Patent ID: 8284707

Claim:
A method comprising: initializing at least one of a base station (BS) or a mobile station (MS) to a hybrid power saving mode that utilizes a downlink (DL) status and an uplink (UL) status associated with the at least one of the BS or the MS during communication between the BS and the MS, wherein the DL status indicates status of an associated downlink and the UL status indicates status of an associated uplink; entering a first Power Saving Class (PSC) mode based on both the DL status and the UL status indicating a silence period, wherein both the DL status and the UL status indicate the silence period when the at least one of the BS or the MS transmits and receives a silence insertion descriptor (SID) frame; and entering a second PSC mode based on at least one of the DL status or the UL status-indicating a talk period, wherein operation in the first PSC mode comprises: maintaining a sleep interval and a listening interval according to a first power-saving mode (PSM) protocol; updating at least one of the DL status or the UL status; in response to both of the DL status and the UL status indicating the silence period, maintaining the sleep interval and the listening interval according to the first PSM protocol; and in response to at least one of the DL status or the UL status indicating the talk period, exiting the first PSC mode and entering the second PSC mode.