Reducing power consumption of a wireless device
First Claim
1. A method for operating a first device in wireless communication with a second device using a communication protocol having polling periods, each polling period having an associated subsequent supplemental period, each supplemental period being at least reserved for reduction of power consumption of the first device or retransmission of data transmitted during a previous polling period, the method comprising the steps of:
- receiving at the first device a first transmission in a first time slot of a first polling period;
transmitting a first response in a second time slot of the first polling period, the first response being responsive to receiving the first transmission;
reducing power consumption of the first device during a first supplemental period associated with and subsequent to the first polling period, substantially following transmitting the first response;
receiving a second transmission in a first time slot of a second polling period, the second transmission indicating that the first response was not properly received;
transmitting a second response during a second time slot of the second polling period, the second response being responsive to receiving the second transmission;
receiving a third transmission in a first time slot of a third polling period, the third transmission indicating that a prior response was not properly received;
transmitting a third response in a second time slot of the third polling period, the third response being responsive to receiving the third transmission;
maintaining power during a third supplemental period associated with the third polling period if each of a predetermined number of prior consecutive transmissions indicated that a response was not properly received; and
reducing power consumption in a supplemental period after another predetermined number of polling period transmissions indicating that a prior response was properly received.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides a system and method for conserving power consumption of a wireless device such as a BLUETOOTH slave device. A master device polls a slave device in a polling period. The slave responds by transmitting a data packet. If there is an error in transmission of the data, the master device may transmit an ARQ (Automatic Repeat Request) to the slave device in a TIMEOUT period to indicate that the data packet was not received. The slave device may reduce power consumption or power off during that TIMEOUT and receive a retransmit ARQ in a subsequent polling period.
52 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method for operating a first device in wireless communication with a second device using a communication protocol having polling periods, each polling period having an associated subsequent supplemental period, each supplemental period being at least reserved for reduction of power consumption of the first device or retransmission of data transmitted during a previous polling period, the method comprising the steps of:
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receiving at the first device a first transmission in a first time slot of a first polling period; transmitting a first response in a second time slot of the first polling period, the first response being responsive to receiving the first transmission; reducing power consumption of the first device during a first supplemental period associated with and subsequent to the first polling period, substantially following transmitting the first response; receiving a second transmission in a first time slot of a second polling period, the second transmission indicating that the first response was not properly received; transmitting a second response during a second time slot of the second polling period, the second response being responsive to receiving the second transmission; receiving a third transmission in a first time slot of a third polling period, the third transmission indicating that a prior response was not properly received; transmitting a third response in a second time slot of the third polling period, the third response being responsive to receiving the third transmission; maintaining power during a third supplemental period associated with the third polling period if each of a predetermined number of prior consecutive transmissions indicated that a response was not properly received; and reducing power consumption in a supplemental period after another predetermined number of polling period transmissions indicating that a prior response was properly received. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A wireless device comprising
a battery power source; -
a radio transceiver powered by the battery; a memory having instructions stored thereon; and a controller coupled to the radio transceiver and to the memory and configured to execute instructions for operating a first device in wireless communication with a second device using a communication protocol having polling periods, each polling period having an associated subsequent supplemental period, each supplemental period being at least reserved for reduction of power consumption of the first device or retransmission of data transmitted during a previous polling period, so as to; receive at the first device a first transmission in a first time slot of a first polling period; transmit a first response in a second time slot of the first polling period, the first response being responsive to receiving the first transmission; reduce power consumption of the first device during a first supplemental period associated with and subsequent to the first polling period, substantially following transmitting the first response; receive a second transmission in a first time slot of a second polling period, the second transmission indicating that the first response was not properly received; transmit a second response during a second time slot of the second polling period, the second response being responsive to receiving the second transmission; receive a third transmission in a first time slot of a third polling period, the third transmission indicating that a prior response was not properly received; transmit a third response in a second time slot of the third polling period, the third response being responsive to receiving the third transmission; maintain power during a third supplemental period associated with the third polling period if each of a predetermined number of prior consecutive transmissions indicated that a response was not properly received; and reduce power consumption in a supplemental period after another predetermined number of transmissions indicating that a prior response was properly received. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13)
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14. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon data representing sequences of instructions for operating a first device in wireless communication with a second device using a communication protocol having polling periods, each polling period having an associated subsequent supplemental period, each supplemental period being at least reserved for reduction of power consumption of the first device or retransmission of data transmitted during a previous polling period, the sequences of instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform steps comprising:
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receiving at the first device a first transmission in a first time slot of a first polling period; transmitting a first response in a second time slot of the first polling period, the first response being responsive to receiving the first transmission; reducing power consumption of the first device during a first supplemental period associated with and subsequent to the first polling period, substantially following transmitting the first response; receiving a second transmission in a first time slot of a second polling period, the second transmission indicating that the first response was not properly received; transmitting a second response during a second time slot of the second polling period, the second response being responsive to receiving the second transmission; receiving a third transmission in a first time slot of a third polling period, the third transmission indicating that a prior response was not properly received; transmitting a third response in a second time slot of the third polling period, the third response being responsive to receiving the third transmission; maintaining power during a third supplemental period associated with the third polling period if each of a predetermined number of prior consecutive transmissions indicated that a response was not properly received; and reducing power consumption in a supplemental period after another predetermined number of transmissions indicating that a prior response was properly received. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method for operating a slave device in wireless communication with a master device using a communication protocol having a plurality of sniff periods associated respectively with timeout periods, each timeout period being subsequent to each respective sniff period, comprising:
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polling the slave device during a first time slot of a first sniff period by transmitting a first poll packet from the master device to the slave device; transmitting a first transmission of a first data packet from the slave device to the master device during a second time slot of the first sniff period in response to the slave device receiving the first poll packet during the first time slot of the first sniff period; reducing power consumption of the slave device substantially following the first transmission of the first data packet, the reduced power consumption being sustained at least during a first timeout period subsequent to the first sniff period; restoring power consumption of the slave device after the first timeout period; receiving at the slave device a transmission error indication from the master device during a first time slot of a second sniff period indicating that the first data packet was not properly received by the master device; transmitting a second transmission of the first data packet from the slave device to the master device during a second time slot of the second sniff period in response to the received transmission error indication; reducing power consumption of the slave device substantially following the second transmission of the first data packet, the reduced power consumption being sustained at least during a second timeout period; for each subsequent sniff period, receiving at the slave device from the master device either a poll packet polling the slave device for data or a transmission error indication indicating that a previously transmitted data packet was not properly received by the master device, wherein; when a slave device receives a predetermined number of transmission error indications in a predetermined number of consecutive sniff periods, the slave device maintains power during subsequent sniff and timeout periods such that user data acquired by the slave device during the consecutive sniff and timeout periods can be transmitted in substantially consecutive data packets to the master device. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21)
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Specification