Invoking network-based transcoding in response to threshold low battery power
First Claim
1. A method carried out by a wireless base station (BS) during an ongoing communication session, comprising:
- receiving into the BS a transport network signal from a transport network;
encoding by the BS the transport network signal using a first codec to produce audio data encoded with the first codec, wherein encoding the transport network signal to produce audio data encoded with the first codec has an associated first delay time;
transmitting from the BS over an air interface to a wireless communication device (WCD) a communication signal comprising audio data encoded with the first codec, wherein the communication signal has a first radio frequency (RF) bandwidth and a first transmission delay at least as long as the first delay time;
receiving a low-charge indication from the WCD; and
in response to receiving the low-charge indication from the WCD, (i) transcoding by the BS audio data encoded with the first codec to produce audio data encoded with a second codec instead of the first codec, wherein transcoding data encoded with the first codec to have a second encoding has an associated second delay time, and (ii) switching by the BS from transmitting to the WCD audio data encoded with the first codec to transmitting to the WCD audio data encoded with the second codec, wherein the communication signal transmitting audio data encoded with the second codec has a second RF bandwidth that is less than the first RF bandwidth, and wherein the communication signal transmitting audio data encoded with the second codec has a second transmission delay at least as long as a total of the first delay time and the second time.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and systems are provided for conserving battery charge of a wireless communication device (WCD). A radio access network (RAN) and a WCD communicate with data encoded based on one of two codecs. By default, the RAN and the WCD communicate based on a first codec of the two codecs. Communication based on the first codec provides a high-quality audio signal between the RAN and WCD but uses more battery charge. When the battery charge decreases, the WCD can communicate a low-battery indicator to the RAN. Upon receiving the low-battery indicator, the RAN enables a transcoder configured to convert the data encoded based on the first codec into data encoded based on the second codec. After transcoding, RAN and the WCD communicate with based on the second codec. Communication based on the second codec provides a lower-quality audio signal between the RAN and WCD but uses less battery charge.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method carried out by a wireless base station (BS) during an ongoing communication session, comprising:
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receiving into the BS a transport network signal from a transport network; encoding by the BS the transport network signal using a first codec to produce audio data encoded with the first codec, wherein encoding the transport network signal to produce audio data encoded with the first codec has an associated first delay time; transmitting from the BS over an air interface to a wireless communication device (WCD) a communication signal comprising audio data encoded with the first codec, wherein the communication signal has a first radio frequency (RF) bandwidth and a first transmission delay at least as long as the first delay time; receiving a low-charge indication from the WCD; and in response to receiving the low-charge indication from the WCD, (i) transcoding by the BS audio data encoded with the first codec to produce audio data encoded with a second codec instead of the first codec, wherein transcoding data encoded with the first codec to have a second encoding has an associated second delay time, and (ii) switching by the BS from transmitting to the WCD audio data encoded with the first codec to transmitting to the WCD audio data encoded with the second codec, wherein the communication signal transmitting audio data encoded with the second codec has a second RF bandwidth that is less than the first RF bandwidth, and wherein the communication signal transmitting audio data encoded with the second codec has a second transmission delay at least as long as a total of the first delay time and the second time. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method carried out by a wireless base station (BS) during an ongoing communication session, comprising:
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receiving a transport network signal from a transport network; encoding the transport network signal based on a first codec, wherein encoding the transport network signal based on the first codec has an associated first delay time; the BS transmitting over an air interface to a wireless communication device (WCD) a communication signal comprising audio data encoded with the first codec, wherein the communication signal has a first radio frequency (RF) bandwidth and a first transmission delay at least as long as the first delay time; receiving a low-charge indication from the WCD; and in response to receiving the low-charge indication from the WCD, (i) transcoding by the BS audio data encoded with the first codec to produce audio data encoded with a second codec instead of the first codec, wherein transcoding data encoded with the first codec to have a second encoding has an associated second delay time, and (ii) switching by the BS from transmitting to the WCD audio data encoded with the first codec to transmitting to the WCD audio data encoded with the second codec, wherein the communication signal transmitting audio data encoded with the second codec has a second RF bandwidth that is less than the first RF bandwidth, and wherein the communication signal transmitting audio data encoded with the second codec has a second transmission delay at least as long as a total of the first delay time and the second time. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A wireless base station (BS), comprising:
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a wireless-communication interface configured to communicate with WCD; a processor; and data storage containing instructions executable by the processor for carrying out functions during an ongoing communication session, the functions including; a) receiving into the BS a transport network signal from a transport network; b) encoding by the BS the transport network signal using a first codec to produce audio data encoded with the first codec, wherein encoding the transport network signal to produce audio data encoded with the first codec has an associated first delay time; c) transmitting to the WCD with the wireless-communication interface a communication signal comprising audio data encoded with the first codec, wherein the communication signal has a first radio frequency (RF) bandwidth and a first transmission delay at least as long as the first delay time; d) in response to the wireless-communication interface receiving a low-charge indication from the WCD, (i) transcoding audio data encoded with the first codec to produce audio data encoded with a second codec instead of the first codec, wherein transcoding data encoded with the first codec to have a second encoding has an associated second delay time, and (ii) switching the wireless-communication interface from transmitting to the WCD audio data encoded with a first codec to transmitting to the WCD audio data encoded with the second codec, wherein the communication signal transmitting audio data encoded with the second codec has a second RF bandwidth that is less than the first RF bandwidth, and wherein the communication signal transmitting audio data encoded with the second codec has a second transmission delay at least as long as a total of the first delay time and the second time. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification