# US 11,112,847 B2 · Dual processor power saving architecture communications system

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- Number: US 11,112,847 B2
- Document ID: US11112847B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/006,811
- Filed: 2020-08-29
- Published: 2021-03-11
- Granted: 2021-09-07
- Earliest claimed: 2019-09-11
- Assignees: Silicon Laboratories Inc.
- Applicants: Silicon Laboratories Inc.
- Inventors: Partha Sarathy Murali; Subba Reddy Kallam; Venkat Mattela
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11112847B2

## CPC

- G06F 1/3228: Monitoring task completion, e.g. by use of idle timers, stop commands or wait commands
- G06F 1/3243: {Power saving in microcontroller unit}
- G06F 1/3293: by switching to a less power-consuming processor, e.g. sub-CPU
- G06F 9/445: Program loading or initiating (bootstrapping G06F9/4401; security arrangements for program loading or initiating G06F21/57)
- G06F 9/542: {Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications}
- H04B 1/0028: {wherein the AD/DA conversion occurs at baseband stage}
- H04B 1/0458: {Arrangements for matching and coupling between power amplifier and antenna or between amplifying stages (matching circuits in general H03H)}
- H04B 1/0483: {Transmitters with multiple parallel paths}
- H04L 51/58: Message adaptation for wireless communication
- H04W 4/12: Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
- H04W 4/80: Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
- G06F 1/3203: Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
- H04B 2001/0408: {with power amplifiers}
- H04L 2101/622: Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses
- Y02D 10/00: Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
- Y02D 30/70: in wireless communication networks
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)
- H04B: TRANSMISSION
- H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M)
- H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72)
- Y02D: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES [ICT], I.E. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AIMING AT THE REDUCTION OF THEIR OWN ENERGY USE

## Abstract

A communications system has a low power connectivity processor and a high performance applications processor. The low power connectivity processor is coupled to a low power front end for wireless packets and the high performance applications processor is coupled to a high performance front end. A power controller is coupled to the low power front end and enables the applications processor and high performance front end when wireless packets which require greater processing capacity are received, and removes power from the applications processor and high performance front end at other times.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A communications system comprising:
a low power connectivity processor coupled to a low power front end, the low power front end comprising a first baseband processor operative to receive wireless packets when enabled, and a first Media Access Controller (MAC) coupled to the first baseband processor;
an applications processor coupled to a performance front end, the performance front end comprising a second baseband processor operative to receive wireless packets when enabled, and a second MAC coupled to the second baseband processor; and
a power controller coupled to the low power connectivity processor and to the applications processor;
the low power connectivity processor having a maximum power consumption which is less than one tenth of a maximum power consumption of the applications processor, the applications processor having an instruction execution rate capability which is at least ten times greater than the instruction execution rate capability of the low power connectivity processor;
the power controller applying power to, and enabling, the low power connectivity processor and also the low power front end during intervals when the low power front end is receiving wireless packets lower than a data rate threshold; and
the power controller applying power to, and enabling, the applications processor and the performance front end when the performance front end is receiving wireless packets greater than the data rate threshold.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The communications system of claim 1 where the data rate threshold is the reception of Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) packets.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The communications system of claim 1 where the performance front end has a wireless packet data rate capability which is at least ten times greater than the low power front end.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The communications system of claim 3 where the low power front end is operative for both Bluetooth and Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) packets.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The communications system of claim 1 where the data rate threshold is between 10 Mbps and 100 Mbps data throughput rate.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The communications system of claim 1 where the data rate threshold is exceeded for communications using at least one wireless protocol comprising: an IEEE standard 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11ax, or 802.11be.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The communications system of claim 1 where the low power connectivity processor is at least one of a Cortex-M® processor, an ARM® processor, or a processor configured to use a RISC-V architecture.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The communications system of claim 1 where power is removed from the low power connectivity processor and the low power front end when the applications processor and the performance front end are active.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The communications system of claim 1 where power is not applied to the applications processor and the performance front end until the low power front end detects wireless packets which are greater than the data rate threshold.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The communications system of claim 1 where all the wireless packets are at least one of: Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) packets, Bluetooth packets, Zigbee packets, Long Term Evolution (LTE) mobile wireless packets, 3G mobile wireless packets, or 4G mobile wireless packets.

### Claim 11

A communications system comprising:
a low power connectivity processor operative to process wireless packets;
a low power front end comprising a first baseband processor operative to receive wireless packets and a first Media Access Controller (MAC) coupled to the first baseband processor;
an applications processor;
a performance front end comprising a second baseband processor operative to receive wireless packets and a second MAC coupled to the second baseband processor; and
a power controller coupled to the low power connectivity processor and to the applications processor;
the power controller operative to enable the low power connectivity processor and the low power front end upon detection of wireless packets of a first class of packet type, the power controller operative to enable the applications processor and the performance front end upon receipt of wireless packets of a second class of packet type.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The communications system of claim 11 where the first class of packet type is Bluetooth.

### Claim 13 (depends on 11)

The communications system of claim 11 where the second class of packet type is at one of: an IEEE standard 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11ax, or 802.11be.

### Claim 14 (depends on 11)

The communications system of claim 11 where the second class of packet type has a data rate less than a threshold which is from 10 Mbps to 100 Mbps, and the second class of packet type is greater than the threshold.

### Claim 15 (depends on 11)

The communications system of claim 11 where the power controller examines a packet type field of a wireless packet received by the first MAC to determine the first class of packet type.

### Claim 16

A method for wireless communications operative on a communications system comprising a low power front end including a first baseband processor and a first Media Access Controller (MAC) coupled to a low power connectivity processor operative to process wireless packets, a performance front end including a second baseband processor and a second MAC coupled to an applications processor, and a power controller coupled to the low power connectivity processor and to the applications processor, the method comprising:
receiving a wireless packet on the first MAC;
examining a packet type field provided by the first MAC; and
enabling power to the applications processor and the performance front end only when the packet type field matches a performance packet type associated with a computational complexity greater than the low power connectivity processor can process, and not enabling power to the applications processor and the performance front end when the packet type field does not match the performance packet type.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The method for wireless communications of claim 16 where the performance packet type is a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) packet type.

### Claim 18 (depends on 16)

The method for wireless communications of claim 16 where the performance packet type is at least one of: an IEEE standard 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11ax, or 802.11be.

### Claim 19 (depends on 16)

The method for wireless communications of claim 16, where the first baseband processor is operative to receive Bluetooth packets or WLAN packets which are not MIMO packets, and the second baseband processor is operative to receive the MIMO packets.

### Claim 20 (depends on 16)

The method for wireless communications of claim 16 where the low power connectivity processor is at least one of a Cortex-M® processor, an ARM® processor, or a processor configured to use a RISC-V architecture.

### Claim 21 (depends on 16)

The method for wireless communications of claim 16 where the performance packet type has a data rate in excess of 100 Mbps.