METHODS AND SYSTEMS TO PROLONG MOBILE STATION OPERATION DURING LOW BATTERY POWER

• US 20100105449A1
• Filed: 10/29/2008
• Published: 04/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Lee, Kuo-Chun, Chin, Tom, Shi, Guangming Carl, Siu, Isaac Ta-yan, Cheng, Steven D.
• Granted Patent: US 8,634,879 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/574
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0216 using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic indication frame
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0248 dependent on the time of the day, e.g. according to expected transmission activity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0261 managing power supply demand, e.g. depending on battery level
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0277 according to available power supply, e.g. switching off when a low battery condition is detected
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/00 User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Certain embodiments of the present disclosure allow a mobile station to activate a sleep mode in order to reduce power consumption when the residual battery capacity is low. Certain embodiments of the present disclosure also provide techniques for adaptive power saving applied during an idle mode operation.

Claims

1. A method for extending an operational time of a mobile station (MS), comprising:

measuring a residual battery capacity of the MS, while the MS has one or more active transport connections;

determining a most constrained maximum latency requirement of the one or more active transport connections; and

activating a sleep mode operation at the MS if the residual battery capacity is below a predefined threshold value, wherein a length S of a sleep window of the sleep mode is selected such that S allows the MS to meet the most constrained maximum latency requirement of the one or more active transport connections.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the residual battery capacity is measured as a percentage of remaining capacity relative to a fully charged capacity.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the power saving class is a power savings class type 2 with a constant length sleep window.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein S and a length L of a listening window of the sleep mode are also selected to achieve a power savings metric determined based on a ratio of L to the sum of S and L.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the threshold value may be chosen based on an amount of data traffic communicated between the MS and a serving BS.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the threshold value may be chosen based on a priority of a running application.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

exiting the sleep mode if the residual battery capacity is higher than another predefined threshold

8. A method for extending an operational time of a mobile station (MS), comprising:

measuring a residual battery capacity of the MS; and

entering an idle mode, wherein a paging cycle length of the idle mode is determined based on the residual battery capacity.

9. The method of claim 8, comprising:

entering the idle mode with a first paging cycle length corresponding to conservative power savings;

measuring the residual battery capacity of the MS during a paging listening interval of the idle mode; and

entering the idle mode with a second paging cycle length corresponding to more aggressive power savings if the residual battery capacity is below a predefined threshold.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

measuring the residual battery capacity of the MS during a paging listening interval of the idle mode; and

again entering the idle mode with the first paging cycle length if the residual battery capacity is above a predefined threshold.

11. An apparatus for extending an operational time of a mobile station (MS), comprising:

logic for measuring a residual battery capacity of the MS, while the MS has one or more active transport connections;

logic for determining a most constrained maximum latency requirement of the one or more active transport connections; and

logic for activating a sleep mode operation at the MS if the residual battery capacity is below a predefined threshold value, wherein a length S of a sleep window of the sleep mode is selected such that S allows the MS to meet the most constrained maximum latency requirement of the one or more active transport connections.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the residual battery capacity is measured as a percentage of remaining capacity relative to a fully charged capacity.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the power saving class is a power savings class type 2 with a constant length sleep window.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein S and a length L of a listening window of the sleep mode are also selected to achieve a power savings metric determined based on a ratio of L to the sum of S and L.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the threshold value may be chosen based on an amount of data traffic communicated between the MS and a serving BS.

16. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the threshold value may be chosen based on a priority of a running application.

17. The apparatus of claim 11 further comprising:

logic for exiting the sleep mode if the residual battery capacity is higher than another predefined threshold

18. An apparatus for extending an operational time of a mobile station (MS), comprising:

logic for measuring a residual battery capacity of the MS; and

logic for entering an idle mode, wherein a paging cycle length of the idle mode is determined based on the residual battery capacity.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, comprising:

logic for entering the idle mode with a first paging cycle length corresponding to conservative power savings;

logic for measuring the residual battery capacity of the MS during a paging listening interval of the idle mode; and

logic for entering the idle mode with a second paging cycle length corresponding to more aggressive power savings if the residual battery capacity is below a predefined threshold.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising:

logic for measuring the residual battery capacity of the MS during a paging listening interval of the idle mode; and

logic for again entering the idle mode with the first paging cycle length if the residual battery capacity is above a predefined threshold.

21. An apparatus for extending an operational time of a mobile station (MS), comprising:

means for measuring a residual battery capacity of the MS, while the MS has one or more active transport connections;

means for determining a most constrained maximum latency requirement of the one or more active transport connections; and

means for activating a sleep mode operation at the MS if the residual battery capacity is below a predefined threshold value, wherein a length S of a sleep window of the sleep mode is selected such that S allows the MS to meet the most constrained maximum latency requirement of the one or more active transport connections.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein the residual battery capacity is measured as a percentage of remaining capacity relative to a fully charged capacity.

23. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein the power saving class is a power savings class type 2 with a constant length sleep window.

24. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein S and a length L of a listening window of the sleep mode are also selected to achieve a power savings metric determined based on a ratio of L to the sum of S and L.

25. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein the threshold value may be chosen based on an amount of data traffic communicated between the MS and a serving BS.

26. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein the threshold value may be chosen based on a priority of a running application.

27. The apparatus of claim 21 further comprising:

means for exiting the sleep mode if the residual battery capacity is higher than another predefined threshold

28. An apparatus for extending an operational time of a mobile station (MS), comprising:

means for measuring a residual battery capacity of the MS; and

means for entering an idle mode, wherein a paging cycle length of the idle mode is determined based on the residual battery capacity.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, comprising:

means for entering the idle mode with a first paging cycle length corresponding to conservative power savings;

means for measuring the residual battery capacity of the MS during a paging listening interval of the idle mode; and

means for entering the idle mode with a second paging cycle length corresponding to more aggressive power savings if the residual battery capacity is below a predefined threshold.

30. The apparatus of claim 28, further comprising:

means for measuring the residual battery capacity of the MS during a paging listening interval of the idle mode; and

means for again entering the idle mode with the first paging cycle length if the residual battery capacity is above a predefined threshold.

31. A computer-program product for extending an operational time of a mobile station (MS), comprising a computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions being executable by one or more processors and the instructions comprising:

instructions for measuring a residual battery capacity of the MS, while the MS has one or more active transport connections;

instructions for determining a most constrained maximum latency requirement of the one or more active transport connections; and

instructions for activating a sleep mode operation at the MS if the residual battery capacity is below a predefined threshold value, wherein a length S of a sleep window of the sleep mode is selected such that S allows the MS to meet the most constrained maximum latency requirement of the one or more active transport connections.

32. The computer-program product of claim 31 wherein the residual battery capacity is measured as a percentage of remaining capacity relative to a fully charged capacity.

33. The computer-program product of claim 31 wherein the power saving class is a power savings class type 2 with a constant length sleep window.

34. The computer-program product of claim 31 wherein S and a length L of a listening window of the sleep mode are also selected to achieve a power savings metric determined based on a ratio of L to the sum of S and L.

35. The computer-program product of claim 31 wherein the threshold value may be chosen based on an amount of data traffic communicated between the MS and a serving BS.

36. The computer-program product of claim 31 wherein the threshold value may be chosen based on a priority of a running application.

37. The computer-program product of claim 31, wherein the instructions further comprise:

instructions for exiting the sleep mode if the residual battery capacity is higher than another predefined threshold

38. A computer-program product for extending an operational time of a mobile station (MS), comprising a computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions being executable by one or more processors and the instructions comprising:

instructions for measuring a residual battery capacity of the MS; and

instructions for entering an idle mode, wherein a paging cycle length of the idle mode is determined based on the residual battery capacity.

39. The computer-program product of claim 38, wherein the instructions further comprise:

instructions for entering the idle mode with a first paging cycle length corresponding to conservative power savings;

instructions for measuring the residual battery capacity of the MS during a paging listening interval of the idle mode; and

instructions for entering the idle mode with a second paging cycle length corresponding to more aggressive power savings if the residual battery capacity is below a predefined threshold.

40. The computer-program product of claim 38, wherein the instructions further comprise:

instructions for measuring the residual battery capacity of the MS during a paging listening interval of the idle mode; and

instructions for again entering the idle mode with the first paging cycle length if the residual battery capacity is above a predefined threshold.