Patent ID: 7509150

Claim:
A method for reducing power consumption of a radio communication device, comprising: a. determining a start of a reception time interval comprising an assigned time slot during which the radio communication device may receive a transmission from another radio communication device, and wherein determining comprises monitoring a status of a time slot timer to determine the start of said assigned time slot when said time slot timer times out; b. after expiration of a first time interval that begins at the start of the reception time interval, enabling the receiver for at least a second time interval that expires prior to expiration of the reception time interval; c. during said second time interval, detecting whether a synchronization pattern is being transmitted to the radio communication device, which synchronization pattern is indicative of a transmission that follows the synchronization pattern during the reception time interval to the radio communication device from another radio communication device; and d. maintaining the receiver enabled beyond the second time interval during said reception time interval if the synchronization pattern is detected during said second time interval, otherwise placing the receiver in a low power consumption mode at expiration of the second time interval.