Wake-on-Multicast Networking Component for Low-Power Service Discovery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional power management architectures in mobile devices prevent multicast communications from waking sleeping devices to conserve power, leading to issues with service discovery and increased battery drain, as devices may discard multicast packets even if they offer the requested service.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a wake-on-multicast functionality that selectively wakes devices based on specific protocol or service signatures within multicast communication data, allowing only predefined services to trigger wake-up, thereby reducing unnecessary power consumption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If devices allow multicast communications to wake sleeping devices, then service discovery functionality is improved, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the multicast packet processing into two distinct phases: a low-power initial screening phase that checks only essential wake-up criteria, and a full-processing phase that activates only when necessary. The networking component in sleep mode performs minimal packet inspection (checking destination address and basic multicast indicators) without fully processing the packet content, thereby enabling service discovery capability while maintaining low power consumption during idle states.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements partial action by having the sleeping networking component perform only the minimum necessary processing to determine if a multicast packet should wake the device. Instead of fully processing every multicast packet or completely ignoring them, the system performs a partial evaluation (checking destination address and basic packet type) that is sufficient to make a wake-up decision, avoiding the excessive power consumption of full packet processing while still enabling service discovery.
2Use of energy by moving object
If devices discard multicast packets in low-power mode, then power consumption is reduced, but service discovery functionality deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-configuring the networking component with service type indicators and destination address criteria before entering sleep mode. The component uses these pre-established parameters to quickly evaluate incoming multicast packets without requiring full device activation. This preliminary screening mechanism enables the device to respond to relevant service discovery requests while discarding irrelevant packets, maintaining both low power consumption and service discovery functionality.
3Speed
If devices wake up for every multicast communication, then service discovery responsiveness is improved, but battery life deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements local quality by making the wake-up behavior selective rather than uniform. The networking component evaluates specific local characteristics of each multicast packet (destination address match, service type indicator relevance) and makes wake-up decisions based on these localized criteria. This approach ensures rapid responsiveness to relevant service discovery requests while avoiding unnecessary wake-ups for irrelevant communications, thereby extending battery life without sacrificing essential service discovery responsiveness.
Data Source
AI summary
A network device may include first and second processors and a wireless transceiver under control of the second processor. The network device may further maintain one or more signatures and a wake-up module executable by the second processor. The wake up module may receive a multicast wireless communication while the first processor is in a low-power sleep mode. The wake up module may determine whether a data portion of the multicast wireless communication includes a signature. If the data portion of the wireless communication includes the signature, the wake up module may cause the first processor to leave the low-power sleep mode and process the multicast wireless communication.