Communication terminal and method for handling power off time

• US 7,855,986 B2
• Filed: 11/22/2005
• Issued: 12/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Tanaka, Hironori, Sakamoto, Kazuhiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Pérez-Gutiérrez; Rafael
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kasraian; Allahyar
• Application Number:
  US11/283,829
• Publication Number:
  US 20060153114A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,855 Days
• Field of Search: 370/311, 455/574
• US Class Current: 370/311
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0216 using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic indication frame
• 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: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A communication terminal, in case that transmission/reception of a frame is carried out between a management terminal and another communication terminal, reads out its frame content, and on the basis of a content of the frame which was readout, sets up power off time for turning off power of the communication terminal, and turns off power of the communication terminal, during a period of the power off time. By this means, depending on a content of a frame which is transmitted/received between another communication terminal and the management terminal, power off time of the communication terminal is calculated, and therefore, it is possible to turn off power of the communication terminal during such a period that transmission/reception is not carried out to/from the management terminal, and it is possible to suppress power consumption of the communication terminal.

Claims

1. A communication terminal which transmits/receives a frame to/from a management terminal which is connected to a first network, through a second network, the communication terminal comprising:

a frame reception section which receives a frame which is transmitted to the management terminal by another communication terminal;

a power off section which turns off power of the communication terminal, during a period of power off time determined on the basis of a transmission time indicated by the content of the received frame;

a frame content readout section which reads out a content stored in the frame which is received by the frame reception section;

a power off time setup section which sets up a power off time for turning off power of the communication terminal, on the basis of the content of the frame which is read out by the frame content readout section, wherein

the power off section turns off power of the communication terminal, during a period of the power off time which is set up by the power off time setup section and determined on the basis of the transmission time indicated by the content of the received frame; and

a time judgment section which judges whether the power off time, set up by the power off time setup section, exceeds a predetermined time or not, wherein

the power off section, in case of a judgment by the time judgment section that the power off time exceeds the predetermined time, turns off power of the communication terminal, during the period of the power off time.

2. The communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein the frame content readout section reads out contents of a header, a frame body and a frame check sequence of the frame received by the frame reception section.

3. The communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein:

the power off time setup section has a power off time calculation section which calculates the transmission time of the frame,

the frame content readout section reads out such a frame sequence that a plurality of frames continue in terms of time, from the frame received by the frame reception section,

the power off time calculation section calculates a transmission time of the frame sequence read out by the frame content readout section, and

the power off section turns off power of the communication terminal, during a period of the transmission time calculated by the power off time calculation section.

4. The communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein the frame content readout section reads out a content which was stored in a header of the frame received by the frame reception section.

5. The communication terminal according to claim 4, wherein the header of the frame comprises a physical header.

6. The communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein the content of the received frame is a transmission time of another communication terminal.

7. The communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein the communication terminal carries out the power off operation in a competition period based on the IEEE802.11 standard.

8. A communication method to transmit/receive a frame to/from a management terminal which is connected to a first network, through a second network, the communication method comprising:

receiving, via a frame reception section, a frame which is transmitted to the management terminal by another communication terminal;

turning off power, via a power off section, of the communication terminal, during a period of power off time determined on the basis of a transmission time indicated by the content of the received frame;

reading out a content, via a frame content readout section, stored in the frame which is received by the frame reception section;

setting up a power off time, via a power off time setup section, for turning off power of the communication terminal, on the basis of the content of the frame which is read out by the frame content readout section, wherein the power off section turns off power of the communication terminal, during a period of the power off time which is set up by the power off time setup section and determined on the basis of the transmission time indicated by the content of the received frame;

judging whether the power off time, which is set up by the power off time setup section, exceeds a predetermined time or not; and

when it is judged that the power off time exceeds the predetermined time, turning off power of the communication terminal during the period of the power off time.