Patent ID: 8023557

Claim:
A method for controlling the operation of a low power radio platform that realizes the physical layer (PHY) with a software portion and an analog front end, the analog front end disposed between the DSP and an antenna, and realizes the MAC layer with a microcontroller unit (MCU), comprising the steps of: maintaining the DSP, analog front end and (MCU) in a low power mode of operation when not in data communication; when data communication is initiated, controlling with a hardware controller at least one hardware interface disposed between the DSP and the analog front end to initiate multiple time based tasks to transfer data to and from a buffer and, during the execution of these tasks, causing a task in the DSP to be initiated for processing of data in the buffers and, upon completion of at least one of the tasks, notifying the (MCU) of such; controlling the hardware interface with the hardware controller to terminate operation when predetermined time based events have occurred; and the (MCU) in at least one mode of operation thereof operable to initiate the operation of the hardware controller and then convert to a low power mode of operation to await notification.