Device, system and method of power management in a wireless area network

A computer-readable non-transitory storage medium that contains instructions, which when executed by one or more processors result in performing operations comprising:

• transmitting, to a control point of a wireless network, a request frame identifying a particular wireless communication device in the wireless network;
• receiving, from the control point, a response frame in response to the request frame, the response frame including wakeup information indicating a wakeup schedule of the particular wireless communication device;
• transmitting a wireless transmission to the particular wireless communication device during a wakeup period indicated in the wakeup schedule;
• and
• operating in an active mode to communicate over the wireless network during a contention-based period of a beacon interval and switching from the active mode to a power-save mode during the contention-based period after transmitting to the control point a message containing a power-mode bit set to a 1 to indicate a request to switch from the active mode to the power-save mode and receiving from the control point an acknowledgment of the message;
• wherein said transmitting to the control point and said receiving from the control point are over a 60 GHz frequency band.

A first wireless communication device comprising:

• a wireless communication unit configured to:
• transmit a wireless transmission to a second wireless communication device during a wakeup period indicated in a previously-received wakeup schedule for the second wireless communication device;
• operate in an active mode to communicate over a wireless network during a contention-based period of a beacon interval;
• transmit a message indicating an intent to switch from the active mode to a power-save mode, the message containing a power-mode bit set to a value of 1;
• receive an acknowledgement to the message;
• and
• switch from the active mode to the power-save mode during the contention-based period;
• wherein said transmitting the message and said receiving the acknowledgement are to be over a 60 GHz frequency band.

A computer-readable non-transitory storage medium that contains instructions, which when executed by one or more processors result in performing operations comprising:

• transmitting a wireless transmission to a wireless communication device during a wakeup period indicated in a previously-received wakeup schedule for the wireless communication device;
• operating in an active mode to communicate over a wireless network during a contention-based period of a beacon interval;
• transmitting a message indicating an intent to switch from the active mode to a power-save mode, the message containing a power-mode bit set to a value of 1;
• receiving an acknowledgement to the message;
• and
• switching from the active mode to the power-save mode during the contention-based period;
• wherein said transmitting the message and said receiving the acknowledgement are over a 60 GHz frequency band.

A first wireless communication device including:

• a wireless communication unit configured to:
• receive an information request frame from a second wireless communication device, the information request frame identifying a third wireless communication device;
• transmit a response frame to the second wireless communication device in response to the information request frame, the response frame including wakeup information indicating a wakeup schedule of the third wireless communication device;
• receive, from the second wireless communication device, a message indicating that the second wireless communication device is to switch from an active mode to a power-save mode during a contention-based period of a beacon interval, the message containing a power-mode bit set to a value of 1;
• and
• transmit, to the second wireless communication device, an acknowledgement of the message;
• wherein said receiving the information request frame and said transmitting the response frame are to be over a 60 GHz frequency band.

A method of communicating in a wireless network, comprising:

• receiving an information request frame from a first wireless communication device, the information request frame identifying a second wireless communication device;
• transmitting a response frame to the first wireless communication device in response to the information request frame, the response frame including wakeup information indicating a wakeup schedule of the second wireless communication device;
• receiving, from the first wireless communication device, a message indicating that the first wireless communication device is to switch from an active mode to a power-save mode during a contention-based period of a beacon interval, the message containing a power-mode bit set to a value of 1;
• and
• transmitting, to the first wireless communication device, an acknowledgement of the message;
• wherein said receiving the information request frame and said transmitting the response frame are over a 60 GHz frequency band.

A computer-readable non-transitory storage medium that contains instructions, which when executed by one or more processors result in performing operations comprising:

• receiving an information request frame from a first wireless communication device, the information request frame identifying a second wireless communication device;
• transmitting a response frame to the first wireless communication device in response to the information request frame, the response frame including wakeup information indicating a wakeup schedule of the second wireless communication device;
• receiving, from the first wireless communication device, a message indicating that the first wireless communication device is to switch from an active mode to a power-save mode during a contention-based period of a beacon interval, the message containing a power-mode bit set to a value of 1;
• and
• transmitting, to the first wireless communication device, an acknowledgement of the message;
• wherein said receiving the information request frame and said transmitting the response frame are over a 60 GHz frequency band.