Patent Publication Number: US-2016234778-A1

Title: Battery status indication within a wi-fi beacon

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present embodiments relate generally to wireless communications, and specifically to including battery status information within a beacon frame. 
     BACKGROUND OF RELATED ART 
     A Wi-Fi network may be formed by one or more wireless devices. At least one of the wireless devices may operate as an access point (AP) or to create a hotspot (e.g., as a “soft” AP) to manage the Wi-Fi network. Within the Wi-Fi network, the AP may provide a wireless communication channel or link with a number of other wireless devices that may operate as stations (STAs) or client devices. The AP may periodically broadcast a beacon frame to enable STAs within wireless range of the AP to establish and/or maintain the wireless communication link with the AP. 
     Some wireless devices may be battery powered. If a wireless device is operating as an AP and depletes the charge of its associated battery (e.g., below a threshold value), the AP may turn off one or more components (e.g., one or more transceivers) and wireless communications within the Wi-Fi network may abruptly cease. Communications for STAs within the Wi-Fi network may be limited until the STAs locate and associate with another AP. Time sensitive network services such as financial transactions or data streaming may be adversely affected when the associated AP turns off (or enters a low power state). Thus, there is a need to improve wireless communications when battery powered wireless devices are used to form and/or maintain a wireless network. 
     SUMMARY 
     This Summary is provided to introduce in a simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. 
     A battery charge information element to be included within a beacon frame and a method of its broadcast to other wireless devices are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method for operating a first wireless device may include determining a battery charge of a battery associated with the first wireless device, creating a battery charge information element including at least an indication of the determined battery charge, and transmitting, using a transceiver of the first wireless device, a beacon frame including the battery charge information element. In another embodiment, a first wireless device may comprise a transceiver, a battery, a processor, and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the first wireless device to: determine a battery charge of the battery, create a battery charge information element including at least an indication of the determined battery charge, and transmit, using a transceiver of the first wireless device, a beacon frame including the battery charge information element. For at least some embodiments, the battery charge information element may include a field storing one or more flag bits indicating the battery charge is greater than or not greater than one or more corresponding threshold values, may include a field storing a value indicating at least one of a remaining percentage of the battery charge or a depleted percentage of the battery charge or a combination thereof, and/or may include a field storing a value indicating a remaining operation time of the first wireless device based, at least in part, on the determined battery charge. 
     In addition, for at least some embodiments, the first wireless device may conserve power consumption by reducing the output transmit power levels of its transceivers in response to the determined battery charge falling below a threshold value. The first wireless device may also cease adding new stations to a network managed by the first wireless device in response to the determined battery charge being less than a threshold value. 
     Further, if the second wireless device cannot decode the battery charge information element included in the beacon frame, the first wireless device may transmit, to the second wireless device, an action frame indicating the battery charge of the first wireless device. In addition, the first wireless device may also transmit an action frame to a second wireless device in response to the determined battery charge being less than a threshold value, the action frame instructing the second wireless device to switch its association from the first wireless device to another wireless device. 
     Other wireless devices receiving the battery charge information element may be alerted as to the first wireless device&#39;s battery level, and may take one or more suitable actions in response thereto. When the first wireless device serves as an AP, and the second wireless device operates as a client device or STA, the one or more actions performed by the second wireless device may include completing pending wireless communication operations with the first wireless device, locating and associating with another wireless device or AP, and/or selecting another network type or protocol. More specifically, for at least one embodiment, in response to the battery charge information indicating a low battery condition of the first wireless device, the second wireless device may complete one or more wireless communication operations via a first wireless network facilitated by the first wireless device, scan for and join another wireless network prior to termination of the first wireless network, and/or display the low battery indication to a user. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present embodiments are illustrated by way of example and are not intended to be limited by the figures of the accompanying drawings. Like numbers reference like elements throughout the drawings and specification. 
         FIG. 1  depicts an example wireless network within which the present embodiments may be implemented. 
         FIG. 2  shows a block diagram of a beacon frame including a battery charge information element, in accordance with some embodiments. 
         FIG. 3  shows a wireless device that is one embodiment of the wireless devices of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 4  shows an illustrative flow chart depicting an example operation for transmitting a beacon frame in accordance with some embodiments. 
         FIG. 5  shows an illustrative flow chart depicting details for performing operations based on a determined battery charge, in accordance with some embodiments. 
         FIG. 6  shows an illustrative flow chart depicting an example operation for receiving a beacon frame, in accordance with some embodiments. 
         FIG. 7  shows an illustrative flow chart depicting details for performing operations based on a received battery charge information element, in accordance with some embodiments. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The present embodiments are described below in the context of Wi-Fi enabled devices for simplicity only. It is to be understood that the present embodiments are equally applicable for devices using signals of other various wireless standards or protocols. As used herein, the terms “wireless local area network (WLAN)” and “Wi-Fi” can include communications governed by the IEEE 802.11 standards, BLUETOOTH®, HiperLAN (a set of wireless standards, comparable to the IEEE 802.11 standards, used primarily in Europe), and other technologies used in wireless communications. In addition, although described below in terms of a WLAN system including an AP and a plurality of STAs, the present embodiments are equally applicable to other WLAN systems including, for example, WLANs including a plurality of APs, peer-to-peer (or Independent Basic Service Set) systems, Wi-Fi Direct systems, and/or Hotspots. Thus, the term “AP” includes access points, soft APs, group owners (GOs), and any other device that manages and/or controls access to and/or the operation of a wireless network. 
     In addition, although described herein in terms of exchanging frames between wireless devices, the present embodiments may be applied to the exchange of any data unit, packet, and/or frame between wireless devices. Thus, the term “frame” may include any frame, packet, or data unit such as, for example, protocol data units (PDUs), MAC protocol data units (MPDUs), and physical layer convergence procedure protocol data units (PPDUs). The term “A-MPDU” may refer to aggregated MPDUs. Further, the terms “sleep state” and “power save state” refer to a low-power operating mode in which one or more components of a Wi-Fi device or station are deactivated (e.g., to prolong battery life), and thus the terms “sleep state” and “power save state” may be used interchangeably herein. 
     In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth such as examples of specific components, circuits, and processes to provide a thorough understanding of the present disclosure. The term “coupled” as used herein means coupled directly to or coupled through one or more intervening components or circuits. Also, in the following description and for purposes of explanation, specific nomenclature is set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the present embodiments. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that these specific details may not be required to practice the present embodiments. In other instances, well-known circuits and devices are shown in block diagram form to avoid obscuring the present disclosure. Any of the signals provided over various buses described herein may be time-multiplexed with other signals and provided over one or more common buses. Additionally, the interconnection between circuit elements or software blocks may be shown as buses or as single signal lines. Each of the buses may alternatively be a single signal line, and each of the single signal lines may alternatively be buses, and a single line or bus might represent any one or more of a myriad of physical or logical mechanisms for communication between components. The present embodiments are not to be construed as limited to specific examples described herein but rather to include within their scope all embodiments defined by the appended claims. 
       FIG. 1  depicts an example wireless network  100  within which the present embodiments may be implemented. Wireless network  100  includes wireless devices  101 - 103 . Other embodiments of wireless network  100  may include different numbers of wireless devices. At least one of the wireless devices  101 - 103  may operate as an access point (AP) to provide network services and manage wireless network  100 . For the example of  FIG. 1 , wireless device  101  may function as the AP for wireless network  100 . Wireless device  101 , while serving as an AP, may operate according to the IEEE 802.11 family of standards (or according to other suitable wireless protocols). Thus, wireless device  101  may transmit beacon frames to enable other wireless devices to locate and associate with wireless device  101 . Additionally, wireless device  101  may connect to network services (e.g., internet services) via a back-haul connection (e.g., a wireless link such a cellular communication link or a hardwired link such as an Ethernet, co-axial, or optical cable) to provide access to the network services for other wireless devices (e.g., for wireless devices  102 - 103 ) operating as client devices or stations (STAs). For example, wireless device  102  and wireless device  103  may operate as STAs and may associate with wireless device  101  to access the network services. 
     For at least some embodiments, wireless network  100  may be a peer-to-peer (P2P) network. The P2P network, which may also be referred to as an ad-hoc network, an independent basic service set (IBSS) network, or a Wi-Fi Direct network, may operate according to the IEEE 802.11 family of standards (or according to other suitable wireless protocols). For these at least some embodiments, wireless device  101  may be designated as the Group Owner (GO), and wireless devices  102 - 103  may be designated as P2P clients. As the GO, wireless device  101  may serve as a gateway (e.g., to another network) for the P2P clients, and may perform many of the functions as an AP (e.g., setting up and tearing down the P2P network, admitting new members to the P2P network, broadcasting beacon frames, and so on). 
     Wireless devices  101 - 103  may be any suitable Wi-Fi enabled mobile wireless devices including, for example, cell phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), tablet devices, laptop computers, or the like. For at least some embodiments, wireless devices  101 - 103  may include one or more transceivers, one or more processing resources (e.g., processors and/or ASICs), one or more memory resources, and a power source (e.g., a battery). The memory resources may include a non-transitory computer-readable medium (e.g., one or more nonvolatile memory elements, such as EPROM, EEPROM, Flash memory, a hard drive, etc.) that stores instructions for performing operations described below with respect to  FIGS. 4-7 . 
     The one or more transceivers may include Wi-Fi transceivers, Bluetooth transceivers, cellular transceivers, and/or other suitable radio frequency (RF) transceivers (not shown for simplicity) to transmit and receive wireless communication signals. Each transceiver may communicate with other wireless devices in distinct operating frequency bands and/or using distinct communication protocols. For example, the Wi-Fi transceiver may communicate within a 2.4 GHz frequency band and/or within a 5 GHz frequency band in accordance with the IEEE 802.11 specification. The cellular transceiver may communicate within various RF frequency bands in accordance with a 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) protocol described by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) (e.g., between approximately 700 MHz and approximately 3.9 GHz) and/or in accordance with other cellular protocols (e.g., a Global System for Mobile (GSM) communications protocol). In other embodiments, the transceivers included within wireless devices  101 - 103  may be any technically feasible transceiver such as a ZigBee transceiver described by a specification from the ZigBee specification, a WiGig transceiver, and/or a HomePlug transceiver described a specification from the HomePlug Alliance. 
     Wireless device  101 , operating as an AP, may periodically broadcast (e.g., transmit) a beacon frame to enable STAs to associate with and connect to wireless device  101 . The beacon frames, which may include a traffic indication map (TIM) and timing synchronization function (TSF) values, are typically broadcast according to a target beacon transmission time (TBTT) schedule. Thus, the beacon frame broadcasts may be separated by a time interval known as the “beacon interval.” 
     In some embodiments, wireless device  101  may be a battery powered device (e.g., a mobile STA) and may, in response to determining its battery charge, create a battery charge information element including battery charge information, remaining operation time, and/or other battery-related information. The battery charge information element may be embedded within or appended to the beacon frame, a probe response, or any other suitable management frame, action frame, and/or control frame. For at least one embodiment, the battery charge information element may be a vendor-specific information element. The battery charge may be determined using any suitable circuit or method. An example battery charge information element and an example beacon frame are described in more detail below in conjunction with  FIG. 2 . 
       FIG. 2  shows an example frame format of a beacon frame  200 , in accordance with some embodiments. Beacon frame  200  may include a header  210 , a frame body  220 , a battery charge information element  230 , and a frame check sequence  240 . In some embodiments, header  210  may be a media access control (MAC) header according to the IEEE 802.11 specification. For example, header  210  may include frame control information, frame duration information, and source and destination address information. Frame body  220  may include data, such as message payload data. Frame check sequence  240  may include information for detecting and correcting transmission and/or reception errors associated with beacon frame  200 . For example, frame check sequence  240  may include cyclic redundancy check (CRC) data associated with data within beacon frame  200 . 
     Battery charge information element  230  may include one or more fields storing information associated with a battery charge of the transmitting wireless device (e.g., wireless device  101 ). For example, battery charge information element  230  may include a battery charge threshold flag field  232 , a battery charge level field  234 , and/or a remaining operation time field  236 . The battery charge threshold flag field  232  may store one or more flag bits indicating whether the battery charge of wireless device  101  is greater than (or not greater than) one or more corresponding threshold values. In some embodiments, values of the one or more battery charge flag bits may indicate whether the battery charge is greater than (or not greater than) one or more corresponding predetermined battery charges of the wireless device. For example, a first flag bit of battery charge threshold flag field  232  may indicate (e.g., when asserted to logic high) that the battery charge is greater than 50% of the maximum battery charge, a second flag bit of battery charge threshold flag field  232  may indicate (e.g., when asserted to logic high) that the battery charge is greater than 40% of the maximum battery charge, and so on. For such embodiments, un-asserted flag bits may indicate that the battery charge is not greater than the corresponding predetermined battery charge. 
     In other embodiments, the flag bits of the battery charge threshold flag field  232  may indicate a battery charge greater than (or alternately, less than) any technically feasible percentage of the maximum battery charge. In still other embodiments, values for the flag bits of battery charge threshold flag field  232  may remain at zero until the battery charge crosses or becomes equal to a threshold value. For example, the flag bits of battery charge threshold flag field  232  may be in a form of 0x0 until the battery charge is less than 50%. Table 1, shown below, illustrates possible flag bit values for battery charge threshold flag field  232  and corresponding remaining battery charge percentages. 
     
       
         
           
               
               
             
               
                 TABLE 1 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 Battery Charge Threshold Flag Value 
                 Remaining Charge of Battery 
               
               
                   
               
             
            
               
                 0x0 
                 100%-51%  
               
               
                 0x01 
                 50%-41% 
               
               
                 0x02 
                 40%-31% 
               
               
                 . . . 
                 . . . 
               
               
                 0xn 
                 5% or less 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     Battery charge level field  234  may include values or information indicating a percentage of the remaining and/or depleted battery charge of the wireless device. Thus, while the battery charge threshold flag field  232  may store one or more values indicating whether the battery charge is greater than (or not greater than) one or more predetermined battery charge levels or percentages, the battery charge level field  234  may store a value indicating the actual battery charge or percentage of battery charge. For example, the value stored in battery charge level field  234  may indicate a remaining charge of 50%, 40%, or any other percentage of full battery charge. 
     The remaining operation time field  236  may store values indicating a remaining battery charge in terms of remaining operation time of the wireless device. For example, remaining operation time field  236  may store values indicating that the wireless device  101  has enough remaining battery power to operate (e.g., to maintain the wireless link associated with the network  100  of  FIG. 1 ) for a given number N of minutes before wireless device  101  begins to shut down (e.g., and terminate the wireless link). For other embodiments, any other technically feasible battery information may be included within battery charge information element  230 . 
     In addition to creating battery charge information element  230  in response to its determined battery charge, wireless device  101  may perform one or more operations based on its determined battery charge. Details regarding these operations are described below in conjunction with  FIGS. 4 and 5 . A wireless device receiving beacon frame  200  may perform one or more operations based on battery charge information element  230  contained therein. Details regarding these operations are described below in conjunction with  FIGS. 6 and 7 . 
       FIG. 3  shows a wireless device  300  that is one embodiment of wireless devices  101 - 103  of  FIG. 1 . Wireless device  300  includes one or more transceivers  310 , a processor  330 , a battery  325 , a memory  340 , a number of antennas  345  (only one antenna shown for simplicity), and an optional display  320  (shown with dashed lines). The one or more transceivers  310  may be used to transmit signals to and receive signals from other wireless devices. In some embodiments, transceiver(s)  310  may include multiple transceivers to transmit and receive signals within different frequency bands and/or according to different protocols. For example, a first of transceivers  310  may transmit and receive Wi-Fi signals, a second of transceivers  310  may transmit and receive cellular signals, and a third of transceivers  310  may transmit and receive Bluetooth signals. The one or more transceivers  310  may also transmit beacon frame  200  (and other suitable frames). Battery  325  may supply power to all or part of wireless device  300 . Display  320 , when available, may display status information, and/or may provide a user interface for a user of device  300 . 
     Memory  340  may include a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (e.g., one or more nonvolatile memory elements, such as EPROM, EEPROM, Flash memory, a hard drive, etc.) that may store the following software modules:
         a display control module  342  to control display  320 ;   a battery charge information element (IE) creation module  343  to create the battery charge information element  230  based on the determined battery charge of wireless device  300 ;   a beacon generation module  344  to generate beacon frame  200  for transmission by the one or more transceivers  310 ;   a beacon decoding module  346  to decode beacon frames  200  received by the one or more transceivers  310  from another wireless device; and   a transceiver control module  348  to control transmissions and receptions by the one or more transceivers  310  and/or to control the output transmit power of the one or more transceivers  310 .
 
Each software module includes program instructions that, when executed by processor  330 , may cause the wireless device  300  to perform the corresponding function(s). Thus, the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of memory  340  may include instructions for performing all or a portion of the operations of  FIGS. 4, 5, 6 , and/or  7 .
       

     Processor  330 , which is coupled to transceivers  310 , battery  325 , memory  340 , and display  320 , may be any one or more suitable processors capable of executing scripts or instructions of one or more software programs stored in wireless device  300  (e.g., within memory  340 ). Although not shown for simplicity, processor  330  may include any suitable device or circuitry to determine the battery charge of battery  325 . For example, processor  330  may include an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) to measure a voltage of battery  325 . Processor may also include circuits to that interface with display  320 . The resulting battery charge information may be provided to transceivers  310  and/or memory  340  by processor  330 . 
     Processor  330  may execute display control module  342  to display messages (including text and/or images) on display  320 . For example, in response to determined battery charge levels of battery  325 , processor  330  may cause a low battery warning message to be displayed on display  320 . Any technically feasible message may be shown on display  320  in response to any determined battery charge level of battery  325 . 
     Processor  330  may execute battery charge information element creation module  343  to create the battery charge information element  230  based on the determined battery charge of wireless device  300 . 
     Processor  330  may execute beacon generation module  344  to create or generate beacon frame  200 . For example, processor  330  may determine a charge associated with battery  325 , create battery charge information element  230  to include values for one or more of battery charge threshold flag field  232 , battery charge level field  234 , and remaining operation time field  235 , and embed the battery charge information element  230  within beacon frame  200 . 
     Processor  330  may execute beacon decoding module  346  to decode some or all elements included in a received beacon frame  200  (e.g., from another wireless device operating as an AP or GO). For example, transceiver  310  may receive beacon frame  200 . Processor  330  may decode the received beacon frame  200  and determine battery charge information of the other wireless device based on the received battery charge information element  230 . 
     Processor  330  may execute transceiver control module  348  to transmit and receive wireless communications via transceiver  310 . In some embodiments, processor  330  may transmit beacon frame  200  generated by beacon generation module  344  via transceiver  310 . In other embodiments, processor  330  may receive beacon frame  200  via transceiver  310 . In still other embodiments, processor  330  may connect to (e.g., associate and/or authenticate with) a wireless device and/or AP via transceiver  310 . 
     In addition, processor  330  may adjust the output transmit power of the one or more transceivers  310  (e.g., to reduce power consumption) in response to the determined battery charge. 
       FIG. 4  shows an illustrative flow chart depicting an example operation  400  for transmitting a beacon frame  200  from wireless device  300 , in accordance with some embodiments. Referring also to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , a battery charge of battery  325  is determined ( 410 ). For example, processor  330  may determine the battery charge of battery  325  by using an ADC to measure a voltage associated with battery  325  (although other circuits and/or techniques may be used to determine the battery charge). Next, wireless device  300  may create a battery charge information element  230  ( 412 ). For example, wireless device  300  may populate battery charge threshold flag field  232 , battery charge level field  234 , and/or remaining operation time field  326  of the battery charge information element  230  with suitable values based on the determined battery charge. Note that the value(s) provided within one or more of the battery charge threshold flag field  232 , battery charge level field  234 , and/or remaining operation time field  326  of the battery charge information element  230  may indicate a low battery condition for the wireless device  300 . Next, wireless device  300  may transmit beacon frame  200  including the battery charge information element  230  using the one or more transceivers  310  ( 414 ). For example, wireless device  300  may embed battery charge information element  230  (determined at  412 ) within beacon frame  200  (or may append battery charge information element  230  to beacon frame  200 ). 
     Beacon frame  200  may then be transmitted by the one or more transceivers  310  to other wireless devices. Wireless device  300  may also perform one or more operations based on the determined battery charge ( 416 ). For one example, wireless device  300  may reduce the transmit power of its one or more transceivers  310  (e.g., when the determined battery charge falls below a threshold value or when the remaining operation time of wireless device  300  falls below a threshold time value). For another example, wireless device  300  may send an action frame, including battery charge information, to another wireless device to alert the other wireless device as to the battery charge level of wireless device  300 . The action frame may also include an instruction for the second wireless device to switch its association from the first wireless device to another wireless device. Operations may proceed to  410 . 
       FIG. 5  shows an illustrative flow chart depicting example operations that may be performed by wireless device  300  based on the battery charge of its battery  325  ( FIG. 4, 416 ), in accordance with some embodiments. Operations shown in  FIG. 5  may be performed in parallel or in series, and may be performed singularly or in combination. In some embodiments, an action frame may be transmitted based on the determined battery charge of wireless device  300  ( 502 ). For example, the action frame may be transmitted when the battery charge percentage is less than, greater than, or equal to a threshold value, when the battery charge level is less than, greater than, or equal to a threshold value, and/or when the remaining operation time is less than, greater than, or equal to a threshold value. The action frame may indicate a percentage of battery charge of wireless device  300 , a battery charge level of wireless device  300 , and/or a remaining operation time of wireless device  300 . In this manner, the action frame may provide information associated with a battery charge of wireless device  300  to another wireless device (e.g., a receiving device). 
     The action frame may also include an instruction for the second wireless device to switch its association from the first wireless device to another wireless device. For embodiments in which the action frame indicates that wireless device  300  may shutdown within an indicated time period (e.g., due to a low battery condition), the receiving device may prepare for the shutdown by searching for (e.g., scanning) and associating with another AP before the wireless link provided by wireless device  300  is terminated due to a low battery condition. 
     In some embodiments, the action frame may be transmitted to a receiving device that may not be able to decode the battery charge information element  230  embedded within the beacon frame  200  and/or within a probe response. For example, if the receiving device cannot decode the battery charge information element  230  embedded within the beacon frame or the probe response, the receiving device may indicate to wireless device  300  that the battery charge information element  230  cannot be decoded. In response thereto, wireless device  300  may store the MAC address (or other identifying information) of the receiving device, and thereafter may send, to the receiving device, an action frame (e.g., or some other suitable unicast frame) including battery charge information of the wireless device  300 . 
     In some embodiments, the wireless device  300  may perform one or more power saving operations based on the determined battery charge ( 504 ). For example, when the battery charge level or percentage falls below a threshold value, or when the remaining operation time falls below a threshold value, the wireless device  300  may reduce an output transmit power of its transceivers  310  or may cease accepting new STAs for a network managed by wireless device  300 . In some other embodiments, other technically feasible power saving operations may be performed such as, for example, shutting down idle software applications, turning off unused hardware accessories, and/or powering down wireless device  300 . Although only two example operations  502  and  504  are described above, in other embodiments, any other technically feasible operations may be performed by wireless device  300  based on its determined battery charge. 
       FIG. 6  shows an illustrative flow chart depicting an example operation  600  for receiving, by wireless device  300 , a beacon frame  200  including a battery charge information element  230 , in accordance with some embodiments. Referring also to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , a beacon frame  200  including battery charge information element  230  may be received by wireless device  300  while acting as a client device or STA ( 610 ). For example, wireless device  300  may receive the beacon frame  200  from an associated AP through transceiver  310 . Next, wireless device  300  may decode battery charge information element  230  included within beacon frame  200  ( 612 ). For example, wireless device  300  may decode battery charge information element  230  and determine the battery charge level or battery charge percentage of the associated AP. Next, the wireless device  300  may perform one or more operations based on the received battery charge information element  230  ( 614 ). For example, wireless device  300  may display a message to a user, search for another Wi-Fi network or AP, or perform other operations based on battery charge information element  230 . Example operations that may be performed based on a received battery charge information element  230  are described in detail below in conjunction with  FIG. 7 . Operations may proceed to  610 . 
       FIG. 7  shows an illustrative flow chart depicting example operations that may be performed by wireless device  300  based on battery charge information element  230  received from another wireless device acting as an AP or as a GO ( FIG. 6, 614 ), in accordance with some embodiments. Operations shown in  FIG. 7  may be performed in parallel or in series, and may be performed singularly or in combination. In some embodiments, a message may be displayed on display  320  associated with wireless device  300  ( 702 ). For example, a message to a user may be displayed on display  320  to indicate that the associated AP may shutdown within a determined time period. In some embodiments, the time period may be indicated by battery charge information element  230 . In another example, display  320  may prompt the user to search for and select an alternative AP. In yet another example, display  320  may show a countdown of a remaining operation time of the associated AP (e.g., for which the wireless link provided thereby may remain active). 
     In some embodiments, wireless device  300  may search for an alternative Wi-Fi network ( 704 ). For example, in response to battery charge information element  230  indicating a low battery condition in the other wireless device, wireless device  300  may begin to scan for an alternative Wi-Fi network to associate with when a currently associated AP is to become unavailable. In some embodiments, when battery charge information element  230  indicates that a battery charge of the current AP is less than a threshold, then wireless device  300  may begin to scan for the alternative Wi-Fi network. In some other embodiments, wireless device  300  may complete any pending wireless communication operations prior to scanning for the alternative Wi-Fi network. If an alternative Wi-Fi network is located, wireless device  300  may establish a new network connection with the alternative Wi-Fi network prior to the wireless link provided by the other wireless device becoming unavailable. 
     In some embodiments, wireless device  300  may connect to a network through a different transceiver ( 706 ). For example, wireless device  300  may include a Wi-Fi transceiver and a cellular transceiver. Wireless device  300  may be connected to a first network through the Wi-Fi transceiver. In response to battery charge information element  230 , wireless device  300  may connect to a second network through the cellular transceiver. In some embodiments, wireless device  300  may complete any pending wireless communication operations associated with the Wi-Fi transceiver prior to connecting to the second network associated with the cellular transceiver. Although only three example operations  702 ,  704 , and  706  are described above, in other embodiments, any other technically feasible operations may be performed by wireless device  300  based on battery charge information element  230 . 
     In the foregoing specification, the present embodiments have been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the broader scope of the disclosure as set forth in the appended claims. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative sense rather than a restrictive sense.