Receiver front-end power consumption reduction via linearity and sensitivity adaptation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10827431-B2
Application number	US-201615274933-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 23, 2016
Priority date	Jan 6, 2016
Publication date	Nov 3, 2020
Grant date	Nov 3, 2020

Abstract

A wireless communication device may operate in different power modes based at least on a decoding of a Physical Data Control Channel (PDCCH). The wireless communication device may operate its receiver front end circuitry (RX AFE) in any one of a number of different power modes, and may switch to operating the RX AFE in a different power mode based at least on decoding of the PDCCH. The transmit leakage does not need to be monitored, and the wireless communication device may adjust/adapt the sensitivity and linearity of its RX AFE based on PDCCH decoding and in some cases based additionally on one or more metrics, to reduce power consumption. The different power modes may correspond to different respective combinations of sensitivity level and linearity level at which the RX AFE is operating.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a processing element configured to cause a wireless communication device to:
operate in one of a plurality of different power modes, wherein each power mode of the plurality of different power modes corresponds to a different combination of sensitivity level and linearity level of a receiver (RX) front-end circuitry of the wireless communication device;
determine whether to switch from operating in a first power mode of the plurality of power modes to operating in a second power mode or a third power mode of the plurality of power modes, based at least on a decoding of a physical control channel by the wireless communication device;
switch from operating in the first power mode to operating in the second power mode based on the decoding of the physical control channel indicating that the wireless communication device is expected to decode a physical data channel; and
switch from operating in the first power mode to operating in the third power mode based on:
the decoding of the physical control channel indicating that the wireless communication device is not expected to decode the physical data channel; and
one or more metrics.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first power mode corresponds to the RX front-end circuitry operating at a higher sensitivity level relative to the third power mode and a lower linearity level relative to the second power mode;
wherein the third power mode corresponds to the RX front-end circuitry operating at a lower sensitivity level relative to the first power mode and second power mode and a lower linearity level relative to the second power mode; and
wherein the second power mode corresponds to the RX front-end circuitry operating at a higher sensitivity level relative to the third power mode and a higher linearity level relative to the first power mode and third power mode.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing element is configured to cause the wireless communication device to switch from operating in one of the plurality of power modes to operating in another of the plurality of power modes by causing the wireless communication device to adjust a current conducted by the RX front-end circuitry of the wireless communication device.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing element is further configured to cause the wireless communication device to switch from operating in the second power mode to operating in the first power mode once decoding of the physical data channel is complete.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more metrics comprise one or more of the following:
a time duration for which no grant signal has been received by the wireless communication device in downlink communications;
signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio at the wireless communication device;
type of applications running on the wireless communication device; or
data rate of data received by the wireless communication device.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first power mode corresponds to the RX front-end circuitry operating at a higher sensitivity level relative to the third power mode and a lower linearity level relative to the second power mode, wherein the processing element is configured to cause the wireless communication device to perform one or more of the following while operating in the first power mode:
carrier frequency scan;
frequency synchronization;
frame synchronization;
physical broadcast channel decoding; or
physical downlink control channel monitoring and decoding.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the third power mode corresponds to the RX front-end circuitry operating at a lower sensitivity level relative to the first power mode and second power mode and a lower linearity level relative to the second power mode, wherein the processing element is configured to cause the wireless communication device to perform one or more of the following while operating in the third power mode:
physical downlink control channel monitoring and decoding when downlink activity is low; or
physical downlink control channel monitoring and decoding when signal-to-noise ratio is high.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second power mode corresponds to the RX front-end circuitry operating at a higher sensitivity level relative to the third power mode and a higher linearity level relative to the first power mode and third power mode, wherein the processing element is configured to cause the wireless communication device to decode user data received on a physical downlink shared channel while operating in the second power mode.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of power modes comprise an ultra-low-power mode corresponding to the RX front-end circuitry being turned off, wherein the processing element is configured to cause the wireless communication device to turn off the RX front-end circuitry and leave a local oscillator turned on while operating in the ultra-low-power mode.

10. A non-transitory memory element storing programming instructions executable by a processing element to cause a wireless communication device to:
operate in one of a plurality of different power modes, wherein each power mode of the plurality of different power modes corresponds to a different combination of sensitivity level and linearity level of a receiver (RX) front-end circuitry of the wireless communication device;
determine whether to switch from operating in a first power mode of the plurality of power modes to operating in a second power mode or a third power mode of the plurality of power modes, based at least on a decoding of a physical control channel by the wireless communication device;
switch from operating in the first power mode to operating in the second power mode based on the decoding of the physical control channel indicating that the wireless communication device is expected to decode a corresponding physical data channel; and
switch from operating in the first power mode to operating in the third power mode based on:
the decoding of the physical control channel indicating that the wireless communication device is not expected to decode the physical data channel; and
one or more metrics.

11. The non-transitory memory element of claim 10 , wherein each different combination of sensitivity level and linearity level corresponds to a different one of:
the RX front-end circuitry operating at a high sensitivity level within a first sensitivity range and a low linearity level within a first linearity range;
the RX front-end circuitry operating at a low sensitivity level within a second sensitivity range and a low linearity level within the first linearity range;
the RX front-end circuitry operating at a high sensitivity level within the first sensitivity range and a high linearity level within a second linearity range; or
the RX front-end circuitry being turned off;
wherein the first sensitivity range comprises sensitivity levels higher than sensitivity levels comprised in the second sensitivity range, and wherein the first linearity range comprises linearity levels lower than linearity levels comprised in the second linearity range.

12. The non-transitory memory element of claim 10 , wherein the programming instructions are executable by the processing element to cause the wireless communication device to switch from operating in one of the plurality of power modes to operating in another of the plurality of power modes by causing the wireless communication device to adjust a current conducted by the RX front-end circuitry of the wireless communication device.

13. The non-transitory memory

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Smaini Lydi
• Tabet Tarik
• Elsayed Moustafa M

Classifications

• H04W52/0235 Primary

  where the received signal is a power saving command · CPC title

• H04W52/0241

  where no transmission is received, e.g. out of range of the transmitter · CPC title

• Y02D30/70

  in wireless communication networks · CPC title

• H04W52/0238

  where the received signal is an unwanted signal, e.g. interference or idle signal · CPC title

• Y02D70/142

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic