Wireless access point and method for saving power consumption of the wireless access point

• US 8,411,607 B2
• Filed: 10/20/2010
• Issued: 04/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/11/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cloud Network Technology Singapore Pte. Ltd. (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Wang, Pei-Yu
• Primary Examiner(s): ROSE, KERRI M
• Application Number:
  US12/908,155
• Publication Number:
  US 20120039225A1
• Time in Patent Office: 895 Days
• Field of Search: 370/310, 370/311, 370464-468, 4553431-3436
• US Class Current: 370/311
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0206 in access points, e.g. base stations access point devices per se H04W88/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A wireless access point (WAP) includes a radio frequency (RF) module, an identifying module, and a controlling module. The RF module is configured for sending and receiving a wireless signal. The identifying module is configured for identifying whether or not the wireless signal matches the frame format of the PCLP sub-layer of the IEEE 802.11 standards, thereby generating an identifying result. The controlling module is configured for controlling the WAP to switch itself to a power-saving mode (PSM) or a constantly awake mode (CAM), according to the identifying result from the identifying module, wherein in the PSM, under the control of the controlling module, the WAP only receives the wireless signal.

Claims

1. A wireless access point (WAP), comprising:

a radio frequency module, configured for receiving a wireless signal;

an identifying module, configured for identifying whether or not the wireless signal matches a frame format of a physical layer convergence protocol (PCLP) sub-layer of the IEEE 802.11 standards, thereby generating an identifying result; and

a controlling module, configured for controlling the WAP to switch to a power-saving mode (PSM) or a constantly awake mode (CAM), according to the identifying result from the identifying module;

wherein when the radio frequency module receives the wireless signal, the identifying module demodulates the wireless signal and packs the data contained in the wireless signal, and generates a preamble packet that matches the IEEE 802.11 standards, then, the identifying module generates a controlling signal, the controlling module receives the controlling signal and controls the WAP to switch to the CAM;

wherein the WAP further comprises a delay module, configured for determining whether or not the identifying module generates the controlling signal within a predetermined time, wherein if the delay module detects that the identifying module does not generate the controlling signal within the predetermined time, the controlling module controls the WAP to switch to the PSM, otherwise, the delay module starts re-timing after detecting the controlling signal from the identifying module.

2. The WAP of claim 1, wherein a frequency of the wireless signal is about 2.4 GHz or about 5 GHz.

3. The WAP of claim 1, wherein the identifying module is a chip having a baseband processor configured to process the data in a physical layer of the IEEE 802.11 standards.

4. The WAP of claim 1, wherein in the PSM, when no controlling signal incomes from the identifying module, the controlling module controls the WAP to maintain the PSM, otherwise, the controlling module controls the WAP to switch itself into the CAM;

in the CAM, when no controlling signal incomes from the identifying module, the controlling module controls the WAP to switch itself into the PSM, otherwise the controlling module controls the WAP to keep the CAM.

5. A method for saving power consumption of a wireless access point (WAP), comprising:

setting a PSM and a CAM for a WAP, wherein in the PSM, the WAP only receives wireless signal;

determining whether the WAP receives a wireless signal that matches a frame format of the a physical layer convergence protocol (PCLP) sub-layer of the IEEE 802.11 standards; and

switching the WAP to the PSM upon the condition that the WAP does not receive the wireless signal that matches the frame format of the PCLP sub-layer of the IEEE 802.11 standards in the a predetermined time;

wherein before switching to the PSM, the method further determining whether or not the WAP delays a predetermined time if the WAP delays the predetermined time, the WAP switching itself into the PSM;

if the WAP does not delay the predetermined time, further determining whether the WAP receives a wireless signal that matches the frame format of the PCLP sub-layer of the IEEE 802.11 standards.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein a frequency of the wireless signal is about 2.4 GHz or about 5 GHz.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein in determining whether the WAP receives the wireless signal that matches the frame format of the PCLP sub-layer of the IEEE 802.11 standards, the WAP modulates the wireless signal and packets the data contained in the wireless signal, when a preamble packet matching the frame format of the PCLP sub-layer of the IEEE 802.11 standards, the wireless signal is considered matching the frame format of the PCLP sub-layer of the IEEE 802.11 standards.

8. A wireless apparatus, comprising:

a radio frequency module configured for receiving a wireless signal;

an identifying module connected to the radio frequency module, the identifying module configured for generating a control signal upon determining that the wireless signal received by the radio frequency module matches a predetermined format;

a controlling module connected to the identifying module, the controlling module configured for controlling, upon receiving the control signal from the identifying module when the wireless apparatus is in a power-saving mode (PSM), the wireless apparatus to switch into a constantly awake mode (CAM); and

a delay module configured for determining whether the identifying module generates the controlling signal within a predetermined time period when the wireless apparatus is in the CAM, if no control signal is generated within the predetermined time period, instructing the control module to control the wireless apparatus to switch to the PSM.

9. The wireless apparatus of claim 8, wherein the controlling module is further configured for controlling, upon receiving the control signal from the identifying module when the wireless apparatus being in the CAM, the wireless apparatus to maintain the CAM.

10. The wireless apparatus of claim 9, wherein the controlling module is further configured for controlling, when no control signal is received from the identifying mode and the wireless apparatus is in the PSM, the wireless apparatus to maintain the PSM.

11. The wireless apparatus of claim 10, wherein the controlling module is further configured for controlling, when no control signal is received from the identifying mode and the wireless apparatus is in the CAM, the wireless apparatus to switch itself into the PSM.

12. The wireless apparatus of claim 8, wherein when the wireless apparatus is in the PSM, a wireless signal receiving function of the wireless apparatus is activated while other functions irrelevant to wireless signal receiving are deactivated.

13. The wireless apparatus of claim 8, wherein the wireless apparatus is a wireless access point (WAP).

14. The wireless apparatus of claim 13, wherein the predetermined format is a frame format of a physical layer convergence protocol (PCLP) sub-layer as defined in IEEE 802.11 standards.

15. The wireless apparatus of claim 14, wherein the identifying module is further configured for demodulating the wireless signal, and encapsulating the demodulated wireless signal based on a PCLP sub-layer standard to form a data packet.

16. The wireless apparatus of claim 15, wherein the data packet comprises a preamble for frequency synchronization, a header for representing a current working state of a source of the wireless signal, and a payload for carrying data of the wireless signal.