Patent ID: 7439875

Claim:
A method of conserving battery energy used in transmitting signals carrying data from a downhole location, using a transmission system where a predetermined set of data is to be transmitted once during a predetermined period, the method comprising the steps of: transmitting at least one signal during said period to transmit the set of data; selecting the time of transmission of said at least one signal; representing at least some of the data to be transmitted in terms of the time of transmission of said at least one signal, determining the data size of the predetermined set of data; determining the transmission characteristics of the channel over which the data is to be transmitted; and selecting at least one of: 1) the number of signals to send during the predetermined period; 2) the duration of each signal; 3) the power of each signal; and 4) the quantization of the predetermined period, so as to allow transmission of the required data during the predetermined period whilst minimising the battery energy used.