Patent ID: 7061993

Claim:
A method of reducing power requirement of a front end device in a receiver, comprising the steps of: measuring a received signal strength (RSS) of a signal received at an antenna; comparing the received signal strength to a predetermined threshold; and bypassing a filter and an amplifier in the front end if the received signal strength is greater than said predetermined threshold; wherein said front end comprises: a Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) having an LNA input coupled to a signal source and an LNA output, a filter having an input coupled to the LNA output and a filter output, an amplifier having an amplifier input coupled to the filter output and an amplifier output, and a bypass circuit comprising a bypass switch coupled between the input of the filter and the amplifier output; wherein said step of bypassing comprises closing the bypass switch; wherein said predetermined threshold point comprises a minimum recognizable signal strength plus an amount of power representing error in RSS measurement and signal strength losses less an amount of amplification of the LNA.