Radio Receiver Early Shutdown for Power Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Portable radio communication devices face significant power consumption issues due to receiver usage, which reduces battery life and necessitates frequent battery changes or charges, especially in TDMA systems where receivers are often kept active for entire time slots even if no transmission is occurring.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a method that delays the enablement of the receiver for a short initial time interval at the start of a reception time slot and enables it for a second, shorter synchronization search window to detect a synchronization pattern, disabling it if no pattern is detected before the end of the slot, thereby reducing unnecessary power usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the receiver is enabled for the entire reception time slot, then the device can detect transmissions reliably, but power consumption increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The receiver is enabled for only a portion of the reception time slot (specifically, a synchronization search window) rather than the entire slot. This partial action is sufficient to detect the synchronization pattern and determine if a transmission is present, thereby reducing power consumption while maintaining detection reliability when needed
Solution Approach 2:
The receiver operates in periodic cycles: enabled during the synchronization search window to detect transmissions, then disabled for the remainder of the time slot if no transmission is detected. This periodic enable-disable pattern reduces average power consumption while ensuring the receiver is active when transmissions are likely to occur
2Loss of time
If the receiver is enabled early in the time slot, then synchronization patterns can be detected promptly, but the receiver remains on longer increasing power consumption
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by enabling the receiver at the beginning of the time slot for a brief synchronization search window to quickly determine if a transmission is present. Based on this preliminary detection, the receiver is then disabled for the remainder of the slot if no transmission is found, avoiding unnecessary extended operation
Solution Approach 2:
The receiver operation is made dynamic rather than static: it transitions from disabled to enabled during the synchronization search window, then back to disabled if no transmission is detected. This dynamic operation allows the receiver to be active only when necessary, optimizing both detection timing and power consumption
Data Source
AI summary
A power savings technique is provided for a radio communication device. The technique involves reducing the amount of time that a receiver is powered-up during a time interval that the radio communication device may receive a transmission from another radio communication device. This time interval is referred to as a reception time interval, though it may also correspond to a time interval that the device may transmit to another device if the device is in a transmit mode. This method involves delaying enablement of the receiver for a relatively short first time interval that begins at the start of the reception time interval. When the first time interval expires, the receiver is enabled for at least a second time interval so that the device can detect whether a synchronization pattern is occurring, indicative of a radio transmission being sent for the device. The duration of the second time interval is such that it expires well before the end of the reception time interval. If the device does not detect the synchronization pattern during the second time interval, the receiver is powered-down or disabled. The durations of the first and second time intervals may be set by first and second timers, respectively. Consequently, the receiver is disabled before the end of the reception interval when there is no transmission to the device that is to be received.