Virtual Anchor Manager for IoT Power Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing IoT devices in customer premises consume high power levels despite having limited battery capacity, necessitating efficient power management to extend battery life and reduce replacement frequency.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a virtual anchor management system that continuously connects to a wireless communication network's control plane, using a thin client function and a shared protocol stack to manage client devices, allowing them to operate in an idle state and transition to active only when necessary, thereby reducing power consumption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If IoT devices use full protocol stacks to communicate with network services nodes, then communication reliability is improved, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the heavy protocol stack processing from the IoT device and relocates it to the network service node. The IoT device uses a simplified protocol while the network service node runs the complete protocol stack, thereby maintaining communication reliability while significantly reducing power consumption at the device level.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a gateway or network service node as an intermediary that handles the complex protocol stack processing. The IoT device communicates with this intermediary using a lightweight protocol, and the intermediary manages all heavy protocol operations, thus reducing device power consumption while maintaining reliable communication.
2Speed
If IoT devices continuously monitor and communicate with network services, then service responsiveness is improved, but battery life decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements periodic monitoring and communication cycles instead of continuous operation. IoT devices wake up at scheduled intervals to check for messages or perform monitoring tasks, then return to sleep mode. This periodic action maintains service responsiveness while dramatically extending battery life by minimizing active state duration.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables IoT devices to autonomously manage their own power states and communication schedules without requiring continuous network coordination. Devices self-determine when to wake, what tasks to perform, and when to sleep, optimizing the balance between responsiveness and battery life independently.
Data Source
AI summary
Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a process that continuously connects the processing system to a control plane of a wireless communication network, which includes equipment operating in at least one of the control plane or a user plane. Control information is received across the control plane indicating that client data is to be provided to a client device via the user plane. Responsive to receiving a control signal, an awake signal is sent to the client device. The client device, in response to the awake signal, being placed from an idle state to an active state. The idle state consumes a lower level of power than the active state. The client data is further provided to the client device over a premises communication network via a protocol stack of a client function. Other embodiments are disclosed.