SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MANAGING POWER CONSUMPTION

• US 20100248678A1
• Filed: 03/30/2009
• Published: 09/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm technologies international, ltd. (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: SIRF Technology Incorporated (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gronemeyer, Steven A., Babitch, Daniel, Naji, Peter
• Granted Patent: US 8,185,083 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/343.100
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/23 Testing, monitoring, correcting or calibrating of receiver elements
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/34 Power consumption
• CPC Class Codes: H03D 3/004 wherein the demodulated signal is used for controlling an oscillator, e.g. the local oscillator
• CPC Class Codes: H03J 7/04 where the frequency control is accomplished by varying the electrical characteristics of a non-mechanically adjustable element or where the nature of the frequency controlling element is not significant
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/1607 Supply circuits converters H02M; filters therefor H02M1/14; voltage stabilisers G05F1/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/30 for homodyne or synchrodyne receivers demodulator circuits H03D1/22
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 7/0008 Synchronisation information channels, e.g. clock distribution lines

Abstract

GPS navigation devices or GPS receivers can consume less power by using a temperature recorder circuit and/or a power manager in maintaining the accuracies of the GPS receiver time and reference frequency to improve battery life. A representative receiver includes a time reference device and the temperature recorder circuit that operate while the receiver hibernates. The time reference device generates clock signals and the temperature recorder circuit receives and operates using the clock signals from the time reference device. The temperature recorder senses the temperature of the time reference device. The temperature recorder circuit is designed to send a wake-up signal to at least one electrical component of the receiver to wake up the electrical component of the receiver. The electrical component of the receiver includes at least one of the following: a GPS signal processing system and a frequency reference device.

Claims

1. A receiver comprising:

a time reference device that generates clock signals while a receiver hibernates; and

a temperature recorder circuit that receives and operates using the clock signals from the time reference device while the receiver hibernates, the temperature recorder circuit being designed to send a wake-up signal to at least one electrical component of the receiver to wake up the electrical component of the receiver, the electrical component of the receiver including at least one of the following;

a GPS signal processing system and a frequency reference device.

2. The receiver as defined in claim 1, wherein the temperature recorder circuit includes at least one temperature sensor that performs at least one of the following:

sense the temperature of the time reference device or the frequency reference device, and

generate data associated with a temperature change of the time reference device or the frequency reference device.

3. The receiver as defined in claim 2, wherein the at least one temperature sensor is located:

a) on a GPS receiver silicon die,

b) external to the GPS receiver silicon die on the frequency reference device,

c) external to the GPS receiver silicon die on the time reference device, or

d) internal to the temperature recorder.

4. The receiver as defined in claim 3, wherein two temperature sensors are located external to the GPS receiver silicon die each on the frequency reference device and on the time reference device, the temperature recorder circuit being designed to measure and store the outputs of one of the two temperature sensors, both, or average.

5. The receiver as defined in claim 2, wherein the temperature recorder circuit further includes a control generator that changes a measurement rate of the temperature sensor.

6. The receiver as defined in claim 2, wherein the temperature recorder circuit further includes an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) that converts the sensed temperature and the data associated with the temperature change from analog signals to digital signals.

7. The receiver as defined in claim 6, wherein the temperature recorder circuit further includes a switched differential proportional to absolute temperature (PTAT) voltage reference that is designed to be bypassed with switches and feed a constant voltage to the ADC and store a result in memory with a point of pure reference curvature at an applied temperature to correct the 2nd order dependence of the ADC voltage reference.

8. The receiver as defined in claim 7, wherein the switched PTAT voltage reference is further designed to switch back in and subtract a resulting conversion from an earlier stored code, the switched PTAT voltage reference being further design to repeat the subtraction each time without having to re-compute the pure reference curvature.

9. The receiver as defined in claim 2, wherein the temperature recorder circuit further includes:

a time counter that receives the clock signals from the time reference device and generates data associated with GPS receiver time; and

memory that stores data associated with the GPS receiver time and sensed temperature.

10. The receiver as defined in claim 9, wherein the temperature recorder circuit further includes a hysteresis circuit that receives the data associated with the temperature change and determines whether the memory stores the data associated with the temperature change, the hysteresis circuit being designed to reduce instances in which electrical circuit noise causes a memory access, rather than a real temperature change.

11. The receiver as defined in claim 10, wherein the hysteresis circuit sends instructions to the memory to store the data associated with the temperature change if the temperature changed.

12. The receiver as defined in claim 10, wherein the hysteresis circuit is designed to include a hysteresis threshold, and a fill level value, the hysteresis circuit being further designed to wake up the electrical component of the receiver based on either the hysteresis threshold or the fill level value, or both, the hysteresis threshold and the fill level value being set by a processing device.

13. The receiver as defined in claim 10, wherein the temperature recorder circuit includes a register and bus interface that receives data from the memory of the temperature recorder circuit.

14. The receiver as defined in claim 13, wherein the register and bus interface receives a wake up signal based on the received data from the memory of the temperature recorder circuit.

15. The receiver as defined in claim 13, wherein the register and bus interface facilitates initialization of the temperature recorder circuit.

16. The receiver as defined in claim 13, wherein responsive to the registers and bus interface determining that the memory is full, the registers and bus interface sends the wake-up signal to a processor or a sequencer if the processor is hibernating.

17. The receiver as defined claim 1, further comprising a second memory that is coupled to a GPS receiver microprocessor, the second memory including a power manager that has instructions, the GPS receiver microprocessor being designed to wake up and process the instructions, the instructions associated with the power manager including the following logics:

query data from a memory of the temperature recorder circuit, and

adjusts parameters and values associated with some electrical components of the navigation device based on the received wake-up signal and queried data.

18. The receiver as defined claim 17, further comprising a sequencer that turns on the electrical component of the receiver based on the wake-up signal from the temperature recorder circuit.

19. The receiver as defined in claim 17, wherein the time reference device and the temperature recorder circuit operate regardless of whether the receiver is hibernating or not.

20. A temperature recorder circuit that operates using clock signals from a time reference device while a receiver hibernates, the temperature recorder circuit comprising:

at least one temperature sensor that senses the temperature of the time reference device or a frequency reference device and generates data associated with a temperature change of the time reference device or the frequency reference device;

a time counter that receives the clock signals from the time reference device and generates data associated with GPS receiver time;

memory that stores the sensed temperature and the data associated with the GPS receiver time;

a registers and bus interface that communicates configuration commands and/or data between the memory and a processing device of a receiver; and

logic circuitry that sends a wake-up signal to some electrical components of the receiver based on the received data from the memory.

21. The temperature recorder circuit as defined in claim 20, further comprising a control generator that changes a measurement rate of the temperature sensor.

22. The temperature recorder circuit as defined in claim 20, further comprising a hysteresis circuit that receives data associated with the temperature change and determines whether the memory stores the data associated with the temperature change, the hysteresis circuit being designed to reduce instances in which electrical circuit noise causes a memory access, rather than a real temperature change.

23. A system comprising:

a time reference device that generates clock signals while the system hibernates; and

a temperature recorder circuit that receives and operates using the clock signals from the time reference device while the system hibernates, the temperature recorder circuit being designed to send a wake-up signal to at least one electrical component of the system.

24. The system as defined in claim 23, wherein the electrical component of the system includes at least one of the following:

a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, a processing device, and a frequency reference device.

25. The system as defined in claim 23, wherein the time reference device and the temperature recorder circuit operate whether or not any of the electrical components of the system is hibernating.