Apparatus and methods for low power sensing of communication access technologies

• US 9,060,336 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2009
• Issued: 06/16/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Krishnaswamy, Dilip, Kanade, Parag M., Subrahmanya, Parvathanathan
• Primary Examiner(s): Chung, Hoon J
• Application Number:
  US12/610,296
• Publication Number:
  US 20100322126A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,054 Days
• Field of Search: 370/310.2, 370/311, 370/318, 370328-339, 370/349, 455/11.1, 455/13.4, 455/15, 455/41.2, 455/127.5, 455/343.5, 455/422.1, 455/552.1, 455/553.1, 455/556.2, 455/574
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0229 where the received signal is a wanted signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/028 switching on or off only a part of the equipment circuit blocks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Apparatus and methods for low power sensing of wireless access technologies are disclosed. In particular, a mobile wireless device, such as an access terminal, may utilize a lower power circuitry portion that operates at a lower power than active circuitry, such as a primary transceiver. The lower power circuitry portion includes a configurable searcher that is capable of sensing if signals of one or more various wireless access technologies are present. When the wireless device utilizes sleep or idle modes for power savings, use of the lower power sensing circuitry to sense the presence of wireless access technologies, rather than using an awoken higher power primary transceiver for sensing, affords increased power savings. An added ability of the lower power circuitry to be put into sleep or idles modes achieves even greater power savings.

Claims

1. An apparatus for use in a mobile device that supports multiple wireless access technologies comprising:

a first circuitry portion operable at a first power level, wherein the first circuitry portion includes at least one configurable searcher that is operable to search for all wireless access technologies supported by the mobile device; and

a second circuitry portion that is coupled to the first circuitry portion and configured to operate at a power level higher than the first power level of the first circuitry portion in the mobile device, wherein the second circuitry portion includes a receiver that decodes signals of all wireless access technologies supported by the mobile device;

wherein the at least one configurable searcher produces a trigger signal when a signal of any of the wireless access technologies is sensed during said searching, and wherein the trigger signal transitions the second circuitry portion from a power-saving state to said higher power level to decode the sensed signal.

2. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the first circuitry portion further comprises:

a buffer configured to store received signals of the one or more wireless access technologies; and

a non-real time processor configured to process the received signals stored in the buffer in a time domain independent from a time domain of at least one of the other circuitry in the first circuitry portion and the second circuitry portion.

3. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the first circuitry further comprises:

an adaptive engine configured to adaptively process the signals of the one or more wireless access technologies to at least one of reorder and prioritize a search list of the one or more wireless access technologies based on prior sensed information.

4. The apparatus as defined in claim 3, wherein the prior sensed information includes at least one of signal strength and signal correlation.

5. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the first circuitry portion is further configured to wake up from one of an idle or sleep state and periodically sense the one or more wireless access technologies at a predetermined periodicity wherein the periodicity is either fixed or variable.

6. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the second circuitry portion comprises a primary transceiver that is configured to sleep while the first circuitry portion senses signals of the one or more wireless access technologies.

7. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein sensing signals of the one or more wireless access technologies includes correlating received signals with at least one reference data.

8. The apparatus as defined in claim 7, wherein the reference data comprises at least one scrambling code.

9. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the first circuitry portion includes:

a demodulator configured to demodulate received signals; and

a decoder configured to decode additional information regarding the one or more wireless access technologies.

10. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, the first circuitry portion further comprising:

a baseband processor used for sensing the one or more wireless access technologies.

11. The apparatus as defined in claim 10, wherein the baseband processor includes one or more of a processor, a memory, and logic hardware.

12. The apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the logic hardware is configured to process a subset of tasks including sensing a subset of wireless access technologies.

13. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the first circuitry portion is further configured to issue a trigger to wake up the second circuitry portion when a signal from at least one of the wireless access technologies is sensed by the first portion.

14. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the first portion includes at least one real time clock domain timer for use in causing the first portion to periodically perform sensing tasks.

15. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the first and second circuitry portions share one or more components configured to be at least operable at the first power level.

16. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the first circuitry portion is configured with a lower leakage library of design components compared to components in the second circuitry portion.

17. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the first circuitry portion comprises one or more first components having equivalent functionality to one or more second components in the second circuitry portion, where the one or more first components operate slower than the one or more second components.

18. The apparatus as defined in claim 17, where the one or more first components are configured to consume less energy than the one or more second components in performing an equivalent function.

19. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the mobile device comprises an access terminal.

20. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein at least one of the first and second circuitry portions is configured to provide lower energy paging support.

21. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the sensing includes one of:

measuring energies at carrier frequencies of said wireless access technologies; and

performing decoding for received signals of said wireless access technologies.

22. A method for use in a mobile device that supports multiple wireless access technologies comprising:

searching for all wireless access technologies supported by the mobile device using a first circuitry portion configured to operate at a power level lower than a higher power level at which a second circuitry portion in the mobile device operates, wherein the second circuitry portion is configured to decode signals of all wireless access technologies supported by the mobile device; and

issuing a wakeup trigger configured to wake up the second circuitry portion when a signal of any of the wireless access technologies is sensed during said searching;

wherein the wakeup trigger transitions the second circuitry portion from a power-saving state to said higher power level to decode the sensed signal.

23. The method as defined in claim 22, further comprising:

buffering received signals of the wireless access technologies; and

non-real time processing the buffered received signals in a time domain independent from a time domain of one of the first circuitry portion and the second circuitry portion.

24. The method as defined in claim 22, further comprising:

adaptively processing signals of the wireless access technologies to at least one of reorder and prioritize a search list of the wireless access technologies based on prior sensed information.

25. The method as defined in claim 24, wherein the prior sensed information includes at least one of signal strength and signal correlation.

26. The method as defined in claim 22, further comprising:

periodically waking up the first circuitry portion from one of a sleep state or idle state and searching the wireless access technologies at a predetermined periodicity wherein the periodicity is either fixed or variable.

27. The method as defined in claim 22, wherein the second circuitry portion comprises a primary transceiver that is configured to sleep while the first circuitry portion senses signals of the wireless access technologies.

28. The method as defined in claim 22, wherein searching for the wireless access technologies includes correlating received signals with at least one reference data.

29. The method as defined in claim 28, wherein the reference data comprises at least one scrambling code.

30. The method as defined in claim 22, including, within the first circuitry portion, using a baseband processor for sensing the wireless access technologies.

31. The method as defined in claim 22, wherein searching for the wireless access technologies includes processing a subset of tasks including sensing a subset of said wireless access technologies.

32. The method as defined in claim 22, further comprising:

searching the wireless access technologies at a predetermined periodicity wherein the periodicity is either fixed or variable.

33. The method as defined in claim 22, including operating a component shared by the first and second circuitry portions and configured to be at least operable at the power level of the first circuitry portion.

34. The method as defined in claim 22, wherein the mobile device comprises an access terminal.

35. The method as defined in claim 22, wherein at least a portion of the first circuitry portion is configured with a lower leakage library of design components compared to components in the second circuitry portion.

36. The method as defined in claim 22, wherein the first circuitry portion comprises one or more first components having equivalent functionality to one or more second components in the second circuitry portion, where the one or more first components operate slower than the one or more second components.

37. The method as defined in claim 36, where the one or more first components are configured to consume less energy than the one or more second components in performing an equivalent function.

38. The method as defined in claim 22, wherein at least one of the first and second circuitry portions is configured to provide lower energy paging support.

39. The method as defined in claim 22, wherein the searching includes one of:

measuring energies at carrier frequencies of said wireless access technologies; and

performing decoding for received signals of said wireless access technologies.

40. An apparatus for use in a mobile device that supports multiple wireless access technologies comprising:

means for searching for one or more all wireless access technologies supported by the mobile device using a first circuitry portion configured to operate at a power level lower than a higher power level at which a second circuitry portion in the mobile device operates, wherein the second circuitry portion is configured to decode signals of all wireless access technologies supported by the mobile device; and

means for issuing a wakeup trigger configured to wake up the second circuitry portion when a signal of any of the wireless access technologies is sensed during said searching;

wherein the wakeup trigger transitions the second circuitry portion from a power-saving state to said higher power level to decode the sensed signal.

41. The apparatus as defined in claim 40, further comprising:

means for buffering received signals of the wireless access technologies; and

means for non-real time processing the buffered received signals in a time domain independent from a time domain of one of the first circuitry portion and the second circuitry portion.

42. The apparatus as defined in claim 40, wherein the second circuitry portion comprises a primary transceiver that is configured to sleep while the first circuitry portion senses signals of the wireless access technologies.

43. The apparatus as defined in claim 40, the first circuitry portion comprising:

a baseband processor used for sensing the wireless access technologies.

44. The apparatus as defined in claim 40, wherein the first and second circuitry portions share one or more components configured to be at least operable at the power level of the first circuitry portion.

45. The apparatus as defined in claim 40, wherein at least a portion of the first circuitry portion is configured with a lower leakage library of design components compared to components in the second circuitry portion.

46. The apparatus as defined in claim 40, wherein the first circuitry portion comprises one or more first components having equivalent functionality to one or more second components in the second circuitry portion, where the one or more first components operate slower than the one or more second components.

47. The apparatus as defined in claim 46, where the one or more first components are configured to consume less energy than the one or more second components in performing an equivalent function.

48. The apparatus as defined in claim 40, wherein the mobile device comprises an access terminal.

49. The apparatus as defined in claim 40, wherein at least one of the first and second circuitry portions is configured to provide lower energy paging support.

50. The apparatus as defined in claim 40, wherein the searching includes one of:

measuring energies at carrier frequencies of said wireless access technologies; and

performing decoding for received signals of said wireless access technologies.

51. A computer program product for use with a mobile device that supports multiple wireless access technologies, comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer executable code comprising;

code for causing a computer to search for all wireless access technologies supported by the mobile device using a first circuitry portion in the mobile device, wherein the first circuitry portion is configured to operate at a power level lower than a higher power level at which a second circuitry portion in the mobile device operates, wherein the second circuitry portion is configured to decode signals of all wireless access technologies supported by the mobile device; and

code for causing the computer to issue a wakeup trigger configured to wake up the second circuitry portion when a signal of any of the wireless access technologies is sensed during said search;

wherein the wakeup trigger transitions the second circuitry portion from a power-saving state to said higher power level to decode the sensed signal.

52. The computer program product as defined in claim 51, the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprising:

code for causing a computer to cause buffering of received signals of the one or more wireless access technologies; and

code for causing a computer to non-real time process the buffered received signals in a time domain independent from a time domain of one of the first circuitry portion and the second circuitry portion.

53. The computer program product as defined in claim 51, the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprising:

code for causing the computer to adaptively process signals of the wireless access technologies to at least one of reorder and prioritize a search list of the wireless access technologies based on prior sensed information.

54. The computer program product as defined in claim 53, wherein the prior sensed information includes at least one of signal strength and signal correlation.

55. The computer program product as defined in claim 51, the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprising:

code for causing the computer to periodically wake up the first circuitry portion from one of a sleep state or idle state and searching the wireless access technologies at a predetermined periodicity wherein the periodicity is either fixed or variable.

56. The computer program product as defined in claim 51, wherein the second circuitry portion comprises a primary transceiver that is configured to sleep while the first circuitry portion senses signals of the wireless access technologies.

57. The computer program product as defined in claim 51, wherein searching for the wireless access technologies includes correlating received signals with at least one reference data.

58. The computer program product as defined in claim 57, wherein the reference data comprises at least one scrambling code.

59. The computer program product as defined in claim 51, wherein at least one of the first and second circuitry portions is configured to provide lower energy paging support.

60. The computer program product as defined in claim 51, the first circuitry portion comprising a baseband processor used for sensing the wireless access technologies.

61. The computer program product as defined in claim 51, wherein searching for the wireless access technologies includes processing a subset of tasks including sensing a subset of said wireless access technologies.

62. The computer program product as defined in claim 51, further comprising:

the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprising;

code for causing the computer to search the wireless access technologies at a predetermined periodicity wherein the periodicity is either fixed or variable.

63. The computer program product as defined in claim 51, wherein the first and second circuitry portions share one or more components configured to be at least operable at the power level of the first circuitry portion.

64. The computer program product as defined in claim 51, wherein the mobile device comprises an access terminal.

65. The computer program product as defined in claim 51, wherein at least a portion of the first circuitry portion is configured with a lower leakage library of design components compared to components in the second circuitry portion.

66. The computer program product as defined in claim 51, wherein the first circuitry portion comprises one or more first components having equivalent functionality to one or more second components in the second circuitry portion, where the one or more first components operate slower than the one or more second components.

67. The computer program product as defined in claim 66, where the one or more first components are configured to consume less energy than the one or more second components in performing an equivalent function.

68. The computer program product as defined in claim 51, wherein the searching includes one of:

measuring energies at carrier frequencies of said wireless access technologies; and

performing decoding for received signals of said wireless access technologies.