Reducing power consumption of a multi-antenna transceiver

• US 8,983,557 B1
• Filed: 06/28/2012
• Issued: 03/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NXP USA, Inc. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Original Assignee: Marvell International Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Inventors: Sun, Yakun, Lou, Hui-Ling, Petrovic, Vladan
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, TUAN HOANG
• Application Number:
  US13/536,506
• Time in Patent Office: 992 Days
• Field of Search: 455/41.1, 455/41.2, 455/574, 455/522
• US Class Current: 455/574
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/028 switching on or off only a part of the equipment circuit blocks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

The present disclosure describes techniques and apparatuses for reducing power consumption of a multi-antenna transceiver. In some aspects, the techniques and apparatuses minimize power consumption while maintaining a threshold level of performance, maximize performance while maintaining a threshold power-consumption limit, or optimize power consumption and performance. To do so, the techniques and apparatuses use a subset of the transceiver'"'"'s available antennas, RF chains, and/or baseband receive chains.

Claims

1. A method for providing power to one or more of a plurality of components respectively associated with a plurality of receive paths of a receiver, the method comprising:

determining a first level of performance associated with each receive path of the plurality of receive paths;

determining, based on i) the first level of performance associated with each receive path of the plurality of receive paths and ii) a minimum reception performance metric, whether use of a subset of the plurality of receive paths will meet or exceed the minimum reception performance metric;

in response to determining that the use of the subset of the plurality of receive paths will meet or exceed the minimum reception performance metric, ceasing to provide power to each component respectively associated with the plurality of receive paths other than the one or more of the plurality of components respectively associated with the subset of the plurality of receive paths; and

in response to determining, based on a second level of performance of the subset of the plurality of receive paths and based on the minimum reception performance metric, that a smaller subset of the subset of the plurality of receive paths will meet or exceed the minimum reception performance metric, ceasing to provide power to each component respectively associated with the plurality of receive paths other than the one or more of the plurality of components respectively associated with the smaller subset of the subset of the plurality of receive paths;

or

in response to determining that the smaller subset of the subset of the plurality of receive paths will not meet the minimum reception performance metric, providing power to the components respectively associated with the subset of the plurality of receive paths.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein ceasing to provide the power to each component respectively associated with the plurality of receive paths other than the one or more of the plurality of components respectively associated with the subset of the plurality of receive paths comprises:

ceasing to provide the power to one or more of a baseband chain, a radio frequency (RF) chain, or an antenna chain.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining is performed responsive to a time period elapsing, a power-consumption trigger, or a performance trigger.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the time period is determined based on a power consumption to perform the determining and a potential power savings associated with ceasing to provide the power to each of the components.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the minimum reception performance metric includes, and the determining is based on, error rates, signal-to-noise ratios, achievable data rates, power consumption, or a quality of service for each of the plurality of receive paths.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to the determining, providing power to one or more of the plurality of components to which the power is not being provided effective to include one or more receive paths associated with the previously un-powered components in the determining.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising causing a transmitting entity from which signals are being received, and for which the first or second level of performance is determined, to permit the receiver to meet or exceed the minimum reception performance metric using the subset of the plurality of receive paths.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein causing the transmitting entity to permit the receiver to meet or exceed the minimum reception performance metric includes transmitting, to the transmitting entity, information about the signals.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein causing the transmitting entity to permit the receiver to meet or exceed the minimum reception performance metric includes transmitting, to the transmitting entity, a supportable modulation and coding rate (MCS) or a multiple-in multiple-out scheme (MIMO).

10. A system comprising:

a receiver of a receiving entity operating at high power and having multiple receive paths, each of the receive paths having an antenna; and

a controller configured to

determine, based on a current level of performance of the receiver and a power-consumption budget, a subset of the multiple receive paths that will meet the power-consumption budget and have a highest reception performance, and

cease power to the antennas of the multiple receive paths other than those of the subset of the multiple receive paths effective to meet the power-consumption budget.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein:

each of the multiple receive paths has, or shares with another of the multiple receive paths, a radio-frequency (RF) chain and a baseband chain, and

the controller is further configured to cease to power RF chains and baseband chains of the multiple receive paths other than those of the subset of the multiple receive paths that are not shared with those of the subset of the multiple receive paths.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the controller is further configured to determine the subset that meets the power-consumption budget and has the highest level of performance by:

causing a transmitting entity for which the current level of performance is determined to enable the subset to have the highest level of performance by altering transmission of the transmitting entity.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the controller is further configured to receive the power-consumption budget, the power-consumption budget determined based on available power of a power source associated with a computing device in which the system is embodied.

14. A method comprising:

transmitting, to a receiving entity, signals using a single transmission path or multiple transmission paths of a transmitter of a transmitting entity operating at high power;

receiving, from the receiving entity, an indication that a minimum reception performance metric at the receiving entity is not being met or that the multiple transmission paths are not needed; and

responsive to receiving the indication that the minimum reception performance metric is not being met, powering one or more additional transmission paths of the transmitter and transmitting, to the receiving entity, signals using the single transmission path or the multiple transmission paths and the one or more additional transmission paths;

or

responsive to receiving the indication that the multiple transmission paths are not needed, ceasing to power components of one or more of the multiple transmission paths.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein:

the indication is a performance indicator for reception of the signals at the receiving entity; and

the method further comprises determining, based on the performance indicator, that transmission using the single transmission path or the multiple transmission paths is not sufficient to meet the minimum reception performance metric at the receiving entity.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving, from the receiving entity, a supportable modulation and coding rate (MCS) or a multiple-in multiple-out (MIMO) scheme of transmission for transmission to the receiving entity; and

responsive to receiving the MCS or MIMO scheme, transmitting to the receiving entity in accordance with the MCS or MIMO scheme.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving, from the receiving entity, a second indication indicating that transmission of the signals using the single transmission path or the multiple transmission paths and the one or more additional transmission paths is not needed to meet the minimum reception performance metric; and

responsive to the second indication, ceasing to power a transmission path having a lowest transmission performance.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising determining which of the transmission paths has the lowest transmission performance based on information received from the receiving entity.