the MS, respectively, during communication between the BS and the MS;

entering a first PSC mode when both the DL and UL statuses indicate a silence period; and

entering the second PSC mode when at least one of the DL and UL statuses indicates a talk period.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein initializing comprises:

determining if a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is desired;

determining if power-saving mode (PSM) is desired;

setting both the DL and the UL statuses to indicate the talk period if both the VoIP and PSM are desired.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein entering the first PSC mode comprises:

maintaining a sleep interval and a listening interval according to a first PSM protocol; and

updating one of the DL and UL statuses;

continuing maintaining the sleep interval and the listening interval according to the first PSM protocol if both the DL and UL statuses indicate the silence period; and

exiting the first PSC mode to enter the second PSC mode if at least one of the DL and UL statuses indicates the talk period.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein updating one of the DL and UL statuses comprises:

buffering a silence insertion descriptor (SID) frame or a voice packet;

if the voice packet is received or transmitted, updating one of the DL and UL statuses at the BS or at the MS; and

transmitting the buffered SID frame or the buffered voice packet during the listening interval.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein updating one of the DL and UL statuses at the BS comprises:

setting the DL status to a talk status to indicate the talk period if the BS transmits the voice packet to the MS; and

setting the UL status to the talk status if the BS receives the voice packet from the MS.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein updating one of the DL and UL statuses at the MS comprises:

setting the DL status to a talk status to indicate the talk period if the MS receives the voice packet from the BS; and

setting the UL status to the talk status if the MS transmits the voice packet to the BS

7. The method of claim 1 wherein entering the second PSC mode comprises:

maintaining a sleep interval and a listening interval according to a second PSM protocol; and

updating one of the DL and UL statuses;

continuing maintaining the sleep interval and the listening interval according to the second PSM protocol if at least one of the DL and UL statuses indicates the talk period; and

exiting the second PSC mode to enter the first PSC mode if both the DL and UL statuses indicate the silence period.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein updating one of the DL and UL statuses comprises:

updating one of the DL and UL statuses at the BS or at the MS.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein updating one of the DL and UL statuses at the BS comprises:

setting the DL status to a silence status to indicate the silence period if the BS transmits a silence insertion descriptor (SID) frame to the MS;

setting the UL status to the silence status if the BS receives the SID frame from the MS;

setting the DL status to a talk status to indicate the talk period if the BS transmits a voice packet to the MS; and

setting the UL status to the talk status if the BS receives the voice packet from the MS.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein updating one of the DL and UL statuses at the MS comprises:

setting the DL status to a silence status to indicate the silence period if the MS receives a silence insertion descriptor (SID) frame from the BS;

setting the UL status to the silence status if the MS transmits the SID frame to the BS;

setting the DL status to a talk status to indicate the talk period if the MS receives a voice packet from the BS; and

setting the UL status to the talk status if the MS transmits the voice packet to the BS.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the first PSC mode supports a best effort (BE) or a non real-time variable rate (NRT-VR) connection and the second PSC mode supports an unsolicited grant service (UGS), a real-time variable rate (RT-VR), or an extended real-time variable rate (ERT-VR) connection.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the first PSC mode corresponds to a PSC type I and the second PSC mode corresponds to a PSC type II according to an IEEE 802.16e standard.

13. An apparatus comprising:

an initializer to initialize at least one of a base station (BS) and a mobile station (MS) for power saving using a downlink (DL) status and an uplink (UL) status associated with the BS and the MS, respectively, during communication between the BS and the MS;

a first controller coupled to the initializer to activate a first power-saving class (PSC) mode when both the DL and UL statuses indicate a silence period; and

a second controller coupled to the initializer to activate a second PSC mode when at least one of the DL and UL statuses indicates a talk period.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the initializer sets both the DL and the UL statuses to indicate the talk period if both a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and power-saving mode (PSM) are desired.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the first controller comprises:

a maintaining module to maintain a sleep interval and a listening interval according to a first PSM protocol if both the DL and UL statuses indicate the silence period; and

an updater to update one of the DL and UL statuses.

16. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the second controller comprises:

a maintaining module to maintain a sleep interval and a listening interval according to a second PSM protocol if at least one of the DL and UL statuses indicates the talk period; and

an updater to update one of the DL and UL statuses.

17. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the updater comprises:

a buffer to buffer a silence insertion descriptor (SID) frame or a voice packet;

a status updater to update one of the DL and UL statuses at the BS or at the MS if the voice packet is received or transmitted; and

a transmitter coupled to the buffer to transmit the buffered SID frame or the buffered voice packet during the listening interval.

18. An article of manufacture comprising:

a machine-accessible medium including data that, when accessed by a machine, causes the machine to perform operations comprising;

initializing at least one of a base station (BS) and a mobile station (MS) for power saving using a downlink (DL) status and an uplink (UL) status associated with the BS and the MS, respectively, during communication between the BS and the MS;

entering a first PSC mode when both the DL and UL statuses indicate a silence period; and

entering the second PSC mode when at least one of the DL and UL statuses indicates a talk period.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 18 wherein the data causing the machine to perform initializing comprises data that, when accessed by the machine, causing the machine to perform operations comprising:

determining if a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is desired;

determining if power-saving mode (PSM) is desired;

setting both the DL and the UL statuses to indicate the talk period if both the VoIP and PSM are desired.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 18 wherein the data causing the machine to perform entering the first PSC mode comprises data that, when accessed by the machine, causing the machine to perform operations comprising:

maintaining a sleep interval and a listening interval according to a first PSM protocol; and

updating one of the DL and UL statuses; and

continuing maintaining the sleep interval and the listening interval according to the first PSM protocol if both the DL and UL statuses indicate the silence period; and

exiting the first PSC mode to enter the second PSC mode if at least one of the DL and UL statuses indicates the talk period.

21. The article of manufacture of claim 20 wherein the data causing the machine to perform updating one of the DL and UL statuses comprises data that, when accessed by the machine, causes the machine to perform operations comprising:

buffering a silence insertion descriptor (SID) frame or a voice packet;

if the voice packet is received or transmitted, updating one of the DL and UL statuses at the BS or at the MS; and

transmitting the buffered SID frame or the buffered voice packet during the listening interval.

22. The article of manufacture of claim 18 wherein the data causing the machine to perform entering the second PSC mode comprises data that, when accessed by the machine, causes the machine to perform operations comprising:

maintaining a sleep interval and a listening interval according to a second PSM protocol; and

updating one of the DL and UL statuses;

continuing maintaining the sleep interval and the listening interval according to the second PSM protocol if at least one of the DL and UL statuses indicates the talk period; and

exiting the second PSC mode to enter the first PSC mode if both the DL and UL statuses indicate the silence period.

23. An apparatus comprising:

means for initializing at least one of a base station (BS) and a mobile station (MS) for power saving using a downlink (DL) status and an uplink (UL) status associated with the BS and the MS, respectively, during communication between the BS and the MS;

means for entering a first PSC mode when both the DL and UL statuses indicate a silence period; and

means for entering the second PSC mode when at least one of the DL and UL statuses indicates a talk period.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the means for initializing comprises:

means for determining if a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is desired;

means for determining if power-saving mode (PSM) is desired;

means for setting both the DL and the UL statuses to indicate the talk period if both the VoIP and PSM are desired.

25. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the means for entering the first PSC mode comprises:

means for maintaining a sleep interval and a listening interval according to a first PSM protocol; and

means for updating one of the DL and UL statuses;

means for continuing maintaining the sleep interval and the listening interval according to the first PSM protocol if both the DL and UL statuses indicate the silence period; and

means for exiting the first PSC mode to enter the second PSC mode if at least one of the DL and UL statuses indicates the talk period.

26. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the means for updating one of the DL and UL statuses comprises:

means for buffering a silence insertion descriptor (SID) frame or a voice packet;

means for updating one of the DL and UL statuses at the BS or at the MS if the voice packet is received or transmitted; and

means for transmitting the buffered SID frame or the buffered voice packet during the listening interval.

27. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein the means for updating one of the DL and UL statuses at the BS comprises:

means for setting the DL status to a talk status to indicate the talk period if the BS transmits the voice packet to the MS; and

means for setting the UL status to the talk status if the BS receives the voice packet from the MS.

28. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein the means for updating one of the DL and UL statuses at the MS comprises:

means for setting the DL status to a talk status to indicate the talk period if the MS receives the voice packet from the BS; and

means for setting the UL status to the talk status if the MS transmits the voice packet to the BS

29. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the means for entering the second PSC mode comprises:

means for maintaining a sleep interval and a listening interval according to a second PSM protocol; and

means for updating one of the DL and UL statuses;

means for continuing maintaining the sleep interval and the listening interval according to the second PSM protocol if at least one of the DL and UL statuses indicates the talk period; and

means for exiting the second PSC mode to enter the first PSC mode if both the DL and UL statuses indicate the silence period.

30. The apparatus of claim 29 wherein the means for updating one of the DL and UL statuses comprises:

means for updating one of the DL and UL statuses at the BS or at the MS.

31. The apparatus of claim 30 wherein the means for updating one of the DL and UL statuses at the BS comprises:

means for setting the DL status to a silence status to indicate the silence period if the BS transmits a silence insertion descriptor (SID) frame to the MS;

means for setting the UL status to the silence status if the BS receives the SID frame from the MS;

means for setting the DL status to a talk status to indicate the talk period if the BS transmits a voice packet to the MS; and

means for setting the UL status to the talk status if the BS receives the voice packet from the MS.

32. The apparatus of claim 30 wherein the means for updating one of the DL and UL statuses at the MS comprises:

means for setting the DL status to a silence status to indicate the silence period if the MS receives a silence insertion descriptor (SID) frame from the BS;

means for setting the UL status to the silence status if the MS transmits the SID frame to the BS;

means for setting the DL status to a talk status to indicate the talk period if the MS receives a voice packet from the BS; and

means for setting the UL status to the talk status if the MS transmits the voice packet to the BS.

33. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the first PSC mode supports a best effort (BE) or a non real-time variable rate (NRT-VR) connection and the second PSC mode supports an unsolicited grant service (UGS), a real-time variable rate (RT-VR), or an extended real-time variable rate (ERT-VR) connection.

34. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the first PSC mode corresponds to a PSC type I and the second PSC mode corresponds to a PSC type II according to an IEEE 802.16e standard.

35. A mobile station (MS) comprising:

a radio frequency (RF) transmitter and receiver to transmit and receive radio signals to and from a base station (BS) in an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) wireless communication; and

a power saving controller, the power saving controller comprising;

an initializer to initialize for power saving using a downlink (DL) status and an uplink (UL) status,

a first controller coupled to the initializer to activate a first power-saving class (PSC) mode when both the DL and UL statuses indicate a silence period, and

a second controller coupled to the initializer to activate a second PSC mode when at least one of the DL and UL statuses indicates a talk period.

36. The MS of claim 35 wherein the first controller comprises:

a maintaining module to maintain a sleep interval and a listening interval according to a first PSM protocol if both the DL and UL statuses indicate the silence period; and

an updater to update one of the DL and UL statuses.

37. The MS of claim 35 wherein the second controller comprises:

a maintaining module to maintain a sleep interval and a listening interval according to a second PSM protocol if at least one of the DL and UL statuses indicates the talk period; and

an updater to update one of the DL and UL statuses.