Queueing mechanism for client-side network traffic to reduce radio power consumption on mobile clients

• US 9,420,537 B2
• Filed: 03/26/2014
• Issued: 08/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Gupta, Maruti, Demirhan, Erkut
• Primary Examiner(s): TRAN, PABLO N
• Application Number:
  US14/226,690
• Publication Number:
  US 20150282086A1
• Time in Patent Office: 874 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0229 where the received signal is a wanted signal
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Embodiments described herein relate generally to delaying the transmission of a plurality of data packets. A device may enter a packet-delay mode based on an absence of detected user activity and an idle state of a radio. In the packet-delay mode, the device may queue data packets in a buffer so that transmission of those data packets is delayed. The buffered data packets may be released and transmitted upon the occurrence of a predetermined event, such as detection of user activity, exceedance of a buffer threshold, or expiration of a countdown timer. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.

Claims

1. An apparatus to be included in a user equipment (“

UE”

), the apparatus comprising;

processing circuitry to;

determine that a display of the UE is in a deactivated state;

determine that radio circuitry, communicatively coupled with the processing circuitry, is in an idle state;

retain a plurality of data packets for upload transmission over a network based on the determination that the display of the UE is in the deactivated state and the determination that the radio circuitry is in the idle state;

detect an occurrence of a predetermined event, wherein the predetermined event is an activation of the display of the UE, a reception of a downlink data packet by the UE, a retention of a predetermined threshold amount of data packets associated with a buffer for storage of the plurality of data packets, or an expiration of a timer associated with the retention of the plurality of data packets; and

release the plurality of data packets for transmission based on the detected occurrence of the predetermined event; and

the radio circuitry to transmit the released plurality of data packets over the network.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is to generate the plurality of data packets based on at least one request from an application associated with the UE.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is to retain the plurality of data packets as a queue in a buffer.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the predetermined event is the activation of a display of the UE, the reception of a downlink data packet by the UE, or the retention of the predetermined threshold amount of data packets associated with a buffer for storage of the plurality of data packets.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

the timer, wherein the timer is associated with the retention of the plurality of data packets, the timer to be set with a value that is provided as input to the UE,

wherein the predetermined event is the expiration of the timer.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising the timer associated with the retention of the plurality of data packets to initiate a count in response to initiation of the retention of the plurality of data packets.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further to:

intercept the plurality of data packets transmitted from a transmission control protocol of the internet protocol (“

TCP/IP”

) stack of the UE toward the radio circuitry in response to determination that the display of the UE is in the deactivated state and the determination that the radio circuitry is in the idle state, wherein to release the plurality of data packets includes to transmit the plurality of data packets intercepted to the radio circuitry for transmission.

8. An apparatus to be included in a user equipment (“

UE”

), the apparatus comprising;

traffic shaping logic to;

determine that a display of the UE is in an off state;

determine that radio circuitry of the UE is in an idle state;

queue a plurality of data packets for transmission over a network in response to the determination that the radio circuitry is in the idle state and the determination that the display of the UE is in the off state;

release the plurality of data packets in response to a predetermined event associated with the UE; and

a buffer, communicatively coupled with the traffic shaping logic, to queue the plurality of data packets.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the traffic shaping logic is to release the plurality of data packets from the buffer.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the traffic shaping logic is further to detect an absence of interaction with the UE, and to queue the plurality of data packets further based on the detection of the absence of interaction with the UE.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the traffic shaping logic is to detect the absence of the interaction with the UE based on an absence of input at a microphone associated with the UE, an absence of tactile input received by the UE, or an absence of output by a speaker associated with the UE.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein, before the traffic shaping logic is to queue the plurality of data packets, the plurality of data packets are generated at a transmission control protocol of the internet protocol (“

TCP/IP”

) stack of the UE based on one or more requests from an application layer of the UE.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the predetermined event is based on a state of a display of the UE, a state of the radio of the UE, a timer of the UE associated with the queue, and a threshold associated with a buffer for storage of the plurality of data packets.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein a duration of the timer associated with the queue is configurable.

15. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the traffic shaping logic is further to:

determine that the display of the UE transitions to an on state, wherein the predetermined event includes the transition of UE to the on state.

16. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the traffic shaping logic is further to:

identify an expiration of a timer that initiates a count in response to the queue of the plurality of data packets, wherein the predetermined event includes the expiration of the timer.

17. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the traffic shaping logic is further to:

intercept the plurality of data packets transmitted from a TCP/IP stack of the UE toward the radio circuitry,

wherein the release of the plurality of data packets includes transmission of the plurality of data packets intercepted from the buffer to the radio circuitry.

22. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the predetermined event is based on a state of a display of the UE, a state of the radio circuitry of the UE and a threshold amount associated with a buffer for storage of the plurality of data packets.

18. A method to be performed in a user equipment (“

UE”

), the method comprising;

determining that a display of the UE is in a deactivated state;

determining that radio circuitry of the UE is in an idle state;

buffering a plurality of data packets scheduled for transmission over a network in response to the determination that the display of the UE is in the deactivated state and the determination that the radio circuitry of the UE is in the idle state; and

releasing the plurality of buffered data packets for transmission over the network in response to a predetermined event.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the method further comprises:

determining that the display of the UE transitioned into an activated state, wherein the predetermined event is the transition of the display of the UE into the activated state.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises:

detecting that an interaction with the UE, wherein the predetermined event is the interaction with the UE.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises:

detecting an expiration of a timer that initiated counting in response to the buffering of the plurality of data packets, wherein the predetermined event is the detected expiration of the timer.