Power saving method and device thereof in internet-of-things

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10952140-B2
Application number	US-201816052662-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 2, 2018
Priority date	Nov 13, 2017
Publication date	Mar 16, 2021
Grant date	Mar 16, 2021

Abstract

The power saving method includes storing current connection information of an electronic device corresponding to an access point; disconnecting power supply to designated hardware to form a disconnection state after storing the current connection information; determining whether the disconnection state conforms to a release condition; and connecting the power supply to the designated hardware if the disconnection state conforms to the release condition. The connecting of the power supply to the designated hardware includes loading final connection information of the electronic device corresponding to the access point prior to disconnecting the power supply, and utilizing the final connection information to guide the electronic device to connect the access point.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A power saving method of an Internet-of-Things electronic device, comprising:
storing in a nonvolatile memory connection information of the electronic device corresponding to an access point which is currently connected to the electronic device in an active mode;
in a power saving mode,
disconnecting a power supply from designated hardware including a main CPU while maintaining power of a real time clock timer to form a disconnection state;
determining whether the disconnection state conforms to a release condition; and
switching the power saving mode to the active mode if the disconnection state conforms to the release condition;
wherein switching the power saving mode to the active mode, comprises:
connecting the power supply to the designated hardware including the main CPU;
utilizing the connection information stored in the nonvolatile memory to guide the electronic device to connect the access point;
wherein the main CPU does not perform wireless network connecting processes with the access point when switching the power saving mode to the active mode; and
wherein the release condition comprises a condition of indicating a service indication message for a beacon frame received from the access point, or a condition of sending a service indication message containing a data frame which is to be transmitted from the assess point to the electronic device, or a condition of passing a predetermined period of the disconnection state.

2. The power saving method of claim 1 , wherein the connection information comprises frequency, channel width, basic service set identifier, quality of service, and high throughput capability information of the electronic device.

3. The power saving method of claim 1 , wherein the electronic device is guided to connect the access point by initializing a wireless network related data structure including a storage pool and a wireless network control thread by the main CPU, and utilizing the connection information with the access point to set a wireless network connection related structure and network stack in the storage pool which is initialized and the wireless network control thread which is initialized by the main CPU.

4. The power saving method of claim 1 , wherein, in the power saving mode, the method further comprises periodically transmitting a gratuitous address resolution protocol (GARP) packet or an address resolution protocol (ARP) packet for updating an address resolution protocol table of the access point.

5. The power saving method of claim 4 , wherein the method further comprises storing header information of the packet being transmitted after transmitting the gratuitous ARP packet or the ARP packet.

6. An electronic device, comprises:
a communication unit for performing communication with an access point;
a nonvolatile memory unit;
a first control portion, after the electronic device performs a power saving mode, storing in the nonvolatile memory unit connection information of the electronic device corresponding to the access point which is currently connected to the electronic device, and then disconnecting a power supply from designated hardware to form a disconnection state, the designated hardware including the first control portion;
a second control portion, which is not included in the designated hardware;
when the disconnection state conforms to a release condition, the second control portion connects the power supply to the designated hardware, and the first control portion utilizes the connection information stored in the nonvolatile memory to guide the electronic device to connect the access point without wireless network connecting processes with the access point;
wherein the first control portion includes a main CPU; and
wherein the release condition comprises a condition of indicating a service indication message for a beacon frame received from the access point, or a condition of sending a service indication message containing a data frame which is to be transmitted from the assess point to the electronic device, or a condition of passing a predetermined period of the disconnection state.

7. The electronic device of claim 6 , wherein the first control portion initializes a wireless network related data structure including a storage pool and a wireless network control thread, and utilizes the connection information with the access point to set a wireless network connection related structure and network stack initialized storage pool and wireless network control thread.

8. The electronic device of claim 6 , wherein, in the disconnection state, the second control portion periodically transmits a gratuitous address resolution protocol (ARP) packet or an address resolution protocol (ARP) packet through the communication unit for updating an address resolution protocol table of the access point.

9. A non-transitory machine readable information storage medium configured for retaining program code recorded upon the non-transitory machine readable information storage medium that when retrieved, decoded, and executed on a computer system performs the method according to claim 1 .

Assignees

• Fci Inc
• Dialog Semiconductor Korea Inc

Inventors

• Park Chang Hawn

Classifications

• H04L61/58

  Caching of addresses or names · CPC title

• H04L2101/622

  Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses · CPC title

• H04W52/0216 Primary

  using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic indication frame · CPC title

• H04L61/103

  across network layers, e.g. resolution of network layer into physical layer addresses or address resolution protocol [ARP] · CPC title

• H04W52/0274 Primary

  by switching on or off the equipment or parts thereof · CPC title