Wake-Up Packet Transmission via Piggybacking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Battery-powered devices with radio communications modules face significant power consumption challenges, leading to increased costs and inconvenience in recharging, especially in remote or impractical locations.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for transmitting wake-up packets by piggy-backing them with regular frames, reducing channel contention and communications overhead by combining wake-up packets with regular protocol data units, thereby minimizing power consumption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If wake-up packets are transmitted as standalone protocol data units, then receiving devices can be reliably woken up, but channel contention increases and communication overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines wake-up packets with regular data packets into a single protocol data unit. The wake-up packet is piggybacked on the regular data packet, allowing both to be transmitted together in one channel access. This eliminates the need for separate channel contention for wake-up packets, thereby improving channel utilization while maintaining reliable wake-up delivery.
2Reliability
If wake-up packets are transmitted as standalone protocol data units, then receiving devices can be reliably woken up, but communication overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the wake-up packet with a regular data packet into a single transmitted unit. This consolidation eliminates duplicate protocol overhead (preamble, headers, etc.) that would be present if wake-up and data packets were sent separately, thereby reducing total communication overhead while ensuring reliable wake-up delivery.
3Speed
If radio communications modules operate continuously to receive data, then data reception is immediate, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements periodic wake-up packet transmissions instead of continuous operation. Receiving devices can enter low-power sleep modes between periodic wake-up opportunities, knowing they will be awakened at specific intervals. This periodic approach maintains the ability to receive data promptly while dramatically reducing average power consumption compared to continuous operation.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for transmitting a wake-up packet includes generating a first preamble including a first length indication indicating a length of a payload for a first receiving device, generating a wake-up packet (WUP) for a second receiving device, generating a second preamble including a second length indication of a summation of lengths of the first preamble, the payload, and the WUP, and transmitting the second preamble, the first preamble, the payload, and the WUP.