Multi-level duty cycling

Abstract

A duty cycle scheme for wireless communication employs three or more duty cycle levels. In some aspects, a wireless device may continually scan for signals in an active state associated with a first duty cycle, periodically scan for signals during a periodic state associated with a second duty cycle, and periodically scan for signals during a standby state associated with a third duty cycle. Here, the second duty cycle may be lower than the first duty cycle and the third duty cycle may be lower than the second duty cycle. In some aspects the timing of different states may be correlated. In some aspects each wireless in a system may independently control its duty cycle states.

Description

CLAIM OF PRIORITY UNDER 35 U.S.C. §119[0001]This application claims the benefit of and priority to commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12 / 118,376 filed May 9, 2008, and assigned Attorney Docket No. 061525, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.BACKGROUNDField[0002]This application relates generally to wireless communication and more specifically, but not exclusively, to communication employing multiple duty cycle levels.INTRODUCTION[0003]Wireless communication systems may be designed to support various end uses. To support such uses, one or more tradeoffs may be made in the implementation of a given system in terms of power consumption, latency, channel interference, channel usage, and other system parameters. For example, some networks may be used to provide connectivity for battery operated devices (e.g., a device that is relatively small and / or portable).[0004]In some aspects, it is desirable to reduce the power consumption of such devices...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent is about a way to make devices that communicate wirelessly or in some other way better perform. This method helps them use less power without affecting how well they can communicate. This can be used in networks that use ultra-wideband technology or other technology.

Problems solved by technology

If the timeout period is long, the receiving device may waste power scanning for packets.

For example, a relatively large amount of power may be wasted when supporting low data rate applications or when there are a relatively large number of paging false alarms.

On the other hand, if the timeout period is short, the longer low power scan interval tends to dominate the latency.

Moreover, a short timeout period may not effectively accommodate exponential back-offs associated with congestion control.

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