PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-10271283-B2
Application Number: US-201615151990-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B2

Title: Apparatus, systems and methods for power management in mobile devices

Abstract:
An apparatus, system and method for determining whether a battery alarm of a UE is asserted, reducing a transmission duty cycle of the UE to zero for a first predetermined time period when the battery alarm is asserted, determining whether the battery alarm has been de-asserted after the first predetermined time period and when the battery alarm has not been de-asserted, increasing the transmission duty cycle to a first threshold level for a second predetermined time period, wherein the first threshold level is less than a full transmission duty cycle of the UE. When the battery alarm has been de-asserted, increasing the transmission duty cycle to a second threshold level for a third predetermined time period, wherein the second threshold level is less than the full transmission duty cycle of the UE, and wherein the second threshold level is greater than the first threshold level.

Claims:
The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A method, comprising:
 at a user equipment (UE) that communicates with a wireless network via a base station:
 determining whether a battery alarm of the UE is asserted; 
 reducing a transmission duty cycle of the UE to zero for a first predetermined time period when the battery alarm is asserted; 
 determining whether the battery alarm has been de-asserted after the first predetermined time period; and 
 when the battery alarm has not been de-asserted, increasing the transmission duty cycle to a first threshold level for a second predetermined time period, wherein the first threshold level is less than a full transmission duty cycle of the UE. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 when the battery alarm has been de-asserted, increasing the transmission duty cycle to a second threshold level for a third predetermined time period, wherein the second threshold level is less than the full transmission duty cycle of the UE, and wherein the second threshold level is greater than the first threshold level. 
 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 after the third predetermined time period, determining whether the battery alarm has been de-asserted; 
 when the battery alarm has not been de-asserted, reducing the transmission duty cycle of the UE to zero for the first predetermined time period; and 
 when the battery alarm has been de-asserted, increasing the transmission duty cycle to the full transmission duty cycle. 
 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 when the transmission duty cycle of the UE is set to the first or second threshold level, determining whether a pre-radio link failure (pre-RLF) alarm has been asserted for the UE; 
 when the pre-RLF alarm is asserted, continuing a current transmission duty cycle of the UE for a fourth predetermined time period and notifying components of the UE of the pre-RLF alarm; and 
 after the fourth predetermined time period, increasing the transmission duty cycle to the full transmission duty cycle. 
 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 when the pre-RLF alarm is asserted, determining whether the pre-RLF alarm has been de-asserted; and 
 when the pre-RLF alarm has been de-asserted, decreasing the transmission duty cycle to the first threshold level. 
 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 2 , wherein the first threshold level of the transmission duty cycle is 5-50% of the full transmission duty cycle of the UE and the second threshold level of the transmission duty cycle is 20-75% of the full transmission duty cycle of the UE. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 after the second predetermined time period, determining whether the battery alarm has been de-asserted; 
 when the battery alarm has not been de-asserted, maintaining the transmission duty cycle of the UE to the first threshold level; and 
 when the battery alarm has been de-asserted, increasing the transmission duty cycle to a second threshold level for a third predetermined time period. 
 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining a number of missing uplink events, wherein the missing uplink events are events that the base station is scheduled to receive from the UE in an uplink, but are not received by the base station; and 
 when the number of missing uplink events meets a pre-radio link failure (“pre-RLF”) threshold, asserting a pre-RLF alarm. 
 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 when the pre-RLF alarm is asserted, determining whether the wireless network is aware that the UE is currently connected to the base station; and 
 when it is determined the wireless network is aware the UE is currently connected to the base station, de-asserting the pre-RLF alarm. 
 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 9 , wherein the determining whether the wireless network is aware that the UE is currently connected to the base station includes one of:
 receiving an acknowledgement (“ACK”) from the base station; or 
 sending a measurement report to the base station. 
 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the battery alarm is a pre-undervoltage lockout (“pre-UVLO”) alarm that indicates a battery voltage has dropped below a predetermined battery voltage threshold. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the base station is an evolved Node B (“eNB”) and the wireless network is a Long Term Evolution (“LTE”) network or an LTE-Advanced network. 
     
     
       13. A user equipment (“UE”), comprising:
 a battery; 
 a power management component that monitors the battery and asserts a battery alarm; and 
 a baseband processor that controls a transmission duty cycle of the UE, wherein the baseband processor reduces the transmission duty cycle of the UE to zero for a first predetermined time period when the battery alarm is asserted and wherein, after the first predetermined time period, the baseband processor further increases the transmission duty cycle to a first threshold level for a second predetermined time period when the battery alarm continues to be asserted and increases the transmission duty cycle to a second threshold level for a third predetermined time period when the battery alarm has been de-asserted. 
 
     
     
       14. The UE of  claim 13 , wherein the first and second threshold levels are less than a full transmission duty cycle of the UE, and wherein the second threshold level is greater than the first threshold level. 
     
     
       15. The UE of  claim 13 , wherein, after the third predetermined time period, the baseband processor reduces the transmission duty cycle of the UE to zero for the first predetermined time period when the battery alarm has not been de-asserted or increases the transmission duty cycle to a full transmission duty cycle when the battery alarm has been de-asserted. 
     
     
       16. The UE of  claim 13 , wherein the baseband processor further monitors an uplink with which the UE is connected to a wireless network and asserts a pre-radio link failure (“pre-RLF”) alarm based on uplink events. 
     
     
       17. The UE of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 additional components, wherein the baseband processor notifies the additional components of the UE of the pre-RLF alarm and wherein the additional components reduce a power consumption based on a receipt of the notification of the pre-RLF alarm. 
 
     
     
       18. The UE of  claim 13 , wherein, after the second predetermined time period, the baseband processor maintains the transmission duty cycle of the UE to the first threshold level when the battery alarm has not been de-asserted, or increases the transmission duty cycle to the second threshold level for the third predetermined time period when the battery alarm has been de-asserted. 
     
     
       19. A baseband processor of a user equipment (“UE”), comprising:
 a general purpose input receiving an indication that a battery alarm has been asserted for the UE; and 
 circuitry configured to control a transmission duty cycle of the UE, wherein the circuitry reduces the transmission duty cycle of the UE to zero for a first predetermined time period when the battery alarm is asserted and wherein, after the first predetermined time period, the circuitry further increases the transmission duty cycle to a first threshold level for a second predetermined time period when the battery alarm continues to be asserted and increases the transmission duty cycle to a second threshold level for a third predetermined time period when the battery alarm has been de-asserted. 
 
     
     
       20. The baseband processor of  claim 19 , further comprising:
 circuitry configured to monitor an uplink with which the UE is connected to a wireless network and assert a pre-radio link failure (“pre-RLF”) alarm based on uplink events; and 
 a general purpose output sending an indication to other components of the UE that the pre-RLF alarm has been asserted.

Description:
PRIORITY INFORMATION/INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE 
     This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application 62/161,217 entitled “Apparatus, Systems and Methods For Power Management in Mobile Devices,” filed on May 13, 2015, and U.S. Provisional Application 62/163,138 entitled “Apparatus, Systems and Methods For Power Management in Mobile Devices,” filed on May 18, 2015, the entirety of both provisional applications are incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     In wireless telecommunication networks, the Long-Term Evolution, or “LTE,” is defined as a standard for wireless communication of high-speed data for mobile phones and data terminals. The LTE standard is developed by the Third Generation Partnership Project (“3GPP”) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (“IEEE”). An exemplary LTE access network is a wireless network of base stations, or evolved NodeBs (“eNBs”), that are interconnected without a centralized intelligent controller. By distributing the intelligence among the eNBs in LTE network, the time for setting up a connection with a mobile device (e.g., user equipment (UE)) is reduced as well as the time required for a handover to another eNB. Furthermore, through the development of the LTE standard, mobile devices are able to increase their capacity and speed using a different radio interface together with core network improvements. 
     As with any Radio Access Technology, an exemplary LTE network utilizes radio link budgeting. A link budget on a UE is described as an account of the gains and losses from the transmitter of the UE, through the medium (free space, cable, waveguide, fiber, etc.) to the receiver in the telecommunication system. The link budget calculations may be used to estimate a maximum allowed signal attenuation between the UE and the eNB. For instance, an exemplary link budget calculation may be: received power (dBm)=transmission power+gains−losses. 
     Certain classes of LTE devices, such as the UE, are expected to operate at the maximum allowable transmit power in the uplink communication to the eNB, such as +23 dBm as defined by the 3GPP. However, while operating at the maximum transmit power, the UE also consumes a large amount of power from the battery. 
     For battery-constrained systems, a large current draw from multiple components at the same time is likely to trigger a battery alarm, such as an undervoltage lockout (“UVLO”), if the battery voltage drops to a critical value. An UVLO may be used to monitor the battery charge and/or turn off an electronic circuit in the UE if the battery voltage drops below a specific threshold, thereby protecting the components of the UE. One skilled in the art would understand that this condition may be referred to as “peak power syndrome.” Accordingly, there is a need for systems and methods to mitigate the effects of peak power syndrome through improved transmission power management. 
     SUMMARY 
     Described herein are an apparatus, systems and methods for power management of a user equipment (“UE”) in a wireless communication system, such as an LTE network. A method includes determining whether a battery alarm of the UE is asserted, reducing a transmission duty cycle of the UE to zero for a first predetermined time period when the battery alarm is asserted, determining whether the battery alarm has been de-asserted after the first predetermined time period and when the battery alarm has not been de-asserted, increasing the transmission duty cycle to a first threshold level for a second predetermined time period, wherein the first threshold level is less than a full transmission duty cycle of the UE. 
     Further described is a user equipment (“UE”) having a battery, a power management component that monitors the battery and asserts a battery alarm and a baseband processor that controls a transmission duty cycle of the UE, wherein the baseband processor reduces a transmission duty cycle of the UE to zero for a first predetermined time period when the battery alarm is asserted and wherein, after the first predetermined time period, the baseband processor further increases the transmission duty cycle to a first threshold level for a second predetermined time period when the battery alarm continues to be asserted and increases the transmission duty cycle to a second threshold level for a third predetermined time period when the battery alarm has been de-asserted. 
     Also described is a baseband processor of a user equipment (“UE”) having a general purpose input receiving an indication that a battery alarm has been asserted for the UE and circuitry configured to control a transmission duty cycle of the UE, wherein the circuitry reduces a transmission duty cycle of the UE to zero for a first predetermined time period when the battery alarm is asserted and wherein, after the first predetermined time period, the circuitry further increases the transmission duty cycle to a first threshold level for a second predetermined time period when the battery alarm continues to be asserted and increases the transmission duty cycle to a second threshold level for a third predetermined time period when the battery alarm has been de-asserted. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  shows an exemplary LTE mobile device or UE for power management according to various exemplary embodiments described herein. 
         FIG. 2  shows an exemplary method for power management in LTE mobile devices, such as a UE, according to various exemplary embodiments described herein. 
         FIG. 3  shows an exemplary method for asserting a pre-radio link failure (“RLF”) alarm at the UE during peak power syndrome according to various exemplary embodiments described herein. 
         FIG. 4  shows an exemplary graph illustrating the percentage of transmission duty cycle used for various states of the LTE modem of the UE according to various exemplary embodiments described herein. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The exemplary embodiments may be further understood with reference to the following description and the appended drawings, wherein like elements are referred to with the same reference numerals. The exemplary embodiments describe an apparatus, system and method for managing the transmission power of mobile devices in a wireless communication network. In the exemplary embodiments, a mobile device will be described as user equipment (“UE”) and the base station will be described as an evolved Node B (“eNB”) base station, which is generally known as being a base station associated with LTE networks. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that UEs, base stations or access points operating in accordance with other network standards may also implement the exemplary embodiments in accordance with the functionalities and principles described herein. 
       FIG. 1  shows an exemplary apparatus  100  for peak power management at a mobile device in a wireless network according to various exemplary embodiments described herein. The exemplary apparatus  100  may include the mobile device, such as an UE  110 , in communication with a network, such as an LTE network. Furthermore, the UE  110  may include a baseband processor having an LTE modem  120 , a power management component  130 , a battery  140 , additional components  150  (e.g., application processor, display, camera, camera flash, any other components that may be power managed, etc.), LTE radio frequency (“RF”) transceivers and power amplifiers (“PAs”)  160 , and at least one antenna  170 . Those skilled in the art will understand that the UE  110  may be any type of electronic component that is configured to communicate via a network, e.g., mobile phones, tablet computers, desktop computers, smartphones, phablets, embedded devices, wearables, etc. 
     The baseband processor  120  manages the radio functions of the UE  110 . The baseband processor  120  and the LTE RF and PA  160  may be, for example, general purpose processors, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), another type of integrated circuit and these processors may execute software programs or firmware. The power management component  130  may be a separate hardware component such as an integrated circuit or processor (that may execute software or firmware) to perform the functions described herein for the power management component  130 . In another exemplary embodiment, the power management component  130  is an integral part of the battery  140 , e.g., the battery itself through the use of a connected integrated circuit performs the functionalities of the power management component  130 . In a further exemplary embodiment, the functionalities of the power management component  130  may be performed by a different hardware device of the UE  110  such as the application processor (not shown), the baseband processor  120 , etc. In this exemplary embodiment, the power management component  130  may be software or firmware executed by these other hardware components. 
     In order to perform the transmission of the LTE signals, the baseband processor  120  may receive digitized data from another component, such as the application processor, and encode the data for transmission. The encoded data is output to transmit circuitry, where it is modulated by one or more carrier signals having a desired transmit frequency or frequencies. The LTE RF and PA  150  may then amplify the modulated carrier signals to a level appropriate for transmission, and deliver the modulated carrier signals via the antenna  170  to the network. 
     The exemplary antenna  170  may transmit and receive radio frequency signals bearing information to/from one or more remote transmitters provided by a base station (e.g., eNB) within the wireless network. The power management component  130  may monitor the battery  140  usage by the apparatus  100  and inform the baseband processor  120  of a battery alarm based on the usage of the battery  140 . For instance, the battery alarm may be an undervoltage lockout (“UVLO”) alarm indicating that the voltage at the battery  140  has dropped below a predetermined threshold. The baseband processor  120  may provide RF control information to the LTE RF and PA  160 , and may also provide LTE priority indicators to the other components  150  of the UE  110 . As will be described in greater detail below, the LTE priority indicators inform the other components  150  when the baseband processor  120  has determined that an LTE uplink signal must be sent by the apparatus  100  or the network may declare a radio link failure (RLF) for the apparatus  100 . The LTE priority indicators notify the other power consumers of the UE  110 , such as the display, the camera, camera flash, etc. to reduce their respective power consumption to a lower power state. Accordingly, the LTE modem and processor  120  may then be assured that there is sufficient battery power to transmit uplink LTE signals and notify the network that the UE  110  is active and prevent the network from declaring an RLF. 
     According to the exemplary embodiments described herein, the exemplary baseband processor  120  may process the digitized received signal to extract the information or data bits conveyed in the received signal. This processing may include demodulation, decoding, and error correction operations. Accordingly, the baseband processor  120  may be implemented in one or more digital signal processors (“DSPs”) or application-specific integrated circuits (“ASICs”). As described above, the information received from the network (e.g., via any one of the eNBs) may be used by the UE  110  to manage the power consumption of the devices. Specifically, to mitigate for peak power syndrome, the exemplary systems and methods described herein may manage the transmission power of the LTE modem  120  to help reduce the current burden on the battery  140 . As the apparatus  100  permits, the UE  110  may then gradually increase the transmission duty cycle of the LTE modem  120  to resume normal operation of the UE  110 . 
     One skilled in the art would understand that a duty for the exemplary UE  110  may describe repeating active state behavior (e.g., on or off) of the LTE modem  120 . The duty cycle may include both duty cycle period and duty cycle percentage. The duty cycle period may define how often the on/off pattern repeats (e.g., measured in milliseconds) and the duty cycle percentage may define the fraction of the period that LTE is turned on. As will be described in greater detail below, exemplary duty cycle percentages of the LTE modem  120  may include an unconstrained duty cycle (e.g., 100% LTE transmission cycle) for normal usage, a limited duty cycle (e.g., 50% or 25% LTE transmission cycle), and a zeroed duty cycle (e.g., 0% LTE transmission cycle) or a “blanked” LTE uplink transmission cycle. 
       FIG. 2  shows an exemplary method  200  for power management in LTE mobile devices, such as the UE  110 , according to various exemplary embodiments described herein. It is noted that the entirety of method  200  may be performed by the UE  110  capable of monitoring a battery performance alarm (e.g., a pre-UVLO notification) and adjusting the transmission power of the device. As was described above, the UVLO alarm is an indication that the battery voltage is below a predetermined threshold. The pre-UVLO notification is an indication that the battery voltage is near the UVLO threshold. Various devices may set the pre-UVLO notification at some level before UVLO threshold based on the expected voltage drain of the components of the UE  110 . For example, a first UE  110  that has many peripheral features such as a camera, multiple radios, etc., may set the pre-UVLO notification threshold at a greater voltage compared to the UVLO voltage threshold than a second UE  110  that has less peripherals, because the first UE  110  with many peripherals is likely to drain the battery faster through the use of the peripherals. However, the manufacturer (or other entity) may set the pre-UVLO notification to any value above the UVLO threshold. The exemplary method will be described with reference to the power management component  130  asserting a pre-UVLO alarm. However, those skilled in the art will understand that other types of battery alarms may also be used as a trigger in the same manner as described for the pre-UVLO alarm in the method  200 . 
     In  205 , the UE  110  is operating in state S 0 , which may be considered a normal condition wherein the duty cycle is unconstrained and has a duty cycle of 100% LTE transmission (e.g., all scheduled LTE transmissions/receptions are performed). While in state S 0 , the power management component  130  may monitor the usage of the battery  140 . For example, the power management component  130  may monitor the network scheduling information history to monitor and compute an averaged window duty cycle. This is one exemplary metric that the power management component  130  may use to decide if a battery issue may arise. However, there may also be other manners of monitoring the battery usage. If the power management component  130  determines that there is an issue with the usage of the battery  140 , the power management component  130  may assert a pre-UVLO alarm ( 210 ). If the pre-UVLO alarm is asserted, the baseband processor  120  may receive this alert via, for example, a general purpose input/output (“GPIO”) of the baseband processor  120 , e.g., the BB_TX_INHIBIT GPIO. Accordingly, this alert may be kept as asserted as long as the pre-UVLO is actively asserted, e.g., the BB_TX_INHIBIT GPIO may be held at a high value when the pre-UVLO is actively asserted. If there is no pre-UVLO alarm asserted, the baseband processor  120  may continue operating the UE  110  in state s 0 . 
     If the pre-UVLO alarm is asserted, the method  200  continues to  215 , where the UE  110  ceases transmissions or blanks its transmission power. In other words, the UE  110  reduces its transmission duty cycle to 0% of standard operations. This blanked transmission duty cycle may be referred to as state S 1  for the LTE modem  120  of the UE  110 . It may be noted that the state S 1  is not a sustainable state, because as described above, if the network does not receive any transmissions from the UE  110 , the network may declare an RLF for the UE  110  and require that the UE  110  re-connect to the network via the eNB. This reconnection process may consume more power and will provide a less than satisfactory user experience. 
     Thus, the method  200  may advance to  220  after a pre-determined time period has passed with the UE  110  in state S 1 . In one example, the pre-determined time period may be 3 ms. However, those skilled in the art will understand that the pre-determined time period may be different based on any number of factors, e.g., type of UE, type of network, path loss, coverage area, etc. In  220 , the UE  110  may determine whether or not the pre-UVLO alarm has been de-asserted. Specifically, the power management component  130  of the UE  110  may monitor the battery  140  for the battery alarm and notify the baseband processor  120  of the current state of the pre-UVLO alarm (e.g., asserted or de-asserted). 
     If the pre-UVLO alarm remains asserted, the exemplary method  200  may advance to  225 , wherein the UE  110  transitions from state S 1  to state S 2 . While in state S 2 , the UE  110  may increase to a higher duty cycle that is intermediate between the normal duty cycle of state S 0  and the blanked state S 1 , such as 25% of standard operations. The UE  110  may remain in state S 2  as long as the pre-UVLO alarm remains asserted. During this time in state S 2 , the UE  110  may continue to monitor whether the pre-UVLO alarm remains asserted ( 220 ). 
     If the pre-UVLO alarm has been de-asserted as determined in  220 , either after the UE  110  has been in state S 1  for the pre-determined time period or while the UE  110  has been in state S 2 , the method continues to  230  where the UE  110  transitions to state S 3  that may be a higher duty cycle that is intermediate between the normal duty cycle of state S 0  and the blanked state S 1 , such as 50% of standard operations. Thus, in this example, the state S 3  intermediate state has a higher duty cycle than the state S 2  intermediate state. With the pre-UVLO alarm de-asserted, the UE  110  may operate on a limited transmission duty cycle, such as a 50% cycle (state S 3 ), for a second predetermined period of time. Thus, the UE  110  may transition either from state S 1  or state S 2  to state S 3 , depending on when the pre-UVLO alarm has been de-asserted. The state S 3  may be considered a transition state to allow the UE  110  to transition back to state S 0  without a ping-pong effect where the UE  110  transitions back and forth between state S 0  and state S 1  constantly. Thus, the transition to a 50% duty cycle in state S 3  allows that if the pre-UVLO alarm remains de-asserted for the second pre-determined period of time (as determined in  210 ), the UE  110  may then transition back to the normal state S 0  ( 205 ). However, if the pre-UVLO alarm is re-asserted while the UE is in state S 3  (as determined in  210 ), the UE  110  may then transition to state S 1  ( 215 ). 
     While the UE  110  is in either state S 2  or state S 3  (e.g., 25% duty cycle or 50% duty cycle, respectively), the baseband processor  120  may raise a pre-radio link failure (“RLF”) alarm ( 235 ). The pre-RLF alarm may be raised at a point in time where the baseband processor  120  considers that it is imminent that the network may declare an RLF for the UE  110  because it has not received any uplink communications from the UE  110 . Examples of reasons that the baseband processor  120  may consider an RLF imminent include that a third pre-determined period of time has passed since an uplink transmission has been sent and acknowledged, a number of non-acknowledgements (NACKs) have been received from the network, etc. Those skilled in the art will understand that there may be any number of reasons that the baseband processor  120  may consider an RLF declaration by the network to be imminent and any of these reasons may be used by the baseband processor  120  to trigger the pre-RLF alarm in  235 . An exemplary method of determining a pre-RLF alarm will be described in greater detail in relation to method  300  of  FIG. 3 . 
     If there is no pre-RLF alarm while the UE is in either of states S 2  or S 3 , the UE  110  continues operating as in accordance with the method  200 . However, if a pre-RLF alarm is generated by the baseband processor  120 , the UE  110  enters the pre-critical state S 4  ( 250 ). In the state S 4 , the baseband processor  120  may notify the other components  150  of the apparatus  100  by asserting a GPIO output, e.g., a BB_TX_BLANK INDICATOR. In other examples, the baseband processor  120  may notify the other components  150  using different forms of broadcast signaling (e.g. an Ethernet bus, I2C bus or similar). The baseband processor  120  may have other manners of broadcasting the pre-RLF alarm to the other components  150  and/or the power management component  130  such as a dedicated HW channel. As described above, this may be considered the LTE priority signal, indicating that the LTE modem  120  will not honor the pre-UVLO alarm and will transition to full power mode (e.g., state S 0 ) because the baseband processor  120  considers an RLF imminent and therefore an uplink signal needs to be sent to the network. This LTE priority signal will inform the other components  150  that they should refrain from using more than minimal power while the LTE priority signal is asserted. The UE  110  will remain in the pre-critical state S 4  for a third pre-determined period of time so that the other components  150  may gracefully transition to a lower power state without causing adverse effects on the UE  110 . While in the pre-critical state S 4 , the duty cycle of the previous state may be honored. For instance, if the previous duty state was 25% during state S 2  from  225 , the duty cycle in S 4  may remain 25%. Alternatively, if the previous duty state was 50% during state S 3  from  230 , the duty cycle in S 4  may remain 50%. 
     Following the duration of the third predetermined time period of  240 , the method  200  may advance to  245  where the UE  110  may transition from state S 4  to state S 5 . The S 5  state may be defined as a critical state for the UE  110  where the LTE modem  120  is allowed to operate unconstrained (e.g., the same as state S 0 ). It should be noted that since the burden on the UE  110  is high when operated in such an unconstrained manner (e.g., because the UE  110  may still be in a pre-UVLO alarm state), the duration of the S 5  state should be as short as possible (e.g., for the period of time that the baseband processor  120  is asserting the pre-RLF alarm.) In the unconstrained state S 5 , the UE  110  will send uplink signals to the eNB so that the network is aware that the UE  110  remains in a connected state and does not declare an RLF. The UE  110  will remain in the state S 5  until the baseband processor  120  de-asserts the pre-RLF alarm. 
     When the baseband processor  120  de-asserts the pre-RLF alarm, the method  200  may return to  225  as the UE  110  exits state S 5  and transitions back to state S 2 . For instance, the UE  110  may exit the critical state S 5  upon receiving acknowledgments (“ACKs”) from an eNB for its uplink data transmissions and/or send measurement reports to the eNB, such as channel quality indicators (“CQIs”). By transitioning from state S 5  to S 2 , the UE  110  is allowed to gracefully recover from the critical state into a limited duty cycle state. As part of exiting from the state S 5 , the baseband processor  120  will de-assert the LTE priority signal, thereby allowing the other components  150  to resume normal power operations. 
       FIG. 3  shows an exemplary method for asserting a pre-radio link failure (“RLF”) alarm at the UE  110  during peak power syndrome according to various exemplary embodiments described herein. 
     One skilled in the art would understand that the eNB typically expects a response from the UE  110  when the eNB sends either downlink data to the UE  110  that requires an ACK or downlink commands for measurement reports, such as CQIs, or the eNB gives an UL grant for a scheduled UL transmission, but the UE does not transmit any packet. When the UE  110  fails to honor any of these requests, the eNB maintains internal counters and timers. At the threshold of the counters and/or the expiration of the timers, the eNB may declare an RLF with the UE  110  and tears down the established radio resource control (“RRC”) connection. The re-establishment of an RRC connection consumes energy and is detrimental to the user experience during an active session. This is of particular importance for those use cases that are real-time in nature, such as voice over LTE (“VoLTE”), wherein an RRC disconnect during a VoLTE call may lead to a dropped call. Accordingly, method  300  may be implemented to allow the UE  110  to assert a pre-RLF alarm as described with reference to  240  in method  200 . 
     In  310 , the exemplary UE  110  is connected to a wireless communication network and may receive downlink information from an eNB. Accordingly, the UE  110  is able to receive information from the network (e.g., the downlink is in operation) despite the network not receiving information from the UE  110  (e.g., the uplink is operational, but the UE  110  is in a reduced duty cycle as described above). 
     In  320 , the UE  110  may monitor the link from the eNB and record a number of missing uplink events from the UE  110  to the eNB. The number of missing uplink events may be events that the UE  110  willfully ignores in the reduced duty cycle such as not sending requested measurement reports or events that the UE  110  responded to, but were not received by the eNB as indicated by the receipt of a NACK from the eNB. The component of the UE  110  that monitors the link may be the baseband processor  120 . However, another component of the UE  110  may also monitor the link, e.g., the application processor. 
     In  330 , the UE  110  may determine whether or not the number of missing events exceeds a predetermined threshold value. If the threshold value is not achieved, the method  300  may return to  320  wherein the UE  110  continues to monitor the number of missing uplink events. If the threshold value is achieved, the method  300  may advance to  340 . It should be noted that the threshold value may be set based on a number of factors including the UE  110  operating experience. For example, the threshold value may initially be a predetermined number of events that the manufacturer of the UE  110  decides is a number that is lower than a critical number for various networks to declare an RLF. In another example, a service provider (e.g., AT&amp;T, Verizon, T-Mobile, etc.) may have collected data from multiple UEs for its network and this data may be used to set the threshold value. In a further example, the UE  110  may also record occurrences of RLFs that the UE  110  has experienced and the associated number of events that occurred prior to the RLF and dynamically change the threshold based on this operating experience. In addition, when setting the thresholds using any of these exemplary manners, the setting may be based on granular characteristics such as operating area, eNB connection, etc. 
     In  340 , once the critical threshold is reached, the baseband processor  120  of the UE  110  may assert a pre-RLF alarm. As part of asserting the pre-RLF alarm, the baseband processor  120  of the UE  110  may notify the other components  150  of the UE  110  of the pre-RLF alarm so that the other components  150  may transition to a lower power state to allow the UE  110  to operate in full LTE duty cycle. In the examples provided above, the baseband processor  120  may notify the other components  150  using a hardware control line. However, the baseband processor  120  may notify the other components  150  using other manners of notification. 
     After the network has been informed that the UE  110  is still connected to the associated base station and the baseband processor determines that an RLF is no longer imminent, the baseband processor, in  350 , de-asserts the pre-RLF alarm. As described above, when the pre-RLF alarm is de-asserted, the UE  110  may transition to the intermediate state S 2 . In addition, the other components  150  will be informed that the pre-RLF alarm is de-asserted, thereby allowing the other components  150  to transition back to their normal power state. 
       FIG. 4  shows an exemplary graph  400  illustrating the percentage of transmission duty cycle used for various states of the LTE modem of the UE according to various exemplary embodiments described herein. Specifically, the graph  400  shows each of the states S 0 -S 5  as discussed above in method  200  of  FIG. 2 . As depicted in the graph  400 , the state S 0  (e.g., normal operation) may allow the LTE modem  120  of the UE  110  to operate at an unconstrained 100% duty cycle. When a battery alarm is asserted in S 1 , the duty cycle of the UE  110  may be reduced to 0%, wherein the transmission power is off for a predetermined time frame. As the UE  110  gradually transitions to state S 2 , the transmission duty cycle is increased to a limited value, such as 25%. Additionally, as the UE  110  further transitions to state S 3 , the transmission duty cycle is increased to a greater limited value, such as 50%. 
     As noted above, the state S 4  represents the pre-critical state for the UE  110 . The UE  110  may transition to the state S 4  from either the 25% duty cycle of state S 2  or the 50% duty cycle of the state S 3 . Whichever state the UE  110 , the duty cycle of the state S 4  will remain unchanged. Thus, at the state S 4 , the duty cycle may be either the limited value (e.g., 25%) or the greater limited value (e.g., 50%). 
     From the pre-critical state S 4 , the UE  110  may transition to the critical state S 5 . While in the state S 5 , the duty cycle of the UE  110  may be allowed to operate unconstrained at 100%. It should be noted that the duty cycle percentage value depicted in graph  400  of  FIG. 4  are merely exemplary values. Accordingly, the various embodiments of the systems and methods described herein are not limited to the simplified values of 0%, 25%, 50%, and 100%, as any alternative increments and/or additional values and states of the LTE modem  120  may be used. 
     It should be noted that the intermediate duty cycles of 25% and 50% are only exemplary. That is, it may be determined that the intermediate duty cycles for states S 2 , S 3  and S 4  may be other percentages of the full duty cycle. For example, it may be determined that the intermediate duty cycles be set at a greater percentage of the full duty cycle (e.g., 33% and 66%, respectively) or a lesser percentage of the full duty cycle (e.g., 15% and 40%, respectively). In one example, if the UE is in light traffic conditions where there is no eNE scheduling for some time, e.g., the UE is not receiving UL grants, then the 25% duty cycle may be increased. In addition, it may be determined that the state S 5  critical duty cycle is not required to be the full duty cycle, but only a percentage of the full duty cycle to accomplish the goal of assuring that an uplink transmission reaches the network (e.g., 75-99% of full duty cycle). In addition, the maximum duty cycle for the UE  110  may be a duty cycle that is set by the network. 
     It may be noted that the exemplary embodiments are described with reference to the LTE wireless communication system. However, those skilled in the art will understand that the exemplary embodiments may be applied to managing the transmission power within any wireless communication schemes including those having different characteristics from the LTE scheme. 
     It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made in the present invention, without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

Metadata:
Filing Date: 20160511
Publication Date: 20190423
Grant Date: 20190423
Priority Date: 20150513
Inventors: MUJTABA, SYED AON
Geeyarpuramnadathur, Santhanakrishnan
SAUER, MATTHIAS
TABET, TARIK
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "H04W52/0261", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W52/30", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W52/0251", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W52/0261", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W52/0251", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W52/0261", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W24/04", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "Y02D70/1262", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W52/0261", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "Y02D70/23", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W52/0251", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "Y02D70/00", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "Y02D70/26", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "Y02D70/1264", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "Y02D30/70", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "Y02D30/70", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 57208580