Low energy saving fast reconnection for wireless communication devices

Abstract

The present invention relates to low-energy energy-saving fast reconnection for wireless communication devices. Systems, methods and devices suspend and establish wireless communication connections. The method includes determining that at least a first wireless communication device should be switched to a low-power mode, and using a second logic to switch a first logic of the first wireless communication device to a low-power mode. The first logic implements a host stack of a wireless communication protocol, the second logic implements a controller stack of the wireless communication protocol, and switching to a low-power mode includes suspending a communication connection between the first wireless communication device and the second wireless communication device. The method also includes switching the first logic of the first wireless communication device to an active mode. Switching to the active mode reestablishes the communication connection between the first wireless communication device and the second wireless communication device.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communication devices and, more particularly, to reducing power consumption of wireless communication devices. Background Art

[0002] Wireless communication devices can communicate with each other via one or more communication modes such as WiFi connection or Bluetooth connection. Therefore, such wireless communication can be implemented in a manner compatible with the wireless communication protocol. In addition, such wireless communication devices may include various hardware components to facilitate such communication. For example, the wireless communication device may include a transmission medium, which may include one or more antennas. Traditional technologies for establishing and re-establishing connections between wireless communication devices are still limited because they cannot effectively re-establish connections. Summary of the invention

[0003] The present invention provides a method, comprising: determining that at least a first wireless communication device should be converted to a low power mode; using the second logic of the first wireless communication device to convert the first logic of the first wireless communication device to the low power mode, the first logic implements the host stack of the Bluetooth wireless communication protocol, the second logic implements the controller stack of the Bluetooth wireless communication protocol, and the conversion to the low power mode includes suspending the communication connection between the first wireless communication device and the second wireless communication device; and converting the first logic of the first wireless communication device to an active mode, and the conversion to the active mode re-establishes the communication connection between the first wireless communication device and the second wireless communication device.

[0004] The present invention provides a wireless communication device, comprising: an antenna; a transceiver configured to send and receive signals via the antenna; a processing device, comprising: a first logic configured to implement a host stack of a Bluetooth wireless communication protocol, and the first logic is configured to: determine that at least a first wireless communication device should be switched to a low power mode; and a second logic configured to implement a controller stack of a Bluetooth wireless communication protocol, and the second logic is configured to: switch the first logic to the low power mode, wherein the switch to the low power mode includes suspending a communication connection between the wireless communication device and another wireless communication device; and switch the first logic to an active mode, wherein the switch to the active mode re-establishes the communication connection between the wireless communication device and another wireless communication device.

[0005] The present invention provides a wireless communication device, comprising: an antenna; a transceiver configured to send and receive signals via the antenna; a processing device, comprising: a first logic configured to implement a host stack of a Bluetooth wireless communication protocol; and a second logic configured to implement a controller stack of the Bluetooth wireless communication protocol, and the second logic is configured to: convert the first logic to a low power mode, wherein the conversion to the low power mode includes suspending a communication connection between the wireless communication device and another wireless communication device; and convert the first logic to an active mode, wherein the conversion to the active mode re-establishes the communication connection between the wireless communication device and another wireless communication device. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0006] Figure 1 An example of a system for energy efficient fast connection of wireless communication devices configured in accordance with some embodiments is shown.

[0007] Figure 2 An example of another system for power efficient fast connections of wireless communication devices configured in accordance with some embodiments is shown.

[0008] Figure 3 An example of yet another system for energy efficient fast connectivity of wireless communication devices configured in accordance with some embodiments is shown.

[0009] Figure 4 An example of a method for energy-saving fast connection of a wireless communication device implemented according to some embodiments is shown.

[0010] Figure 5 An example of another method for energy-efficient fast connection of wireless communication devices implemented in accordance with some embodiments is shown.

[0011] Figure 6 An example of yet another method for energy-efficient fast connection of wireless communication devices implemented in accordance with some embodiments is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0012] In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the concepts presented. The concepts presented may be practiced without some or all of these specific details. In other cases, well-known processing operations are not described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the concepts described. Although some concepts will be described in conjunction with specific examples, it should be understood that these examples are not intended to be limiting.

[0013] Figure 1An example of a system for energy-saving fast connection of wireless communication devices configured according to some embodiments is shown. As discussed above, various wireless communication devices can communicate with each other via one or more wireless communication media. For example, wireless communication devices can communicate with each other via a WiFi connection or a Bluetooth connection. In various embodiments, the wireless communication device can first establish a connection or communication link before data transmission occurs. As will be discussed in more detail below, the wireless communication devices disclosed herein and the systems implementing such wireless communication devices, such as system 100, are configured to establish and re-establish connections with reduced power consumption. Therefore, the embodiments disclosed herein enable entry and exit of low power modes such as deep sleep modes, and establishment of connections with reduced power consumption after such conversions.

[0014] In various embodiments, the system 100 may include a first device 110 that may be a wireless communication device. As discussed above, such a wireless communication device may be compatible with one or more wireless transmission protocols such as a WiFi protocol or a Bluetooth protocol. In some embodiments, the first device 110 is a low-energy Bluetooth device compatible with the Bluetooth low energy specification and protocol (also known as Bluetooth Smart). In addition, such a wireless communication device may be a smart device such as those found in wearable devices, or may be a monitoring device such as those found in smart buildings, environmental monitoring, and energy management. It should be understood that such a wireless communication device may be any suitable device, such as those found in automobiles, other vehicles, and even medical implants.

[0015] like Figure 1 As shown, various wireless communication devices can communicate with each other via one or more wireless communication mediums. Figure 1 As shown, the first device 110 may include an antenna such as antenna 104. The first device 110 may also include a processing device 108 and a transceiver 106. As will be discussed in more detail below, such processing devices, transceivers, and radio devices may be configured to establish a communication connection with other devices and transmit data in the form of data packets via such communication connection. More specifically, as will be described below with reference to Figure 3 as well as Figures 4 to 6 Discussed in more detail, different components of the first device 110, such as the baseband and controller stack, can be configured to implement different parts of the connection establishment and re-establishment, so that the re-establishment of the connection after exiting the low power mode does not utilize the host stack or its underlying processor logic, which can be implemented using the processor core and the overall power consumption is reduced.

[0016] In some embodiments, the system 100 may also include a second device 120 that may also be a wireless communication device. Similar to what has been discussed above, the second device 120 may be compatible with one or more wireless transmission protocols such as WiFi protocol or Bluetooth protocol. In addition, the second device 120 may also be a smart device or other device such as those found in cars, other vehicles, and medical implants. In various embodiments, the second device 120 may be a device of a different type from the first device 110. As discussed above, each of the second device 120 may include an antenna such as an antenna 122 and a processing device 126 and a transceiver 124, which may also be configured to establish a communication connection with other devices, and transmit data in the form of a data packet via such a communication connection. As discussed above, the second device 120 may also be configured to implement different parts of connection establishment and reestablishment, so that the reestablishment of the connection after exiting the low power mode does not utilize the processor logic of the host stack or its lower layer, and the overall power consumption is reduced.

[0017] Figure 2 An example of another system for energy-saving fast connection of wireless communication devices configured according to some embodiments is shown. In various embodiments, the system 200 may include a first device 110 and a second device 120. The system 200 also includes various access points, such as an access point 208 configured to manage communications between the first device 110 and the second device 120 and a communication network such as a network 230. Therefore, many wireless communication devices can communicate with each other through a widely implemented communication network such as the Internet.

[0018] In various embodiments, system 200 further includes access point 202, third device 204, and fourth device 206. Similar to the above discussion, access point 202 can be configured to manage communications between third device 204 and fourth device 206 and a communication network, such as network 230. Figure 2 As shown, system 200 may include multiple access points coupled to multiple different device groups. In this way, various devices can communicate with each other via network 230, and such communications can be managed and scheduled by access points such as access point 202 and access point 208. In some embodiments, access points can pass communications and requests between each other to facilitate the scheduling of network services across multiple different devices. For example, access point 202 can schedule requests from first device 110, second device 120, third device 204, and fourth device 206, wherein requests and services from first device 110 and second device 120 are passed through access point 208.

[0019] Figure 3 An example of yet another system for energy-efficient fast connection of wireless communication devices configured in accordance with some embodiments is shown. More specifically, Figure 3 An example of a system such as system 300 that may include a wireless communication device 301 is shown. It should be understood that the wireless communication device 301 may be any of the first device 110, the second device 120, the third device 204, or the fourth device 206 discussed above. In various embodiments, the wireless communication device 301 includes a transceiver such as a transceiver 303, which may be a transceiver such as the transceivers 106 and 124 discussed above. In one example, the system 300 includes a transceiver 303, which is configured to send and receive signals using a communication medium that may include an antenna 321. As mentioned above, the transceiver 303 may be included in a Bluetooth radio device and may be compatible with a Bluetooth low energy communication protocol. In some embodiments, the transceiver 303 may be compatible with a WiFi protocol such as an 802.11ax protocol. Therefore, the transceiver 303 may include components configured to generate and receive signals via an antenna 321, such as a modulator and a demodulator and one or more buffers and filters.

[0020] In various embodiments, the system 300 also includes a processing device 324, which may include logic implemented using one or more processor cores. Therefore, as will be discussed in more detail below, the processing device 324 is configured to implement the first logic and the second logic. In various embodiments, the processing device 324 includes one or more processing devices configured to implement connection establishment, disconnection and re-establishment operations, which will be described in more detail below. In various embodiments, the processing device 324 includes one or more components configured to implement a medium access control (MAC) layer, and the MAC layer is configured to control hardware associated with a wireless transmission medium, such as hardware associated with a WiFi transmission medium. In one example, the processing device 324 may include a processor core block 310, which may be configured to implement a driver such as a Bluetooth driver and / or a WiFi driver. The processing device 324 may also include a digital signal processor (DSP) core block 312 that may be configured to include a microcode.

[0021] In various embodiments, the processor core block 310 includes multiple processor cores, each of which is configured to implement a specific part of the wireless protocol interface. For example, the Bluetooth protocol can be implemented using a Bluetooth stack in which the software is implemented as a stack of layers, and such layers are configured to be divided into specific functions for implementing the Bluetooth communication protocol. In various embodiments, the host stack is implemented using the first processor in the processor core block 310, and the controller stack is implemented using the second processor in the processor core block 310. The host stack includes layers for Bluetooth network encapsulation protocol, radio frequency communication, service discovery protocol, and various other high-level data layers. The controller stack includes a link management protocol, a host controller interface, a link layer that can be a low-energy link layer, and various other timing-critical layers.

[0022] Thus, according to various embodiments, the operations of the host stack and the controller stack may be implemented on two different processor cores of the processor core block 310. In this manner, the management of connection establishment, disconnection, and re-establishment of connections is divided into a single processor core of the processor core block 310, and because both processor cores are not used for these operations, power consumption is reduced.

[0023] System 300 also includes radio frequency (RF) circuitry 302 coupled to antenna 321. In various embodiments, RF circuitry 302 may include various components such as RF switches, duplexers, and filters. Figure 3 System 300 is shown with a single antenna, but it should be understood that system 300 may have multiple antennas. Thus, RF circuit 302 may be configured to select an antenna for transmission / reception and may be configured to provide coupling between the selected antenna, such as antenna 321, and other components of system 300 via a bus, such as bus 311.

[0024] The system 300 includes a memory system 308 configured to store one or more data values ​​associated with connection management operations discussed in more detail below. Thus, the memory system 308 includes a storage device, which may be a non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM) configured to store such data values, and may also include a cache configured to provide local caching. In various embodiments, the system 300 also includes a host processor 313 configured to implement the processing operations implemented by the system 300.

[0025] It should be understood that one or more of the components described above can be implemented on a single chip or different chips. For example, transceiver 303 and processing device 324 can be implemented on the same integrated circuit chip such as integrated circuit chip 320. In another example, transceiver 303 and processing device 324 can each be implemented on its own chip, and therefore can be arranged separately as a multi-chip module or arranged on a common substrate such as a printed circuit board (PCB). It should also be understood that the components of system 300 can be implemented in the environment of low-energy devices, smart devices or vehicles such as motor vehicles. Therefore, some components such as integrated chip 320 can be implemented in a first position, while other components such as antenna 321 can be implemented in a second position, and the coupling between the two can be implemented via a coupler such as RF coupler 322.

[0026] Figure 4 An example of a method for energy-saving fast connection of a wireless communication device implemented according to some embodiments is shown. As discussed above, various wireless communication devices can communicate with each other via one or more wireless communication mediums. In addition, the wireless communication device can first establish a connection or communication link before data transmission occurs, and can be disconnected to achieve a low power mode. As will be discussed in more detail below, once the low power mode is exited, the connection can be reestablished with reduced power consumption. Therefore, the embodiments disclosed herein enable entering and exiting a low power mode, such as a deep sleep mode, with reduced power consumption.

[0027] Thus, method 400 may begin with operation 402, during which it may be determined whether a low power mode is to be implemented. In various embodiments, this determination may be made by a system component that may be included in the wireless communication device, such as the processing device 324 discussed above. For example, an application executed at least in part by a host processor coupled to the processing device may send a message to the processing device. The first logic of the processor core block 310 may receive the message and determine, based on the message, that a low power mode should be implemented.

[0028] Method 400 may proceed to operation 404, during which at least one component of the wireless communication device may be switched to a low power mode. Thus, the wireless communication device at which a determination is made at operation 402 may communicate with other wireless communication devices to which it is connected. In one example, the first wireless communication device may be a master device, and it may be connected to several other wireless communication devices that may be slave devices. During operation 404, the master device may command the slave device to suspend connection, and may also command the slave device to enter a low power mode such as deep sleep. In addition, one or more baseband disconnect operations may be implemented, and a low power mode may be entered, in which the logic of the lower layer of the host stack may be powered off.

[0029] Method 400 may proceed to operation 406, during which a transition to active mode may be made after a specified amount of time. In various implementations, during operation 404, the master device and the slave device may have identified a specified amount of time to wait to reestablish a connection. Figure 5 Additional details regarding the determination of the specified amount of time are discussed in greater detail.Thus, after the specified amount of time has elapsed, the master device and the slave device may power up the corresponding logic of the underlying layers of their host stacks and may reestablish a connection.

[0030] Figure 5 An example of another method for energy-saving fast connection of wireless communication devices implemented according to some embodiments is shown. As discussed above, various wireless communication devices can communicate with each other via one or more wireless communication mediums. In addition, the wireless communication device can first establish a connection or communication link, and can be disconnected to achieve a low power mode. As will be discussed in more detail below, once the low power mode is exited, the connection can be reestablished with reduced power consumption.

[0031] Thus, method 500 may begin with operation 502, during which a connection may be established between at least two wireless communication devices. Figure 6 Discussed in more detail, wireless communication devices can communicate with each other to establish a communication link or connection, which can be used to send and receive data as data packets compatible with a wireless transmission protocol such as a Bluetooth protocol. In some embodiments, at least two wireless communication devices can have a hierarchical relationship. For example, a first device can be a master device, and a second device can be a slave device.

[0032] Method 500 may proceed to operation 504, during which it may be determined whether a low power mode should be implemented. Similar to what has been discussed above, this determination may be made by a system component, such as a processing device, that may be included in the wireless communication device. For example, an application executed at least in part by a host processor coupled to the processing device may send a message to the processing device. The processor may receive the message and determine based on the message that a low power mode should be implemented. In one example, a first processor may be configured to implement a host stack and may receive a message from an application. The first processor may then issue a command to a second processor configured to implement a controller stack. In this manner, the message and determination may be forwarded to the second processor.

[0033] Method 500 can proceed to operation 506, during which a low power mode command can be generated. In various embodiments, one or more components of the first device can generate a low power mode command, and the command can be sent to the second device. As discussed above, the first device can be a master device, and the second device can be a slave device. Therefore, the master device can generate a command and send a command to the slave device. As discussed above, the second processor can be used to implement the link layer, and the operation of the link layer can be configured to implement a specific low power mode command. For example, a low power mode request can be configured to identify a wake-up time, at which the slave device should exit the low power mode, switch to the active mode and start broadcasting a notification signal. In this way, the master device and the slave device can coordinate and agree to the following specified time period: the low power mode should be implemented within the specified time.

[0034] In various embodiments, the low power mode command is sent from the link layer of the master device to the link layer of the slave device. For example, the low power mode command can be a power saving command and can be sent and received without using the processor of the host stack or its lower layer. In this way, the processor of the lower layer of the host stack is not used for disconnection and re-establishment of the communication link, and there is no need to use higher level protocols such as the Generic Attribute Profile (GATT) and the Security Manager Protocol (SMP) process, thereby further reducing power consumption.

[0035] In various embodiments, the duration of the specified time period is determined based on one or more operating characteristics of the wireless communication device. For example, the specified time period may be determined based on power characteristics of the wireless communication device, an operating voltage of a processor core, and an operating frequency of a transceiver. In various embodiments, additional characteristics such as stand by current consumption and active current consumption may also be utilized, which may also be related to characteristics such as output power at a transmitter of the wireless communication device, a distance between wireless communication devices, and interference from an environment in which the wireless communication device is implemented.

[0036] In some embodiments, a specified time period can be determined based on the operating characteristics described above and an estimate of the duration, after which the implementation of method 500 results in a reduction in total power consumption. For example, one or more parameters can be determined based on specification data initially stored during device configuration or based on one or more measurements performed by the wireless communication device itself. Such parameters may include: the average power consumed during operations such as advertising and GATT / SMP processes that occur during communication link re-establishment, the average power consumed when the connection is valid, and the time taken to reconnect. These parameters may have been pre-measured and stored in memory by a technician or user during configuration of the wireless communication device. In some embodiments, the parameters may have been determined by the wireless communication device based on measurements of previous activities. In addition, the parameters can be calculated based on a data table stored in memory, which identifies power consumption data for each range of operating frequency and voltage of the processor core. As mentioned above, such a data table may have been stored during the configuration process. In various embodiments, an equation such as Equation 1 described below can be used to implement the utilization of the previously described parameters:

[0037]

[0038] In various embodiments, T dpslp is the duration of the specified time period to be determined. As shown in Equation 1, T dpslp can be determined such that it is greater than the average power consumed during operations occurring during the communication link re-establishment (denoted by P adv ) and the average power consumed when the connection is valid (given by P conn The ratio of the time taken to reconnect or reestablish the connection (given by T reconnect Thus, the duration of the specified time period may be set to be greater than the power ratio described above multiplied by the estimated reconnection time.

[0039] Method 500 may proceed to operation 508, during which at least one processor of a wireless communication device may be switched to a low power mode. As discussed above, a wireless communication device determined therein may communicate with other wireless communication devices to which it is connected. In one example, a master device may command a slave device to suspend connection, and may also command a slave device to enter a low power mode such as a deep sleep mode. During this operation, the processor of the host stack lower layer may be powered off and enter a low power or sleep mode. In this way, one or more disconnect operations may be implemented, and a low power mode may be entered, in which the processor of the host stack lower layer is not powered on and the processor of the controller stack lower layer is powered off for a specified period of time. In various embodiments, when powered off, the processor may be in a deep sleep mode, in which the processor operates with reduced power.

[0040] Method 500 may proceed to operation 510, during which at least one processor of the wireless communication device may be switched to an active mode. In various embodiments, during operation 506, the master device and the slave device may have identified a specified amount of time to wait for reestablishing a connection. Therefore, after the specified amount of time has passed, the master device and the slave device may switch the corresponding processor of the lower layer of its controller stack back to the active mode. Therefore, the processor of the lower layer of the controller stack may be awakened and switched to the active mode.

[0041] Method 500 may proceed to operation 512, during which a reply message may be received. As discussed above, the wireless communication device may include a slave device, and once in active mode, the slave device may begin to send a notification signal indicating that it is available to establish a connection. The signal may be broadcast to a plurality of other devices, and in this manner, the slave device may notify one or more other devices, such as a master device, of its availability. Thus, the master device may receive a reply signal from the slave device.

[0042] Method 500 can proceed to operation 514, during which a connection request can be generated. Therefore, in response to receiving a reply message, the master device can send a message to the slave device. The message can include a connection request, and the message can be implemented using the Bluetooth communication protocol. In some embodiments, the slave device can receive the connection request, and can generate and send a reply message in response to receiving the connection request to confirm that it can comply with the connection request. In various embodiments, the sending / receiving of the connection request and the sending / receiving of the reply message are processed by the master device and the corresponding second processor of the lower layer of the controller stack of the slave device.

[0043] Method 500 can proceed to operation 516, during operation 516, can re-establish the connection between at least two wireless communication devices.According to various embodiments, main equipment can realize one or more synchronous operations according to wireless transmission protocol such as Bluetooth protocol.In addition, the processor of the controller stack lower layer of main equipment and slave device can send a command to the processor of the host stack lower layer of main equipment and slave device, to wake up the processor of the host stack lower layer and switch it to active mode.Therefore, once synchronous operation has been realized and the processor of the host stack lower layer has been switched to active mode, main equipment and slave device can begin to utilize the connection of re-establishing to send and receive data.

[0044] Figure 6 An example of another method for energy-saving fast connection of wireless communication devices implemented according to some embodiments is shown. As discussed above, wireless communication devices can interact with each other to establish communication links and connections. Additional details about operations that can be implemented when establishing a connection are provided below.

[0045] Thus, method 600 may begin with operation 602, during which a wireless communication device may begin broadcasting an advertisement signal. In various implementations, the wireless communication device may be a slave device that begins sending an advertisement signal indicating that it is available to establish a connection and notifies one or more other devices, such as a master device, of this condition.

[0046] Method 600 can proceed to operation 604, during which the notification signal can be identified and it can be determined whether a connection should be made. Therefore, during operation 604, the master device can receive and identify the notification signal broadcast by the slave device. In response to receiving the signal, the master device can determine whether a connection should be established. In one example, such a determination can be made based on whether any data should be sent to the slave device, and whether any data should be sent to the slave device can be determined based on one or more queued operations or messages.

[0047] Method 600 can proceed to operation 606, during which a connection request can be sent. Therefore, in response to determining that a connection should be made, the master device can send a message to the slave device. The message can include a connection request, and the message can be implemented using the Bluetooth communication protocol. In some embodiments, the slave device can receive the connection request, and a reply message can be generated and sent in response to receiving the connection request.

[0048] Method 600 may proceed to operation 608, during which a reply to the connection request may be received. In various embodiments, the master device may receive a reply message from the slave device. Once received, the master device may interpret the receipt of the reply message as an acknowledgement, thus confirming that the slave device is available and ready to establish a connection.

[0049] Method 600 can proceed to operation 610, during which the requested connection can be established. Thus, the master device can implement one or more synchronization operations according to a wireless transmission protocol such as a Bluetooth protocol. Once synchronized, the master device and the slave device can begin to use the connection to send and receive data.

[0050] Although the foregoing concepts have been described in some detail for the purpose of clear understanding, it will be apparent that certain changes and modifications may be implemented within the scope of the appended claims. It should be noted that there are many alternative ways to implement the process, system and device. Therefore, this example is considered to be illustrative rather than restrictive.

Claims

1. A method for a wireless communication device, comprising: determining that at least a first wireless communication device should transition to a low power mode; transitioning first logic of the first wireless communication device to the low power mode using second logic of the first wireless communication device, the first logic implementing a host stack of a Bluetooth wireless communication protocol, the second logic implementing a controller stack of the Bluetooth wireless communication protocol, and transitioning to the low power mode includes suspending a communication connection between the first wireless communication device and a second wireless communication device; as well as After a specified time period determined based on estimated power characteristics of the first wireless communication device and the second wireless communication device during reestablishment of the communication connection and while the communication connection is valid, the first logic of the first wireless communication device is transitioned to an active mode, and the transition to the active mode reestablishes the communication connection between the first wireless communication device and the second wireless communication device.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The first logic transitioning to the low power mode causes first logic of the second wireless communication device to transition to the low power mode, wherein the first logic implements a host stack of the wireless communication protocol.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein: The first logic transitioning to the active mode causes the first logic of the second wireless communication device to transition to the active mode.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein: The first logic of the first wireless communication device and the first logic of the second wireless communication device switching to the low power mode further comprises: A low power mode command is sent from the link layer of the first wireless communication device to the link layer of the second wireless communication device.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein: The specified time period is specified in the low power mode command.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein: The first logic switching to the active mode further comprises: A command is sent from the controller stack of the first wireless communication device to the host stack of the first wireless communication device.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein: The first logic transitions to the active mode in response to receiving the command.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The wireless communication protocol is the Bluetooth low energy protocol.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The first logic and the second logic are processor cores included in the first wireless communication device.

10. A wireless communication device, comprising: antenna; a transceiver configured to transmit and receive signals via the antenna; A processing device comprising: A first logic configured to implement a host stack of a Bluetooth wireless communication protocol, and the first logic is configured to: determining that at least the first wireless communication device should transition to a low power mode; and second logic configured to implement a controller stack of the Bluetooth wireless communication protocol, and the second logic is configured to: converting the first logic to the low power mode, wherein converting to the low power mode includes suspending a communication connection between the wireless communication device and another wireless communication device; and After a specified time period determined based on estimated power characteristics of the wireless communication device and the other wireless communication device during reestablishment of the communication connection and while the communication connection is valid, the first logic is transitioned to an active mode, wherein the transition to the active mode reestablishes the communication connection between the wireless communication device and the other wireless communication device.

11. The device according to claim 10, wherein: The second logic is further configured to: A low power mode command is sent from the first link layer of the wireless communication device to the second link layer of the other wireless communication device.

12. The device according to claim 11, wherein The specified time period is specified in the low power mode command.

13. The device according to claim 12, wherein: The specified time period is determined based on one or more of: an estimated average power consumed during reestablishment of the communication connection, an estimated average power consumed while the communication connection is active, and an estimated time taken to reconnect or reestablish the communication connection.

14. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein: The wireless communication protocol is the Bluetooth low energy protocol.

15. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein: The first logic and the second logic are processor cores included in the wireless communication device.

16. A wireless communication device, comprising: antenna; a transceiver configured to transmit and receive signals via the antenna; A processing device comprising: first logic configured to implement a host stack of a Bluetooth wireless communication protocol; and second logic configured to implement a controller stack of the Bluetooth wireless communication protocol, and the second logic is configured to: converting the first logic to a low power mode, wherein converting to the low power mode includes suspending a communication connection between the wireless communication device and another wireless communication device; and After a specified time period determined based on estimated power characteristics of the wireless communication device and the other wireless communication device during reestablishment of the communication connection and while the communication connection is valid, the first logic is transitioned to an active mode, wherein the transition to the active mode reestablishes the communication connection between the wireless communication device and the other wireless communication device.

17. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein: The second logic is further configured to: A low power mode command is received at a second link layer of the wireless communication device from a first link layer of the other wireless communication device.

18. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein: The specified time period is specified in the low power mode command.

19. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein: The wireless communication protocol is the Bluetooth low energy protocol.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein: The first logic and the second logic are processor cores included in the wireless communication device.

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