Selective communication scheme utilization for reducing power consumption for a battery-powered device

A system for establishing a communication link between a battery-powered device and a wireless access point (WAP), the battery-powered device and the WAP being configurable for communication therebetween utilizing one of a plurality of different communication schemes each of which imposes a different power consumption burden on the battery-powered device, wherein the plurality of different communication schemes comprises one or more schemes in which the battery-powered device communicates directly with the WAP and one or more schemes in which the battery-powered device communicates indirectly with the WAP through at least one intermediate device having a wired power source, comprising:

• one or more memories;
• and
• at least one processor each coupled to at least one of the one or more memories and configured to perform operations comprising:
• receiving, by a server, characteristics of a plurality of devices including the battery-powered device and the WAP;
• determining, by the server, a communication context of the battery-powered device and the WAP based on the characteristics, wherein determining the communication context comprises at least determining whether there is at least one intermediate device having the wired power source via which the battery-powered device can communicate with the WAP;
• selecting, by the server, a communication scheme of the plurality of different communication schemes, wherein the selecting comprises selecting the communication scheme of the plurality of different communication schemes that imposes a lowest power consumption burden on the battery-powered device and is also supported by the communication context;
• and
• configuring, by the server, at least one of the battery-powered device or the WAP for communication therebetween using the selected communication scheme.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one computing device, cause the at least one computing device to perform operations comprising:

• receiving, by a server, characteristics of a plurality of devices including a battery-powered device and a wireless access point (WAP);
• determining, by the server, a communication context of the battery-powered device and the WAP based on the characteristics, the battery-powered device and the WAP being configurable for communication therebetween utilizing one of a plurality of different communication schemes each of which imposes a different power consumption burden on the battery-powered device, wherein the plurality of different communication schemes comprises one or more schemes in which the battery-powered device communicates directly with the WAP and one or more schemes in which the battery-powered device communicates indirectly with the WAP through at least one intermediate device having a wired power source, and wherein determining the communication context comprises at least determining whether there is at least one intermediate device having the wired power source via which the battery-powered device can communicate with the WAP;
• selecting, by the server, a communication scheme of the plurality of different communication schemes, wherein the selecting comprises selecting the communication scheme of the plurality of different communication schemes that imposes a lowest power consumption burden on the battery-powered device and is also supported by the communication context;
• and
• configuring, by the server, at least one of the battery-powered device or the WAP for communication therebetween using the selected communication scheme.