Battery Saving Based On Detected Power Source Level Patents (Class 455/343.5)
  • Patent number: 7324800
    Abstract: Disclosed is a wake-up system with passive correlators, adopted to wireless transmission/reception devices such as remote controllers, mobile communication terminals, etc. The wake-up system includes a transmitter and receiver. In the transmitter wake-up signals and delayed wake-up signals delayed by a predetermined delay time are correlated and coded, respectively, for transmission. In the receiver, signals transmitted from the transmitter and signals delayed by the predetermined delay time are correlated and decoded, respectively. The decoded signals are converted into DC switching voltage VSW for a switching operation of power, thereby performing a wake-up operation. The wake-up system with passive correlators can reduce consumption power for wake-up operations in a receiver such that correlation operations of a correlator including passive electrical elements such as a matched filter, etc.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2005
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2008
    Assignee: Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tah Joon Park, Yong Il Kwon, Joong Jin Kim
  • Patent number: 7280853
    Abstract: A network node selects a “sleep” level based on its current or projected battery capacity. In an embodiment of the invention, sleep levels define the types of communication to which the node in question will be a party. The node in question communicates its selected sleep level to the rest of the network so that the other network nodes can communicate accordingly with the node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2004
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2007
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Amer A. Hassan, Abhishek Abhishek, Jenelle R. Coberly, Merle Michael Robinson
  • Patent number: 7251737
    Abstract: Techniques for conserving power by controlling program execution in a convergence device comprising a battery or other power source and at least one processor. The processor is configured to perform processing operations associated with voice call communication functions and to perform processing operations associated with data communication functions, and is operative to execute critical programs and noncritical programs. The convergence device stores, for at least a given one of a plurality of noncritical programs associated with the data communication functions, an identifier of at least one alternate capacity program capable of performing substantially the same function as the given program but having a different power source capacity associated therewith.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2003
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2007
    Assignee: Sandbridge Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Guenter Weinberger, C. John Glossner
  • Patent number: 7249271
    Abstract: A data transfer control device includes an OUT-transfer transmitter circuit which transmits OUT data by driving a serial signal line, a clock-transfer transmitter circuit which transmits a clock signal CLK by driving a serial signal line, a PLL circuit which generates the clock signal CLK, and a power-down setting circuit which sets a power-down mode. In a first power-down mode, the OUT-transfer transmitter circuit is set to the power-down mode, and the clock-transfer transmitter circuit is set to the power-down mode to stop a system clock signal of a target-side data transfer control device. In a second power-down mode, the OUT-transfer transmitter circuit is set to the power-down mode without setting the clock-transfer transmitter circuit to the power-down mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2007
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Yukinari Shibata, Nobuyuki Saito, Tomonaga Hasegawa, Takuya Ishida
  • Patent number: 7245947
    Abstract: A method, system and program code are provided to implement a wireless network having a plurality of devices in which one of the devices coordinates wireless communications between the devices. The method and system evaluates device parameters of one or more of the plurality of devices, the device parameters including at least available power source characteristics for a device; and determines a coordinator from the plurality of devices based on at least the available power source characteristics, such as an available power source capacity, for the one or more of the plurality of devices, the coordinator adapted to coordinate wireless communications between the devices in the wireless network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2003
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2007
    Assignee: Nokia Corporation
    Inventors: Juha Salokannel, Jukka Reunamäki, Arto Palin, Harald Kaaja
  • Patent number: 7242971
    Abstract: A power saving method for a mobile telephone is disclosed that can increase the useful life of a battery charge by temporarily turning off non-essential telephone functions not required for call transmission or reception. The method determines whether the remaining capacity of the telephone battery is smaller than a predetermined reference value. The power saving method includes the steps of setting an activation condition for non-essential telephone functions, detecting a state that satisfies the activation condition, measuring the remaining capacity of the telephone's battery if the activation condition is satisfied, and controlling an activation operation of the non-essential telephone functions by comparing the measured remaining charged capacity with a reference value. The power saving method may include saving to and recalling from memory user preference settings when a user function is de-activated and re-activated, respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2007
    Assignee: LG Electronics Inc.
    Inventor: Won Hyung Park
  • Patent number: 7224937
    Abstract: The invention relates to a mobile station apparatus in a communication system. The communication system comprises a plurality of base stations for providing mobile communication service within a covered communication area. The mobile station apparatus comprises a memory for recording a predetermined access control class and determining which base station the mobile station apparatus is allowed to camp on for conducting mobile communication service, a battery for providing electrical power, a control program, and a power detector for detecting the current power of the battery, so that when the power detector detects that the power is lower than a predetermined low power watermark, the power detector issues a trigger signal. When the control program receives the trigger signal, the control program overwrites the predetermined access control class, so as to allow the mobile station apparatus to conduct mobile communication service through other base stations in the communication area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2004
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2007
    Assignee: BENQ Corporation
    Inventor: Steven D. Cheng
  • Patent number: 7209771
    Abstract: A wireless transceiver includes a low power radio frequency (LPRF) component that powers down to conserve energy and powers up in response to a signal; and a second receiver that provides the signal in response to receipt of a radio frequency broadcast. The broadcast is targeted to activate particular transceivers by including, in the broadcasts, identifications such as class designations, in which case the transceivers power up and form networks. A transceiver may include one or more identifications and may include a unique identification of the transceiver itself. The LPRF component may be a Bluetooth radio, but the overall transceiver itself only draws about 10 to 15 ?A while actively awaiting and screening for a targeted broadcast.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2007
    Assignee: Terahop Networks, Inc.
    Inventor: Robert W. Twitchell, Jr.
  • Patent number: 7206603
    Abstract: This invention relates to a cellular radio telephone set having a USB peripheral circuit which realizes a USB connection function. When the cellular radio telephone set is connected to an information processing terminal apparatus via a USB cable, a voltage Vbus supplied from the information processing terminal apparatus is regulated and supplied to the USB peripheral circuit. When the cellular radio telephone set is not connected to the information processing terminal apparatus via the USB cable, an application CPU which controls the USB peripheral circuit is shifted to a sleep mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2007
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventor: Masahito Shinohara
  • Patent number: 7197342
    Abstract: Battery operated user equipment is disclosed for use in a radio telecommunications network, including means for monitoring the state of charge of the battery and means for communicating state of charge data to a base station during call set up. The battery data can be used to inform a caller that, for example, a called user's apparatus has reduced or limited battery capacity and thus that the expected duration of a call is limited.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: Lucent Technologies Inc.
    Inventors: David Lahiri Bhatoolaul, Qiang Cao, Patrick Georges Venceslas Charriere, Seau Sian Lim
  • Patent number: 7194248
    Abstract: Disclosed is an apparatus and method for performing power saving control of a mobile terminal, which includes a battery capacity measurement unit, an input unit, a memory and a controller. Using the input unit, the user specifies a power saving mode type of the terminal and sets a power saving mode and power saving mode items corresponding to the specified power saving mode type. The memory stores information of the set power saving mode and the set power saving mode items in association with the specified power saving mode type. The controller performs power saving control corresponding to the set power saving mode items if battery capacity measured by the measurement unit is less than or equal to a preset battery capacity. The user can actively select how the terminal performs the power saving control, in their desired manners according to the remaining battery capacity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2007
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Jong-Seok Kim
  • Patent number: 7190979
    Abstract: In communications systems such as telemetry systems in which a receiver (34) is periodically energised to receive transmissions from a central station, the receiver includes a power control means (12) for controlling the energisation of the receiver, a circuit (48) for detecting the presence of a carrier, which circuit (48) causes the power control means to de-energise the receiver (34) in the event of carrier not being detected, and a signal quality measuring stage (50) for determining if the demodulated signal is decodable, the stage (50) causing the power control means to de-energise the receiver (34) in the event of the signal quality not being acceptable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2007
    Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
    Inventors: Paul R. Marshall, David K. Roberts, Richard C. Burbidge
  • Patent number: 7190981
    Abstract: Apparatus, and an associated method, by which to facilitate re-establishment of a traffic channel upon which to communicate pursuant to a communication session, such as a push-to-talk communication session, with a mobile station. The mobile station is maintained in a non-slotted, or other higher-power, mode subsequent to release of a traffic channel to facilitate speedy re-establishment of the traffic channel upon a request for the re-establishment. A selector selects a time period during which the mobile station is maintained in the mode, and a notification message is generated for communication to a network part of the radio communication system to identify the time period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2007
    Assignee: Nokia Corporation
    Inventor: George Cherian
  • Patent number: 7181183
    Abstract: A telecommunication system incorporates a vanadium redox battery energy storage system. The vanadium redox battery energy storage system receives and is charged by DC power. Upon power interruption, telecommunication equipment relies on the vanadium redox battery energy storage system to receive DC power. A charger/rectifier monitors received AC power to determine if an AC power interruption is occurring and initiates DC power transmission from the vanadium redox battery energy storage system to the telecommunication equipment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2007
    Assignee: VRB Power Systems Inc.
    Inventor: Timothy David John Hennessy
  • Patent number: 7181188
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for entering a low power mode is provided. In one embodiment, data processing system (10) has power control circuitry (52) which may be used to control power usage in data processing system (10). Power mode select circuitry (84) may be used to select a power mode. Depending upon the power mode selected, power control circuitry (52) may use a cascaded approach to selecting which portions of data processing system (10) will be powered down, and thus how deeply data processing system (10) will be powered down.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2007
    Assignee: Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.
    Inventors: Mieu Van Vu, Christopher K. Chun, Arthur M. Goldberg, David J. Hayes, Charbel Khawand, Jianping Tao, John J. Vaglica
  • Patent number: 7178043
    Abstract: A controller reads a current value from a current sensor at regular intervals and calculates the average power consumption (Pavg) for a specified length of time (T). When the average power consumption (Pavg) exceeds an upper value (Pu) of power consumption, the controller performs throttling control of a CPU at a throttling rate of r %. If, nevertheless, the average power consumption (Pavg) is above the upper value (Pu), the controller sequentially increases the throttling rate in steps of r %. When the average power consumption (Pavg) is reduced below a lower value (Pl) as a result of the throttling control, the controller sequentially decreases the throttling rate in steps of r % until the upper value (Pu) is reached.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2007
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Takahiro Nakazato
  • Patent number: 7171186
    Abstract: Data which indicates remaining capacity of a battery in terms of the terminal voltage of the battery is updated by a control unit when necessary, whereby available capacity of the battery is accurately calculated regardless of the extent of deterioration of the battery. In addition to the battery's calculated available capacity, a radio-wave receiving condition and a temperature detected by a temperature detection unit are also taken into consideration to accurately calculate and display an available time. Moreover, the control unit performs the entire process of backing up user data into a non-volatile internal memory (flash memory), which reduces power consumption required for the backup process, resulting in a longer available time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2003
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2007
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Ryoko Miyachi, Tsutomu Mikami
  • Patent number: 7155263
    Abstract: A burst of data in a wireless network includes a preamble [502], a postamble [504] and one or more blocks of data [506]. A low or no power receiving device [102] receives the preamble [502]. When the preamble [502] includes an ID of the receiving device, structural information of the burst is derived from the preamble [502], indicating when at least one component of the device is to be powered on to receive the at least one block of data [506] included in the burst. The at least one component [306, 308, 310] is powered on at a first time period in order to receive the data in the one or more blocks of data. The at least one component [306, 308, 310] is powered off at a specific time period from a beginning of the first time period. The powering on and off are repeated for each of the one or more blocks of data [506] in the burst.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2004
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2006
    Assignee: BBN Technologies Corp.
    Inventor: Marcos A. Bergamo
  • Patent number: 7148807
    Abstract: When a remaining battery power amount of a child appliance is lowered, a battery recharging operation of the child appliance is not quickly carried out, lowering of the remaining battery power amount of the child appliance is displayed on a mother appliance which is owned by a mother. When there is a risk that the remaining battery power amount of the child appliance is lowered and thus operations of the child appliance will be brought into a malfunction condition, a content of a special instruction is stored into a non-volatile memory employed in the child appliance. Otherwise, while the content of the special instruction has been stored in a management server, an operation may be carried out in response to the instructed response after the remaining battery power amount has been recovered to a sufficiently high battery power amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2004
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2006
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Eiji Moro, Shigehisa Rokuta, Kazuo Shigematsu
  • Patent number: 7146151
    Abstract: In a CDMA mobile terminal, the power supply voltage of the mobile terminal is compared with a first threshold voltage, and frequency monitor is performed at a normal rate if the power supply voltage is higher than the first threshold voltage, and frequency monitor is performed at 1/N of the normal rate if the power supply voltage is lower than the first threshold voltage, where N is equal to or greater than 2. Additionally, the power level of an RF signal received by the mobile terminal is compared with a first reference level, and frequency monitor is performed at the normal rate if the power level of the RF signal is lower than the first reference level, and frequency monitor is performed at 1/N of the normal rate if the power level of the RF signal is higher than the first reference level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2002
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2006
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventor: Kazuhiro Arimitsu
  • Patent number: 7142895
    Abstract: A mobile telephone is arranged to detect when its battery voltage has fallen such that only the lowest segment of the four segment battery charge level bar of its LCD display is showing, and, in response, to transmit a “Restricted Delivery Mode” message to a predetermined network destination number, and then to disable its transmit function. An audio signal is generated to alert the user, and a warning message is displayed, e.g., Battery Low, Message Mode, Restricted Delivery Mode” is a selectable option via the telephone's menu. The mobile network, upon receipt of such a “Restricted Delivery Mode” message, sets a “Restricted Delivery Mode” flag in the user's profile. For an originating call the profile is accessed in the normal manner, and, if that flag is set, the network sends, e.g., a “Receive Only—Leave Message” announcement to the caller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2001
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2006
    Assignee: British Telecommunications
    Inventor: David J Heatley
  • Patent number: 7133704
    Abstract: A method is disclosed for manufacturing a wireless transceiver (5008) having a low power radio frequency (LPRF) component (5010) that powers down to conserve energy and powers up in response to a signal; and a second receiver (5014) that provides the signal via line (5018) in response to receipt of a radio frequency broadcast. The broadcast is targeted to activate particular transceivers by including in the broadcast identifications such as class designations, in which case the transceivers power up and form networks. A transceiver may include one or more identifications and may include a unique identification of the transceiver itself. The LPRF component is a Bluetooth radio, but the overall transceiver itself only draws about 10 to 15 ?A while actively awaiting and screening for a targeted broadcast.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2004
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2006
    Assignee: Terahop Networks, Inc.
    Inventor: Robert W. Twitchell, Jr.
  • Patent number: 7130667
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for expeditiously releasing network resources for a mobile station based on low battery and lost signal conditions are disclosed. The wireless network (104) receives a power down warning message from the mobile station (102) indicative of a low battery condition. The wireless network (104) then identifies whether a lost signal condition exists with the mobile station (102). In response to receiving the power down warning message and subsequently identifying the lost signal condition, the wireless network (104) causes network resources for the mobile station to be released. The wireless network (104) infers that the mobile station (102) has powered down due to low battery without enough time to send a power down registration to the wireless network (104).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2004
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2006
    Assignee: Research In Motion Limited
    Inventors: Xin Jin, Muhammad Khaledul Islam, Wen Zhao
  • Patent number: 7127228
    Abstract: A portable electronic device with power failure recovery, powered by a main power source, the device comprising a power detection module, a processor, a timing unit and a power management unit. The power detection module detects an output characteristic from the main power source and asserts an interrupt signal if the characteristic is below a threshold value. The processor asserts a turn-off signal and an enable signal in response to the interrupt signal. The timing unit asserts a notification signal at a predetermined time interval when the enable signal is asserted. Upon receipt of the turn-off signal, the power management unit disconnects the main power source from a circuit block. Moreover, the power management unit reconnects the main power source to the circuit block when the notification signal is asserted and the output characteristic of the main power source is beyond the threshold value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2001
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2006
    Assignee: Acer Communications and Multimedia Inc.
    Inventors: Hsin-Chin Chang, Chen-Huang Fan, Ben-Chuan Du
  • Patent number: 7117023
    Abstract: Even in an apparatus connected to another apparatus which periodically transmits a command, a mode transition such as transition to a power saving stand-by mode can be performed. A mode change for Bluetooth communications and a mode change in a stand-by state are performed in cooperation with each other to efficiently switch between stand-by modes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2001
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2006
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Tomoyuki Takeda, Muneki Nakao, Naomi Nakamura, Koji Okamura
  • Patent number: 7085594
    Abstract: The invention provides a portable telephone apparatus wherein, when a necessary voltage is not obtained from a cell because the cell is removed or consumed, data can be backed up with a simple configuration and at a low cost. A cell is removably accommodated in a cell accommodation portion of the body of a portable telephone apparatus, and the cell accommodation portion is closed up with a cell cover. Opening or closing of the cell cover is detected by a switch serving as a cell cover opening/closing detection apparatus in the body, and is outputted as an interrupt signal to a CPU through a control circuit. When the remaining power of the cell becomes little, a cell remaining power detection signal is outputted as another interrupt signal to the CPU through the control circuit. In response to either interrupt signal, stored data of a RAM are transferred to and protected by a flash ROM.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2006
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventor: Toshikatsu Hosoi
  • Patent number: 7072697
    Abstract: A method, software tool, computer program product and low power radio device are provided for transponder aided wake-up and connection set-up by detecting a wake up event in a sleep mode of the low power radio device, putting the radio device into an operative state, transmitting at least one advert message by radio transmission, wherein the low power radio devices put into a passive mode for a predetermined period of time in case no answer is received in response to the at least one transmitted advert message.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2006
    Assignee: Nokia Corporation
    Inventors: Antti Lappeteläinen, Tapani Ryhänen, Mauri Honkanen, Jari Hyyryläinen
  • Patent number: 7072637
    Abstract: A method and system for optimizing energy consumption during data file read/write operations in a battery powered disk-based memory system is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2006
    Assignee: Nokia Corporation
    Inventors: Jakke Mäkelä, Reza Serafat, Venkatesh Vadde
  • Patent number: 7062303
    Abstract: A communication transceiver may include a communications subsystem and an application subsystem. When one of the subsystems wishes to power down to save power, the other subsystem may defer or otherwise alter activities to accommodate and thereby synchronize with the powered down state of the other subsystem. This avoids unnecessarily recalling the powered down subsystem from the sleep mode and may result, in some embodiments, in improved efficiencies and reduced power consumption.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2001
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2006
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventor: Jose Guterman
  • Patent number: 7062250
    Abstract: In a cellular video telephone having a built-in battery, the remaining electric power of the battery is detected. The data communication speed and the display of image on a display are variably controlled based on the detected remaining battery power, that is, the communication speed is lowered and the display is turned off, as the remaining power decreases. Alternatively or in addition, the communication speed and the image display are controlled variably based on availability of external power source in the course of voice and image communication.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 1999
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2006
    Assignee: DENSO Corporation
    Inventor: Akio Kosaka
  • Patent number: 7027796
    Abstract: A frequency synthesizer device with a fast off-to-lock time to enable intermittent operation and achieve power savings through automatic control of its On/Off sequence. A relatively fast off-to-lock time is achieved by controlling the sequence of how various components of the synthesizer are reactivated. The voltage controlled oscillator is reactivated, at first operating at its previous operating frequency prior to being deactivated. The phase frequency detector is inhibited while its input signals, a reference signal and a feedback signal, are activated. In a channel hopping communication scheme, the phase frequency detector coarsely tunes the synthesizer to its previous operating frequency, and then jumps to its new operating frequency. Another aspect of the invention provides improved channel locking by guaranteeing that the phase of the feedback signal in a phase lock loop initially lags the phase of the reference frequency signal at the phase frequency detector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2006
    Assignee: RFMD WPAN, Inc.
    Inventors: Joel B. Linsky, Lars G. Jansson, Mark V. Lane
  • Patent number: 7020502
    Abstract: A transmitter has a dummy load circuit. The dummy load circuit is driven prior to writing of a rolling code into a memory. It consumes the amount of power corresponding to the amount of power consumed during the writing of the rolling code. The dummy load circuit monitors the condition of decrease in the source voltage of a battery. If the source voltage becomes lower than a predetermined reset voltage, the dummy load circuit resets the transmission data generation controller. With this operation, a wrong rolling code is not written into the memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2006
    Assignee: Denso Corporation
    Inventor: Munenori Matsumoto
  • Patent number: 6993316
    Abstract: A digital receiver unit (28) having a backup energy source (214) for use in a vehicle (250) that operates on a primary energy source (216) includes a receiver (203) powered by the primary energy source when the vehicle is operating, a switching mechanism (210 and 212) for switching the receiver between the primary energy source and the backup energy source and a controller (210) coupled to the receiver for controlling the switching mechanism. The receiver receives data during a scheduled predetermined time and the backup energy source powers the receiver during the scheduled predetermined time if the vehicle is not operating.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2001
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2006
    Assignee: XM Sattellite Radio, Inc.
    Inventors: Paul Marko, Craig Wadin
  • Patent number: 6990362
    Abstract: A communication unit (10) can have at least a first receiver (11) and a second receiver (12). The latter typically consumes more power than the former during ordinary operation. Pursuant to one embodiment a communication unit can use the lower-power receiver to detect energy on a monitored channel while the second receiver is retained in a reduced power mode of operation. Upon detecting an absence of channel activity the second receiver can be restored to normal operability to effect such activities as are then presently required.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2003
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2006
    Assignee: Motorola, Inc.
    Inventors: Floyd D. Simpson, Jaime A. Borras, Eryk Dutkiewicz, Raad Raad, Christopher G. Ware
  • Patent number: 6985713
    Abstract: This invention discloses a data communications network including at least one hub, a plurality of nodes connected via network connections to the hub, a power distribution subsystem operative to provide at least some power to at least some of the plurality of nodes via at least some of the network connections. The power distribution subsystem includes a node identification functionality providing identification of nodes via at least some of the plurality of network connections in order to enable an appropriate supply of power to individual nodes and a power supply responsive to the node identification functionality and supplying power to the at least some of the plurality of nodes via the at least some of the network connections.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2002
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2006
    Assignee: PowerDsine, Ltd.
    Inventors: Amir Lehr, Ilan Atias, Dror Korcharz, David Pincu, Alon Ferentz, Yair Darshan, Nadav Barnea
  • Patent number: 6978149
    Abstract: A transceiver which keeps circuitry associated with a receiver in a powered down state during periods when a Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) indicates that a signal being received is below a pre-determined threshold level, and which begins to power up the transmitter as soon as it is determined that a packet being received requires a response. The RSSI signal represents the strength of any signal current being received, and if the RSSI signal falls below a given threshold level, digital circuitry associated with the back-end circuitry of the receiver system is disabled. If the RSSI signal rises above the threshold level, the digital circuitry of the receiver is enabled. A control circuit within the transceiver processes the packet as it is received to determine whether the packet requires a response.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2000
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2005
    Assignee: Symbol Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Daniel J. Morelli, Michael L. Trompower
  • Patent number: 6973335
    Abstract: A system and method are presented for actively evaluating and adjusting device energy consumption in a personal area network (PAN). The method comprises: polling devices in the PAN to determine respective energy metrics; and, establishing network communications between devices using the energy metrics. More specifically, a master device establishes network communications rules between the devices as a result of the polling activity. The master device identifies energy metrics including the battery charge status for devices powered by battery and device link energy metrics associated with network link communication operations, determines the priority of operation for the devices, and optimizes device battery life in response to the energy metrics and the priority of operation for the devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2002
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2005
    Assignee: Kyocera Wireless Corp.
    Inventor: Robert Bruce Ganton
  • Patent number: 6973337
    Abstract: A mobile communications device (50) includes a plurality of LDOs (30) for supplying a stable voltage to various circuits on the device. In a normal mode, the LDO's main bandgap voltage source (12) supplies a voltage to a main amplifier (16). During deep sleep mode, sleep logic (40) places the LDOs in a sleeping state, where a low current sleep bandgap voltage source (32) supplies a voltage to a smaller, sleep amplifier (36), which maintains a charge on capacitors (24, 26) for a fast transitions to a full ON state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2002
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2005
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Jean-Christophe Jiguet, Lorenzo Indiani
  • Patent number: 6970679
    Abstract: A method detects relaying of a contactless data communication by a radio amplifier for intercepting and manipulating the communication to achieve an unauthorized authentication. The method involves transmitting an electromagnetic field successively from at least two spatially separated antennas of a transmitting unit, receiving the transmitted fields in a receiving unit, determining field strength vectors of the received fields allocated to each antenna, and comparing actual values of the vectors with prescribed nominal values stored in a nominal value field that maps the true field strength distribution in multi-dimensional space around the transmitting unit. The actual field strength magnitude and the reception angle between the transmitting antennas can be determined from the vectors and compared with stored nominal values in this manner. When the determined actual values match prescribed nominal values of the nominal value field, the occurrence of a relaying of the signal can be reliably excluded.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2005
    Assignee: ATMEL Germany GmbH
    Inventors: Werner Blatz, Helmut Moser
  • Patent number: 6963736
    Abstract: The invention relates generally to a method and an arrangement for receiving a radio frequency (RF) signal and an RF receiver. Particularly the invention relates to controlling and reducing power consumption in a radio receiver. The invention can advantageously be applied in receiving arrangements of radio systems, wherein information is transferred in bursts, such as a receiver of Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) system. According to the invention, during the time between two bursts the power supply is maintained in at least in some parts of the phase locked loop PLL (240), while one or several other parts (202, 204, 224, 225, 230, 262, 270) of the receiver are turned off for a certain time period between the two bursts. The present invention enables fast tuner lock-in time and still offers a considerable saving in total power consumption of the receiver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2005
    Assignee: Nokia Corporation
    Inventor: Iikka Tähtinen
  • Patent number: 6963765
    Abstract: A card-type wireless communication device and a wireless communication system incorporating it, designed for low power consumption, comprises the first control block for controlling the first switching block so as to turn on or off power for each of the transmitter circuit, the base-band signal processing circuit, and the interface circuit independently in accordance with a plurality of different detection signals generated by the receiving signal level detection block according to the intensity of the received high-frequency signal; and the second control block for controlling the second switching block so as to turn on or off a plurality of amplifiers independently and controlling the third switching block so as to bring any amplifier that is turned on into the non-shortcircuited state and any amplifier that is turned off into the shortcircuited state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2001
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2005
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kazumi Hattori, Kenji Itagaki
  • Patent number: 6959181
    Abstract: Data formulated according to a user's request signal is transmitted from a transmitter device to a receiver device under a wireless or a wired system. The transmitter device includes a transmission controller that formulates the data to be transmitted and memorizes the request signal as a backup signal. If the data transmission is not completed due to a power source trouble such as a voltage drop, the data to be transmitted is automatically formulated again based on the backup signal and sent out to the receiver. If the data transmission is successful, the backup signal is eliminated from a memory. Thus, the data requested by the user is transmitted without fail even if the transmitter becomes temporarily inoperative.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2005
    Assignee: Denso Corporation
    Inventors: Terutaka Maruyama, Akihiro Sasaki, Takashi Harada
  • Patent number: 6947775
    Abstract: The invention relates to power saving in portable terminals (100) with recording media (200). Conventionally, there is the problem that a battery (104) in the portable terminal (100) may become exhausted and as a result the original function of the terminal cannot be performed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2005
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Ryuichi Okamoto, Hideki Matsushima, Masayuki Kozuka, Katsumi Tokuda
  • Patent number: 6912411
    Abstract: An external power source control system for a portable telephone includes: a regulator 5 connected at an input thereof to a battery power source 1 or an external power source 2 and outputting a power supply voltage; a one-shot pulse generating circuit 6 generating a one-shot pulse when the external power source 2 is connected to the portable telephone; a reset circuit 7 outputting a reset signal when the power supply voltage reaches a predetermined threshold level; and a controller maintaining an output of the power supply voltage from said regulator 5, based on the one-shot pulse, and canceling the maintenance of the output of the power supply voltage from said regulator 5, based on a predetermined instruction indicating that the power is not necessary.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2000
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2005
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Shuichi Seki
  • Patent number: 6907278
    Abstract: A power monitoring device for use in an electronic device that operates in a low power mode from a removable battery module. The power monitoring device comprises a module that attaches to the electronic device in place of the battery module. The module has first battery contacts for interfacing with second battery contacts disposed in the electronic device. Attachment of the module causes the electronic device to operate in the low power mode. The power monitoring devices also comprises power supply circuitry for providing a supply voltage substantially similar to a voltage level provided by the removable battery module, and power measurement circuitry for measuring a power level supplied by the power supply circuitry.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2005
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Sudhindra P. Herle
  • Patent number: 6901275
    Abstract: An object of the present invention is to prevent from concentrating communication on one terminal, thereby avoiding an increase in power consumption and thereby prolonging the network configuration time when forming a network by a plurality of devices. A wireless communication device Pa established as a master receives battery information including battery remaining amount, communication possible time, a possibility of becoming a master, from wireless communication devices Pb, Pc, Pd established as slaves within a wireless network, and decides a candidate terminal for the next master based on the battery information. A master/slave switching instruction is issued to a candidate terminal for the next master from the wireless communication device Pa, under a master/slave switching condition, when the battery remaining amount of the master becomes the established value or less, and the like.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2000
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2005
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Kazunori Aoyagi
  • Patent number: 6898446
    Abstract: A portable telephone apparatus including a battery alarm function wherein consumption of a battery apparatus through use of an additional function other than a talking function can be prevented to assure a lowest operation voltage for the talking function. The portable telephone apparatus includes a rechargeable battery, and a battery supervision section. The battery supervision section includes a voltage detection section for supervising and detecting a voltage of the battery controlled by a control section, and an alarming section for issuing a lowest operation voltage level alarm under the control of the control section when the detected voltage drops to a lowest operation voltage level that a talking function of the portable telephone apparatus can operate. The alarming section issues a supervision voltage level alarm when the detected voltage of the battery drops to a supervision voltage level different from the lowest operation voltage level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2005
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventor: Takashi Muto
  • Patent number: 6898438
    Abstract: Power consumption of a mobile terminal is suppressed by regulating a data transmission rate, depending on a residual amount of battery power. Battery holding times and maximum data transmission rates are stored in a table. A battery holding time calculation unit calculates an estimated battery holding time on the basis of a residual amount of battery power detected by a battery residual amount detection unit and transmission power information generated by the transmission power control unit. A comparison unit reads out from the table the maximum data transmission rate which corresponds to the estimated battery holding time, and compares the read-out maximum data transmission rate with the data transmission rate to be used by the mobile terminal. By using a lower data transmission rate obtained as the comparison result, a call request is made by the mobile terminal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2000
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2005
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventor: Wataru Uchida
  • Patent number: 6876873
    Abstract: The mobile communication terminal uses a battery as a power source. The mobile communication terminal includes a detector 103, a decision section 105, a transmission-reserved controller 105, 107, and a reserved data transmission controller 105, 107. The detector 103 detects the voltage of the battery acting as a power source. The decision section 105 decides a difference relationship between a voltage level detected by the detector and a prescribed value. The transmission-reserved mail controller 105, 107 stores transmission data as transmission-reserved data into a storage, without starting the transmission operation, when the decision section decides that the detected voltage level is less than the prescribed value, in response to a data transmission request and then maintains its wait state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2005
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventor: Takahiro Suzuki
  • Patent number: 6859640
    Abstract: An electromagnetic transponder including an oscillating circuit adapted to extracting from a radiating field a high-frequency amplitude-modulated signal, circuitry for extracting from said high-frequency signal an approximately D.C. supply voltage, a demodulator of data carried by the high-frequency signal, and circuitry for separately regulating the supply voltage and a useful voltage carrying the data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 2, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2005
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics S.A.
    Inventors: Michel Bardouillet, Nathalie Donat, Vineet Tiwart