Mobile Phone Power Conservation via Sensor-Based Probing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Mobile phones experience rapid battery drain when unable to establish contact with a base-transceiver station due to remote or shielded locations, leading to frequent charging needs and reduced battery life, as existing technologies fail to address power conservation in such scenarios.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a method that minimizes power-consuming probes by using low-power processor sampling of location sensors like GPS, magnetometers, accelerometers, and short-range radio signals to determine location changes, allowing the phone to enter a quiescent state when communication is unreachable and resume probing upon detected changes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the mobile phone continuously probes for BTS at maximum power when unable to establish contact, then the phone maintains ability to detect BTS, but the battery discharges rapidly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements periodic probing instead of continuous maximum-power transmission. The mobile phone probes for BTS at reduced power intervals, switching between active probing and idle states based on detection results. This periodic action maintains the ability to detect BTS while significantly reducing overall power consumption during shielded or remote conditions.
2Duration of action of stationary object
If the mobile phone enters sleep mode to conserve power, then battery life is extended, but the phone cannot detect location changes or BTS availability
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the traditional mechanical/probing-based detection system with a sensor-based detection system. Low-power sensors (accelerometers, magnetometers, GPS, barometers) substitute for the power-intensive radio probing mechanism to detect location changes. This substitution allows the phone to remain in low-power states while still monitoring for conditions that warrant waking the main processor.
3Reliability
If the mobile phone uses high-power transmission to reach BTS in shielded areas, then communication reliability improves, but power consumption increases dramatically
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic power adjustment based on detected conditions. Rather than using fixed high-power transmission, the system dynamically adapts transmit power levels based on sensor-detected location changes and BTS response. When sensors indicate the phone remains in the same shielded location, power is reduced; when location changes suggest potential BTS availability, power increases temporarily to attempt reconnection.
Data Source
AI summary
A mobile phone initially probes while in an open-loop mode with an estimated power level based on the received power level from a base station. If a response is not received, power is incremented, and a subsequent probe is sent. The process is repeated until a response is received or when maximum power is reached. If a response is still not received, the mobile phone tests for changing its location state. When BTS probes are unsuccessful and maximum power is reached, available sensors are sampled and tested for a change of state, e.g., by way of an inclinometer, an accelerometer, a magnetometer, a GPS, standard 802.11, or employing a Bluetooth, and the like. If no state change is detected, a delay block is entered, reducing the probing rate and the power consumption rate. If a state change is detected, the delay block is bypassed and probing resumes immediately.