Reducing power consumption of Wi-Fi enabled mobile devices
First Claim
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1. A method of reducing energy consumption of a mobile device, comprising:
- said mobile device having a network interface that operates intermittently with extended periods of application data traffic inactivity between intermittent application data traffic operations;
said mobile device monitoring application data traffic operation of said mobile device to detect periods of application data traffic inactivity;
said mobile device predicting the duration of a detected period of application data traffic inactivity; and
said mobile device turning off power to said device for a period of time substantially corresponding to said predicted duration,wherein said network interface is coupled to a mobile communication apparatus and wherein said network interface is a WiFi interface, andfurther including the step of storing a distribution of inactivity period durations, wherein said predicting step includes the step of calculating a probability of inactivity period duration based on said stored distribution.
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Abstract
A system and method for maximizing the standby time of mobile communication devices that have WiFi or other high energy-consuming network interfaces, by predicting in real time actionable silent periods (ASPs) of the interface and shutting the interface down during these ASPs. Standby times are significantly increased, resulting in longer periods of operation before battery charging is required, while keeping minimal the probabilities of missing incoming data packets when the interface is turned off.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method of reducing energy consumption of a mobile device, comprising:
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said mobile device having a network interface that operates intermittently with extended periods of application data traffic inactivity between intermittent application data traffic operations; said mobile device monitoring application data traffic operation of said mobile device to detect periods of application data traffic inactivity; said mobile device predicting the duration of a detected period of application data traffic inactivity; and said mobile device turning off power to said device for a period of time substantially corresponding to said predicted duration, wherein said network interface is coupled to a mobile communication apparatus and wherein said network interface is a WiFi interface, and further including the step of storing a distribution of inactivity period durations, wherein said predicting step includes the step of calculating a probability of inactivity period duration based on said stored distribution. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A mobile apparatus, comprising:
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a network interface; a processor; and a power supply that turns off power to said network interface in response to a signal from said processor generated in accordance with real-time monitoring by said processor of network activity through said network interface and prediction of silent period durations during which no network activity is present in said interface based on said real-time monitoring; wherein said power supply turns off power to said network interface for a duration substantially corresponding to a predicted silent period duration, wherein said network interface is a WiFi network interface, and wherein said mobile device is configured to store a distribution of inactivity period durations and to predict said silent periods by calculating a probability of inactivity period duration based on said stored distribution. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification