Method of and apparatus for battery and similar power source conservation in periodically operable portable and related radio receivers and the like
First Claim
1. A method of energy source utilization and conservation at a radio receiver intended to receive only occasional radio transmissions addressed to that receiver and occurring during predetermined overall transmission time schedules, that comprises, allocating successive short time periods of possible equal-energy utilization by the receiver totaling an energy budget capacity of the intended lifetime of the receiver energy source;
- momentarily activating the receiver by applying energy thereto during such a short time period only, adequate for the receiver to determine the possible presence of a radio transmission containing an address for that receiver;
thereupon de-activating the receiver by terminating energy applied thereto in the absence of receipt of such addressed transmission; and
skipping subsequent time periods of possible activation corresponding at least to the time period(s) utilized in such determination when no such transmission was found to be present in order to insure overall conformance to said energy budget, but adjusting such skipping to insure the activation of the receiver at some time within the predetermined transmission schedules, thereby enabling the receiver judiciously to look for transmissions addressed to it only at correct times and only for short time periods, while spending the rest of the time in an energy conservation deactivated mode.
15 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
In a signal receiving apparatus as, for example, that used in the monitoring in a stolen vehicle transceiver of the presence of sequential transmitted signals specifically requesting that transceiver to respond to enable tracking the vehicle, wherein the receiver is powered by a consumable energy source of predetermined budgeted lifetime and adapted to operate between quiescent energy-saving and energized energy-consuming states for performing such sequential signal monitoring, desired signal identifying and related functions, a method of and apparatus for insuring the availability of energy to be able to perform such functions within said predetermined budgeted life time, that comprises, allocating budget time intervals for periodically operating the receiver intermittently in energized state to enable the performing of such functions as monitoring for such signals; and, in the event of inordinate energy consumption during such operation, that, if continued, would render the operation out of overall allocated time budget, adaptively skipping time intervals with the receiver quiescent, sufficiently to get the operation back on overall time budget.
102 Citations
30 Claims
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1. A method of energy source utilization and conservation at a radio receiver intended to receive only occasional radio transmissions addressed to that receiver and occurring during predetermined overall transmission time schedules, that comprises, allocating successive short time periods of possible equal-energy utilization by the receiver totaling an energy budget capacity of the intended lifetime of the receiver energy source;
- momentarily activating the receiver by applying energy thereto during such a short time period only, adequate for the receiver to determine the possible presence of a radio transmission containing an address for that receiver;
thereupon de-activating the receiver by terminating energy applied thereto in the absence of receipt of such addressed transmission; and
skipping subsequent time periods of possible activation corresponding at least to the time period(s) utilized in such determination when no such transmission was found to be present in order to insure overall conformance to said energy budget, but adjusting such skipping to insure the activation of the receiver at some time within the predetermined transmission schedules, thereby enabling the receiver judiciously to look for transmissions addressed to it only at correct times and only for short time periods, while spending the rest of the time in an energy conservation deactivated mode. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
- momentarily activating the receiver by applying energy thereto during such a short time period only, adequate for the receiver to determine the possible presence of a radio transmission containing an address for that receiver;
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14. Radio receiver apparatus powered by an expendable energy source and in which a radio receiver is intended to receive only occasional radio transmissions addressed to that receiver and occurring during predetermined overall transmission time schedules, said apparatus having, in combination, microprocessor-controlled means providing for allocating successive short time periods of possible equal-energy utilization by the receiver totaling an energy budget capacity of the intended lifetime of the receiver expendable energy source;
- means for momentarily activating the receiver by applying energy thereto during such a short time period only, adequate for the receiver to determine the possible presence of a radio transmission containing an address for to that receiver;
thereupon de-activating the receiver by terminating energy applied thereto in the absence of receipt of such addressed transmission; and
means for skipping subsequent time periods of possible activation corresponding at least to the time period(s) utilized in such determination when no such transmission was found to be present in order to insure overall conformance to said energy budget, but said skipping means adjusting such skipping to insure the activation of the receiver at some time within the predetermined transmission schedules, thereby enabling the receiver judiciously to look for transmissions addressed to it only at correct times and only for short time periods, while spending the rest of the time in an energy conservation deactivated mode. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
- means for momentarily activating the receiver by applying energy thereto during such a short time period only, adequate for the receiver to determine the possible presence of a radio transmission containing an address for to that receiver;
Specification