Reducing power consumption of a wireless device
AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation
InventorMihai Albulet
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention provides a system and method for conserving power consumption of a wireless device such as a BLUETOOTH slave device. A master device polls a slave device in a polling period. The slave responds by transmitting a data packet. If there is an error in transmission of the data, the master device may transmit an ARQ (Automatic Repeat Request) to the slave device in a TIMEOUT period to indicate that the data packet was not received. The slave device may reduce power consumption or power off during that TIMEOUT and receive a retransmit ARQ in a subsequent polling period.
Claims20
A method for operating a first device in wireless communication with a second device using a communication protocol having polling periods, each polling period having an associated supplemental period, each supplemental period being at least reserved for retransmission of data transmitted during an associated polling period, the method comprising the steps of:
- receiving at the first device a first transmission in a first time slot of a first polling period;
- transmitting a first response in a second time slot of the first polling period, said first response being responsive to receiving the first transmission;
- reducing power consumption during a first supplemental period associated with the first polling period;
- receiving a second transmission in a first time slot of a second polling period, the second transmission indicating that the first response was not properly received;
- transmitting a second response during a second time slot of the second polling period, said second response being responsive to receiving said second transmission.
A wireless device comprising
- a battery power source;
- a radio transceiver powered by the battery;
- a memory having instructions stored thereon;
- and
- a controller coupled to the transceiver and to the memory and configured to execute instructions for operating a first device in wireless communication with a second device using a communication protocol having polling periods, each polling period having an associated supplemental period, each supplemental period being at least reserved for retransmission of data transmitted during an associated polling period, so as to:
- receive at the first device a first transmission in a first time slot of a first polling period;
- transmit a first response in a second time slot of the first polling period, said first response being responsive to receiving the first transmission;
- reduce power consumption during a first supplemental period associated with the first polling period;
- receive a second transmission in a first time slot of a second polling period, the second transmission indicating that the first response was not properly received;
- transmit a second response during a second time slot of the second polling period, said second response being responsive to receiving said second transmission.
A computer-readable medium having stored thereon data representing sequences of instructions for operating a first device in a wireless communication with a second device using a communication protocol having polling periods, each polling period having an associated supplemental period, each supplemental period being at least reserved for retransmission of data transmitted during an associated polling period, the sequences of instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform steps comprising:
- receiving at the first device a first transmission in a first time slot of a first polling period;
- transmitting a first response in a second time slot of the first polling period, said first response being responsive to receiving the first transmission;
- reducing power consumption during a first supplemental period associated with the first polling period;
- receiving a second transmission in a first time slot of a second polling period, the second transmission indicating that the first response was not properly received;
- transmitting a second response during a second time slot of the second polling period, said second response being responsive to receiving said second transmission.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.