Power fallback wireless local area network receiver

A WLAN (wireless local area network) communication apparatus, comprising:

• a memory;
• and
• at least one processor coupled to the memory, the at least one processor being configured:
• to determine a signal strength of a received frame of a packet during a short training field of a preamble of the received frame, the determining occurring when a WLAN receiver is operating in a low power mode;
• and
• to switch the WLAN receiver to a high power mode during the short training field of the preamble or during a first segment of a long training field of the preamble when the signal strength is above a predetermined signal strength.

A computer program product configured for wireless communication, the computer program product comprising:

• a non-transitory computer-readable medium having program code recorded thereon which, when executed by processor(s), causes the processor(s):
• to determine a signal strength of a received frame of a packet during a short training field of a preamble of the received frame, the determining occurring when a WLAN receiver is operating in a low power mode;
• and
• to switch the WLAN receiver to a high power mode during the short training field of the preamble or during a first segment of a long training field of the preamble when the signal strength is above a predetermined signal strength.