System and method of determining standby time for a mobile station

• US 7,706,845 B2
• Filed: 07/28/2006
• Issued: 04/27/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Mallalieu, Jennifer, Jin, Xin, Shearer, Fiona
• Primary Examiner(s): Pérez-Gutiérrez; Rafael
• Assistant Examiner(s): PATEL, MUNJALKUMAR C
• Application Number:
  US11/494,443
• Publication Number:
  US 20070184827A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,369 Days
• Field of Search: 455/575, 455/127.1, 455/343.1, 455572-574, 455423-425, 370/311
• US Class Current: 455/574
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/24 Arrangements for testing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0261 managing power supply demand, e.g. depending on battery level
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A method and system for determining standby time for a mobile station uses a battery simulator, a base station emulator, a computer to control the test equipment and MSUT for testing a mobile station. The computer includes a module for determining a radio off battery voltage, a module for deriving a battery capacity in dependence upon the radio off battery voltage, a module for measuring battery capacity usage in a predetermined time while the mobile station is in standby mode and a module for determining a standby time for the mobile station in dependence upon the battery capacity and the battery capacity usage, where the predetermined time is less than the standby time.

Claims

1. A method of determining standby time for a mobile station, the method comprising:

measuring an average current consumption while the mobile station is in a standby mode, the standby mode including a transmit mode and a receive mode, the average current consumption being measured in both the transmit mode and the receive mode;

determining an available battery capacity of a battery in the mobile station;

determining a standby time for the mobile station in dependence upon the available battery capacity and the average current consumption; and

determining a radio off battery voltage, the available battery capacity determined upon the radio off battery voltage, wherein the determining a radio off battery voltage comprises;

providing a simulated battery voltage at a first voltage value to the mobile station;

determining if a mobile station radio is on;

if the mobile station radio is on, decrementing the first voltage value to a next voltage value by a predetermined amount, and repeating the determining if a mobile station radio is on step; and

if the mobile station radio is off, recording the radio off battery voltage.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the measuring the average current consumption comprises measuring a first plurality of current measurement data points in the transmit mode, and measuring a second plurality of current measurement data points in the receive mode.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the first plurality of current measurement data points are measured over at least one complete transmit event.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, further comprising calculating the capacity used of each transmit event.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the measuring average current consumption is repeated to record a plurality of transmit measurements.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5, further comprising calculating an average capacity usage in each transmit event (C_tx) as:

$C_{\mathrm{tx}}=\left(\underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{\sum <br><br>}}<br><br>\left(C_j\right)\right)/N,$

where N is the total number of transmit events measured; and

calculating the average transmit current (i_tx) as;

i_tx=C_tx/T_tx

where T_tx is a registration interval.

7. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the measuring average current consumption further comprises triggering the simulator to start collecting current measurement data points when a transmit activity is detected and wherein triggering comprises setting a threshold for current level exceeding the current consumption level for receiver only operation.

8. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the second plurality of current measurement data points are measured in a plurality of measurement intervals.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the available battery capacity determined upon a radio off battery voltage.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the determining a radio off battery voltage is repeated a plurality of times and the resulting voltage value is averaged to determine the radio off battery voltage.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10, further comprising simulating an equivalent series resistance effect of the battery while determining the radio off battery voltage.

12. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising determining receive capacity usage the determining receive capacity usage comprising:

configuring the base station emulator to disable timer based registration and all other types registrations except the power up registration; and

measuring the receive current array of the mobile station segment by segment using a sampling interval small enough to capture all current activities.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the determining receive capacity usage further comprises:

Recording a plurality of receive current segments;

for each of the plurality of receive current segments;

post processing a current measurement data array; and

calculating the mean current value of each of the plurality of receive current segments;

calculating the mean (i_rx) over all the segments measured; and

determining the capacity used while in receive mode for 1 hour of operation of the mobile station.

14. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the capacity used for 1 hour by receive mode (C_rx—

<sub>in—

1hr</sub>) is calculated by;

$C_{\mathrm{rx\_in}<br><br>\_<br><br>1<br><br><br><br>\mathrm{hr}}=\left(i_{\mathrm{rx}}*\left(1-t_{\mathrm{tx\_in}<br><br>\_<br><br>1<br><br><br><br>\mathrm{hr}}\right)\right)$ $\mathrm{where}$ $t_{\mathrm{tx\_in}<br><br>\_<br><br>1<br><br><br><br>\mathrm{hr}}=\left(\underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{\sum <br><br>}}<br><br>\left(t_j\right)\right)*\left(M/N\right);<br><br>$ $t_j=m*\mathrm{\Delta <br><br>}<br><br><br><br>t;<br><br>$

m is the last point of transmit activity; and

Δ

t is the sampling interval;

the total capacity used by the mobile station in one hour is;

C_1hr=C<sub>rx—

in—

1hr</sub>+C<sub>tx—

in—

1hr</sub>;

and the standby time in hours is calculated to be;

T_standby=(C_new−

C_cutoff)/(C_1hr)

where C_new−

C_cutoff is the capacity difference between a fully charged battery and the capacity at a cutoff voltage.

15. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the capacity used for 1 hour by receive mode (C_rx—

<sub>in—

1hr</sub>) is calculated by;

C<sub>rx—

in—

1hr</sub>=(i_rx*1 hr).

16. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising determining average receive current, the determining average receive current comprising:

configuring the base station emulator to disable timer based registration and all other types registrations except the power up registration; and

measuring the receive current array of the mobile station segment by segment using a sampling interval small enough to capture all current activities.

17. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the determining average receive current further comprises:

Recording a plurality of receive current segments;

for each of the plurality of receive current segments;

post processing the current measurement data array; and

calculating the mean current value of each of the plurality of receive current segments; and

calculating the mean (i_rx) over all the segments measured.

18. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein the standby time in hours is calculated to be:

T_standby=(C_new−

C_cutoff)/(i_tx+i_rx)

where C_new−

C_cutoff is the capacity difference between a fully charged battery and the capacity at the cutoff voltage, and i_tx+i_rx is the total of the average transmit current and the average receive current.