Reducing WLAN Power Consumption on a Mobile Device Utilizing a Cellular Radio Interface

A method of reducing power consumption of a mobile device incorporating a cellular and Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) subsystems, the method comprising:

• calculating a cellular/WLAN signal quality ratio in accordance with data received from the cellular subsystem and the WLAN subsystem;
• determining an indoor to outdoor or outdoor to indoor transition for the mobile device in accordance with the change over time of the cellular/WLAN signal quality ratio;
• and
• if an indoor to outdoor transition is determined, setting the mobile device to perform WLAN scanning at a lower frequency thereby reducing WLAN power consumption.

A mobile communications device, comprising:

• a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) subsystem;
• a cellular subsystem;
• a memory;
• a processor coupled to the one or more radio circuits and the memory, the processor operative to
• calculate a cellular/WLAN signal quality ratio in accordance with data received from the cellular subsystem and the WLAN subsystem;
• determine an indoor to outdoor or outdoor to indoor transition for the mobile device in accordance with the change over time of the cellular/WLAN signal quality ratio;
• and
• if an indoor to outdoor transition is determined, set the mobile device to perform WLAN background scanning at a lower frequency thereby reducing WLAN subsystem power consumption.

A computer program product for reducing power consumption in a mobile device, the computer program product comprising:

• a computer usable medium having computer usable code implemented therewith, the computer usable program code comprising:
• computer usable code configured for calculating a cellular/WLAN signal quality ratio in accordance with data received from a cellular subsystem and a WLAN subsystem;
• computer usable code configured for detecting an outdoor transition for the mobile device in accordance with the change over time of the cellular/WLAN signal quality ratio;
• and
• computer usable code configured for setting the mobile device to perform WLAN background scanning at a lower frequency, if an outdoor transition is detected, thereby reducing WLAN subsystem power consumption.