Method and apparatus for reducing power consumption of a communication device

A method of reducing power consumption in a communication device having analog receiver circuitry, digital receiver circuitry including searcher circuitry in a portion thereof, and a digital signal processor including call processor circuitry in a portion thereof, the method comprising the steps of:

• providing analog receiver circuitry coupled to digital receiver circuitry including searcher circuitry in a portion thereof and a digital signal processor including call processor circuitry in a portion thereof, in a powered off sleep mode;
• powering on the analog receiver circuitry, the searcher circuitry, and the call processor circuitry such that the analog receiver circuitry is operable to receive signals from a radio communication system;
• sensing a signal of a common pilot channel through the analog receiver circuitry and coupled to the searcher circuitry;
• processing the signal from the sensing step by the call processor circuitry so as to retrieve predetermined bits indicate activity on paging channels of the radio communication system;
• and
• when no activity is indicated in the processing step, powering down the analog receiver circuitry, searcher circuitry, and call processor circuitry of the communication device so as to reduce power consumption, and
• when activity is indicated in the processing step, powering up the digital receiver circuitry and the digital signal processor such that those paging channels indicating activity are monitored by the communication device.

A apparatus for reducing power consumption in a communication device, the apparatus comprising:

• analog receiver circuitry to receive signals from a communication system;
• digital receiver circuitry including searcher circuitry in a portion thereof, the digital receiver circuitry to provide a baseband demodulated data stream from the incoming signals coupled from the analog receiver circuitry, the searcher circuitry to detect a common pilot channel signal in the data stream;
• a digital signal processor including call processor circuitry in a portion thereof, the digital signal processor to decode messages in the data stream, the call processor to retrieve predetermined bits indicating activity on paging channels of the radio communication system;
• the analog receiver circuitry, the searcher circuitry, and the call processor circuitry to be powered on from an initial sleep mode such that call processor can retrieve predetermined bits indicate activity on paging channels of the radio communication system;
• and
• where no activity is indicated by the predetermined bits, the analog receiver circuitry, the searcher circuitry, and the call processor circuitry to be powered down so as to reduce power consumption, and
• where activity is indicated by the predetermined bits, the digital receiver circuitry and the digital signal processor to be powered up such that those paging channels indicating activity are monitored by the communication device.

A radio communication system for reducing power consumption in a radiotelephone, comprising:

• a base station, said base station configured to transmit a pilot channel signal punctuated by predetermined bits indicating paging activity on particular paging channels;
• and
• at least one radiotelephone having analog and digital receiver circuitry to receive signals from the radio communication system and provide a baseband demodulated data stream, the digital receiver circuitry including searcher circuitry to detect a common pilot channel signal in the data stream and a digital signal processor including call processor circuitry in a portion thereof, the digital signal processor to decode messages in the data stream, the call processor to retrieve predetermined bits of the pilot channel indicating activity on paging channels of the radio communication system, the radiotelephone configured to periodically power up the analog receiver circuitry, the searcher circuitry, and the call processor circuitry from an initial sleep mode such that the call processor can read the predetermined bits of the pilot channel signal indicating activity on paging channel of the radio communication system such that:
• where no paging activity is indicated by the predetermined bits of the pilot channel signal, the radiotelephone powers down the analog receiver circuitry, the searcher circuitry, and the call processor circuitry, and
• where paging activity is indicated by the predetermined bits of the pilot channel signal, the radiotelephone powers up the digital receiver circuitry and digital signal processor circuitry to read those particular paging channels.