Power saving via PHY firmware island

An apparatus for wireless communications performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising:

• a processor configured to:
• perform a first type of control channel processing in a first connection state using a firmware image stored in internal memory of the processor, wherein performing control channel processing comprises accessing memory external to the processor;
• determine one or more conditions for entering a low-power mode associated with the processor are satisfied;
• enter the low-power mode based on the determination, wherein entering into the low-power mode includes at least one of disabling or disallowing access to the memory external to the processor based on entering the low-power mode;
• and
• perform a second type of control channel processing using the firmware image stored in internal memory of the processor based on entering the low-power mode.

A non-transitory computer readable medium for wireless communications performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising instructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor to:

• perform a first type of control channel processing in a first connection state using a firmware image stored in internal memory of the processor, wherein performing control channel processing comprises accessing memory external to the processor;
• determine one or more conditions for entering a low-power mode associated with the processor are satisfied;
• enter the low-power mode based on the determination, wherein entering into the low-power mode includes at least one of disabling or disallowing access to the memory external to the processor based on entering the low-power mode;
• and
• perform a second type of control channel processing using the firmware image stored in internal memory of the processor based on entering the low-power mode.

An apparatus for wireless communications performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising,

• means for performing a first type of control channel processing in a first connection state using a firmware image stored in internal memory, wherein the means for performing the first type of control channel processing are configured to access external memory during the first type of control channel processing;
• means for determining one or more conditions for entering a low-power mode associated with the means for performing the first type of control channel processing are satisfied;
• means for entering the low-power mode based on the determination, wherein the means for entering the low-power mode are configured to at least one of disable or disallow access to the external memory while in the low-power mode;
• and
• means for performing a second type of control channel processing using the firmware image stored in the internal memory while in the low-power mode.