Wi-Fi Tethering Sleep Mode Adaptation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Wi-Fi tethering devices experience increased power consumption and reduced operation time due to constant high power state, even during idle intervals, leading to poor user experience and battery drain, as conventional approaches fail to effectively manage power usage during short idle periods.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a sleep protocol and sleep interval adaptation algorithm that coordinates between Wi-Fi tethering devices and clients to switch the Wi-Fi interface to a sleep mode during idle intervals, determining sleep duration based on data packet exchange patterns to reduce power consumption without causing packet loss or increasing network latency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the Wi-Fi interface remains in high power consumption state to ensure continuous connectivity, then network availability is improved, but power consumption increases and battery life decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements periodic wake-up intervals where the Wi-Fi interface alternates between sleep mode and active mode. The system wakes up at predetermined intervals to check for and transmit buffered data packets, then returns to sleep mode. This periodic operation maintains network availability by ensuring periodic connectivity while dramatically reducing power consumption during idle periods compared to continuous operation.
2Use of energy by moving object
If the Wi-Fi interface is turned off during idle periods to save power, then power consumption is reduced, but network latency increases and user experience deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by buffering outgoing data packets in memory before the Wi-Fi interface enters sleep mode. During wake-up intervals, the buffered packets are immediately transmitted without waiting for network conditions. This preliminary buffering action eliminates the need for wake-up delays and reduces overall network latency while maintaining power savings during idle periods.
3Use of energy by moving object
If conventional approaches turn off Wi-Fi after several minutes of inactivity, then power is saved, but manual re-establishment is required and user experience becomes poor
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements self-service by automatically maintaining Wi-Fi connectivity through periodic wake-up intervals and automatic reconnection logic. When the interface wakes up, it automatically checks for buffered data and re-establishes connections without requiring user intervention. This self-managed connectivity maintains ease of operation while achieving power savings, eliminating the need for manual re-establishment required by conventional approaches.
Data Source
AI summary
The techniques discussed herein reduce the power consumption of a Wi-Fi tethering device by switching the Wi-Fi functionality of the Wi-Fi tethering device from a normal operational mode to a sleep mode during idle intervals. The techniques implement a sleep protocol where a Wi-Fi tethering device and the Wi-Fi client device coordinate and establish a sleep schedule. Moreover, the techniques describe a sleep interval adaptation algorithm to establish sleep duration intervals based on data packet exchange patterns associated with different applications executing on the Wi-Fi client device and/or different operations being performed by the Wi-Fi client device.