Wireless Traffic Scheduler for Power State Optimization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Wireless transceivers in mobile devices incur significant power consumption, particularly due to the power amplifier, and frequent powering up and down operations result in inefficiencies and heat generation, which can impact battery life and device performance.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a wireless traffic scheduler at the application layer to coordinate and reschedule traffic based on the application-layer content, allowing for simultaneous transmission bursts and optimizing power states to minimize power consumption without disrupting critical operations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If the radio transceiver is powered down when not in use, then power consumption is reduced, but the powering up and down operation takes finite time and incurs power consumption due to current surges
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple traffic flows from different applications into unified transmission bursts. The network layer combines uplink traffic from multiple applications and schedules them together, reducing the frequency of radio power state transitions. This consolidation allows the radio to remain in a higher-power state for longer, continuous periods rather than频繁ly transitioning, thereby reducing the cumulative time and energy lost during powering up and down operations.
2Use of energy by moving object
If the radio is turned off triggered by a time-out after a certain predetermined period of radio inactivity, then power consumption is reduced, but sporadic traffic could still keep the radio switched on for long amounts of time if each subsequent message keeps falling within the predetermined period
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by having applications register their traffic patterns and timing requirements in advance with the network layer. The network layer uses this advance information to proactively schedule traffic bursts and coordinate radio power state transitions before traffic actually occurs. This predictive scheduling allows the system to optimize power consumption by grouping traffic efficiently, preventing the radio from staying on unnecessarily long while ensuring time-critical traffic is not delayed.
3Use of energy by moving object
If the driver software queues traffic to transmit and receive messages together in bursts, then more opportunities for powering down the radio between bursts are created, but time-critical traffic could be delayed by an intolerable amount
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by implementing differentiated traffic handling at the network layer. Different traffic types receive different treatment: time-critical traffic is assigned higher priority and guaranteed transmission opportunities, while non-time-critical traffic can be deferred and bundled into bursts. The network layer maintains separate scheduling queues and applies distinct scheduling policies to different traffic classes, ensuring that power optimization through bursting does not compromise the timely delivery of critical communications.
4Adaptability or versatility
If multiple applications access the wireless transceiver independently, then each application can operate autonomously, but frequent separate powering up and down operations increase power consumption
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary network layer that sits between multiple applications and the wireless transceiver. This network layer acts as a mediator that collects traffic from multiple independent applications, consolidates their transmission requests, and coordinates unified access to the radio. The applications maintain their autonomy and independence, while the network layer optimizes their collective radio access patterns by grouping transmissions into coordinated bursts, thereby reducing the frequency of power state transitions and overall power consumption.
Data Source
AI summary
A terminal comprising: a plurality of hardware I/O units, including a wireless transceiver having a powered-up state in which at least one of a transmit path and a receive path is enabled at the expense of higher power consumption and a powered-down state in which the at least one path is disabled in favour of lower power consumption; a processing apparatus; and a storage medium coupled to the processing apparatus and storing at least a first and a second application, an operating system, a communication protocol layer and a driver layer arranged to be executed on the processing apparatus; wherein the operating system is arranged to arbitrate access by the plurality of applications to the hardware I/O units via the driver layer, including access to the wireless transceiver via the communication protocol layer and driver layer; and wherein the second application comprises a wireless traffic scheduler configured to coordinate traffic associated with the second application to be communicated via the wireless transceiver during a same continuous phase of the powered-up state as traffic associated with the first application.