US 10,945,204 B2Granted

Battery power management for a cellular device

AssigneeItron, Inc.

InventorRobert Vernon Dusenberry

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Abstract

Techniques for operating cellular internet of things (IoT) devices under a public cellular carrier are disclosed. During an active connection, the cellular IoT device's radio-controlling application can collect radio metrics by tapping into the diagnostics interface of IoT device's cellular modem to collect data regarding accumulative signal strength, block/bit error rate, and/or round-trip latency for the session, etc. During the active connection, battery and environmental information as well as application-based information can be collected and sent to a remote computing device. In an example, the cellular IoT device can be given revised or refined values for use in timers, which may be used by the device to more efficiently use idle and/or power-save modes to reduce battery power consumption. Moreover, the use of the timers may be extended to devices distinct from the cellular modem, thereby increasing the utility of the timers and the functionality of the IoT device.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A battery-powered device, comprising:

a cellular modem;
a processor, in communication with the cellular modem;
a memory device, in communication with the processor;
instructions, stored in the memory device, which when executed by the processor configure the battery-powered device to perform actions comprising:
sending data to a headend computer or data collector in a communication;
receiving, from the headend computer or a mobility management entity (MME), a first value for a first timer and a second value for a second timer, wherein the first value and the second value are based at least in part on an analysis by the headend computer, the analysis based at least in part on inputs comprising:
a value of a maximum coupling loss (MCL) of the communication;
replacing existing values of the first timer and the second timer with the first value and the second value, respectively;
utilizing the first value and the first timer to time periods during which the cellular modem is in a power-save mode (PSM);
utilizing the second value and the second timer to time periods during which the cellular modem is in an idle mode;
and
operating a power supply to power at least the cellular modem, wherein the operating is at either a higher-power level or at a lower-power level, based at least in part on at least one of the first value and the first timer and the second value and the second timer.

9 more elements

A method of operating a battery-powered device, comprising:

sending data in a communication to a headend computer or remote computing device by operation of a cellular modem;
receiving a first value for a first timer and a second value for a second timer, wherein the first value and the second value are based at least in part on an analysis by the headend computer, the analysis based at least in part on inputs comprising:
a period of polling of the battery-powered device;
an acceptable device latency of the battery-powered device;
and
a value of a maximum coupling loss (MCL) of the communication;
replacing existing values used by the first timer and the second timer with the first value and the second value, respectively;
utilizing the first timer to time periods during which the cellular modem is in a power-save mode (PSM);
utilizing the second timer to time periods during which the cellular modem is in an idle mode;
timing a change in a level of power supplied to the cellular modem, wherein the timing of the change is based at least in part on at least one of the first timer and the second timer;
and
providing power to the cellular modem according to the timed change.

9 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 16/237,233Filed 31 Dec 2018 · us provisional application
Priority: 5 Oct 2018
Published: US 2020/0112916 A19 Apr 2020
Granted: 9 Mar 2021
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification9 codes

H04W 52/0216
Managed by the network, e.g. network or access point is leader and terminal is follower: using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic…
H04W 4/70
Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor: services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or…
H04W 52/0245
Using monitoring of external events, e.g. the presence of a signal: according to signal strength
H04W 52/0274
Managing power supply demand, e.g. depending on battery level: by switching on or off the equipment or parts thereof