Methods and systems to prolong mobile station operation during low battery power

• US 8,634,879 B2
• Filed: 10/29/2008
• Issued: 01/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Shi, Guangming Carl, Lee, Kuo-Chun, Cheng, Steven D., Chin, Tom, Siu, Isaac Ta-yan
• Primary Examiner(s): MATHARU, MANPREET S
• Application Number:
  US12/260,365
• Publication Number:
  US 20100105449A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,910 Days
• Field of Search: 455/572, 455/573, 455/574
• US Class Current: 455/572
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0216 using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic indication frame
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0248 dependent on the time of the day, e.g. according to expected transmission activity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0261 managing power supply demand, e.g. depending on battery level
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0277 according to available power supply, e.g. switching off when a low battery condition is detected
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/00 User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Certain embodiments of the present disclosure allow a mobile station to activate a sleep mode in order to reduce power consumption when the residual battery capacity is low. Certain embodiments of the present disclosure also provide techniques for adaptive power saving applied during an idle mode operation.

Claims

1. A method for extending an operational time of a mobile station (MS), comprising:

measuring a residual battery capacity of the MS, while the MS has one or more active transport connections;

determining, at the MS, a most constrained maximum latency requirement of the one or more active transport connections; and

activating a sleep mode operation at the MS if the residual battery capacity is below a predefined threshold value, wherein a length S of a sleep window of the sleep mode is selected such that S allows the MS to meet the most constrained maximum latency requirement of the one or more active transport connections, and wherein S and a length L of a listening window of the sleep mode are also selected to achieve a power savings metric determined based on a ratio of L to the sum of S and L.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the residual battery capacity is measured as a percentage of remaining capacity relative to a fully charged capacity.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the activating a sleep mode operation comprises activating a power savings class type 2 with a constant length sleep window.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the threshold value may be chosen based on an amount of data traffic communicated between the MS and a serving BS.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the threshold value may be chosen based on a priority of a running application.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

exiting the sleep mode if the residual battery capacity is higher than another predefined threshold.

7. An apparatus for extending an operational time of a mobile station (MS), comprising:

logic for measuring a residual battery capacity of the MS, while the MS has one or more active transport connections;

logic for determining, at the MS, a most constrained maximum latency requirement of the one or more active transport connections; and

logic for activating a sleep mode operation at the MS if the residual battery capacity is below a predefined threshold value, wherein a length S of a sleep window of the sleep mode is selected such that S allows the MS to meet the most constrained maximum latency requirement of the one or more active transport connections, and wherein S and a length L of a listening window of the sleep mode are also selected to achieve a power savings metric determined based on a ratio of L to the sum of S and L.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the residual battery capacity is measured as a percentage of remaining capacity relative to a fully charged capacity.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the logic for activating a sleep mode operation comprises logic for activating a power savings class type 2 with a constant length sleep window.

10. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the threshold value may be chosen based on an amount of data traffic communicated between the MS and a serving BS.

11. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the threshold value may be chosen based on a priority of a running application.

12. The apparatus of claim 7 further comprising:

logic for exiting the sleep mode if the residual battery capacity is higher than another predefined threshold.

13. An apparatus for extending an operational time of a mobile station (MS), comprising:

means for measuring a residual battery capacity of the MS, while the MS has one or more active transport connections;

means for determining, at the MS, a most constrained maximum latency requirement of the one or more active transport connections; and

means for activating a sleep mode operation at the MS if the residual battery capacity is below a predefined threshold value, wherein a length S of a sleep window of the sleep mode is selected such that S allows the MS to meet the most constrained maximum latency requirement of the one or more active transport connections, and wherein S and a length L of a listening window of the sleep mode are also selected to achieve a power savings metric determined based on a ratio of L to the sum of S and L.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the residual battery capacity is measured as a percentage of remaining capacity relative to a fully charged capacity.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the means for activating a sleep mode operation comprises means for activating a power savings class type 2 with a constant length sleep window.

16. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the threshold value may be chosen based on an amount of data traffic communicated between the MS and a serving BS.

17. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the threshold value may be chosen based on a priority of a running application.

18. The apparatus of claim 13 further comprising:

means for exiting the sleep mode if the residual battery capacity is higher than another predefined threshold.

19. A computer-program product for extending an operational time of a mobile station (MS), comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions being executable by one or more processors and the instructions comprising:

instructions for measuring a residual battery capacity of the MS, while the MS has one or more active transport connections;

instructions for determining, at the MS, a most constrained maximum latency requirement of the one or more active transport connections; and

instructions for activating a sleep mode operation at the MS if the residual battery capacity is below a predefined threshold value, wherein a length S of a sleep window of the sleep mode is selected such that S allows the MS to meet the most constrained maximum latency requirement of the one or more active transport connections, and wherein S and a length L of a listening window of the sleep mode are also selected to achieve a power savings metric determined based on a ratio of L to the sum of S and L.

20. The computer-program product of claim 19 wherein the residual battery capacity is measured as a percentage of remaining capacity relative to a fully charged capacity.

21. The computer-program product of claim 19 wherein the instructions for activating a sleep mode operation comprises instructions for activating a power savings class type 2 with a constant length sleep window.

22. The computer-program product of claim 19 wherein the threshold value may be chosen based on an amount of data traffic communicated between the MS and a serving BS.

23. The computer-program product of claim 19 wherein the threshold value may be chosen based on a priority of a running application.

24. The computer-program product of claim 19, wherein the instructions further comprise:

instructions for exiting the sleep mode if the residual battery capacity is higher than another predefined threshold.