U.S. patent application number 15/017500 was filed with the patent office on 2016-12-22 for embedded wake-up signaling.
The applicant listed for this patent is QUALCOMM Incorporated. Invention is credited to Peter Pui Lok Ang, Joseph Patrick Burke, Tingfang Ji, Cong Nguyen, Stephen Jay Shellhammer, Joseph Binamira Soriaga.
Application Number | 20160373237 15/017500 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 57538751 |
Filed Date | 2016-12-22 |
United States Patent
Application |
20160373237 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Shellhammer; Stephen Jay ;
et al. |
December 22, 2016 |
EMBEDDED WAKE-UP SIGNALING
Abstract
When embedding a signal into a selected subcarrier of a
multicarrier downlink waveform of regular data/control signaling, a
base station modulates the embedded signal with a different
modulation scheme than the other data in the downlink waveform. The
base station nulls adjacent subcarriers to minimize interference at
a low-power wake-up receiver of an IOE device(s). The IOE device
wakes up the low-power wake-up receiver at scheduled times to
listen for the signal. For synchronization signals, the IOE device
corrects a local clock based on a correlation value of the signal
to a predetermined sequence. For wake-up signals, the IOE device
correlates whatever is detected at the antenna to a predetermined
sequence and compares the correlation value to a predetermined
threshold. If the threshold is met, the IOE device registers a
wake-up signal and wakes the primary transceiver of the device. If
not, the receiver goes back to sleep.
Inventors: |
Shellhammer; Stephen Jay;
(Ramona, CA) ; Ang; Peter Pui Lok; (San Diego,
CA) ; Burke; Joseph Patrick; (Glenview, IL) ;
Ji; Tingfang; (San Diego, CA) ; Nguyen; Cong;
(San Diego, CA) ; Soriaga; Joseph Binamira; (San
Diego, CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
QUALCOMM Incorporated |
San Diego |
CA |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
57538751 |
Appl. No.: |
15/017500 |
Filed: |
February 5, 2016 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
62181635 |
Jun 18, 2015 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04L 27/2675 20130101;
H04W 52/0283 20130101; Y02D 30/70 20200801; H04L 5/0053 20130101;
H04L 7/0012 20130101; H04L 27/2655 20130101; H04L 27/2613 20130101;
H04L 27/0008 20130101; H04L 7/043 20130101; H04L 27/04 20130101;
H04W 52/0229 20130101; H04W 40/005 20130101; H04L 27/2692 20130101;
H04L 5/0007 20130101 |
International
Class: |
H04L 7/00 20060101
H04L007/00; H04L 7/04 20060101 H04L007/04; H04L 27/04 20060101
H04L027/04; H04L 5/00 20060101 H04L005/00; H04W 40/00 20060101
H04W040/00 |
Claims
1. A method for wireless communication, comprising: identifying, by
a first communications device, at least one subcarrier within an
orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) downlink signal
for use in communicating with a wake-up receiver of a second
communications device with a primary receiver of the second
communications device in deep sleep; inserting, by the first
communications device, an embedded signal into the identified at
least one subcarrier at one or more pre-specified times for
transmission to the wake-up receiver of the second communications
device; and transmitting, from the first communications device, the
embedded signal for reception at the wake-up receiver of the second
communications device with a first modulation using the identified
at least one subcarrier, the first modulation being different from
a second modulation used in transmitting data with one or more
remaining subcarriers in the OFDM downlink signal.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: modulating one or
more adjacent subcarriers to the identified one or more subcarriers
with zero amplitude; and boosting a power of the embedded signal an
amount based on an amount of power freed up from the one or more
adjacent subcarriers modulated with zero amplitude.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein: the embedded signal comprises a
synchronization signal assigned to a first time from among the one
or more pre-specified times, the synchronization signal including
data to enable the second communications device to synchronize a
clock local to the second communications device to a clock local to
the first communications device, and the embedded signal comprises
a wake-up signal assigned to a second time from among the one or
more pre-specified times, the first and second times being
different from each other, the wake-up signal indicating to the
second communications device to wake up the primary receiver for a
pre-determined operation.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first communications device
communicates with a plurality of second communications devices,
each second communications device comprising a wake-up receiver,
the method further comprising: broadcasting the synchronization
signal to the plurality of second communications devices in the
first time, the synchronization signal comprising a first
pseudo-random noise sequence.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein the second time comprises a
plurality of times, each different from the first time and from
each other, the method further comprising: assigning, to each
second communications device, a different time from among the
plurality of different times at which each second communications
device is to wake up its wake-up receiver to listen for the wake-up
signal, wherein the wake-up signal comprises the first
pseudo-random noise sequence.
6. The method of claim 4, wherein the at least one subcarrier
comprises a plurality of subcarriers, the method further
comprising: assigning, to a first device from among the plurality
of second communications devices, a first subcarrier that is used
to transmit the wake-up signal to the first device during the
second time; and assigning, to a second device from among the
plurality of second communications devices, a second subcarrier
that is used to transmit the wake-up signal to the second device
during the second time, the first and second subcarriers being
different from each other in frequency, wherein the wake-up signal
transmitted on the first and second subcarriers each comprises the
first pseudo-random noise sequence.
7. The method of claim 4, wherein the second time comprises a
plurality of times, each different from the first time and from
each other, the method further comprising: assigning a first group
of communications devices from among the plurality of second
communications devices to a first different time from among the
plurality of different times and a second group of communications
devices from among the plurality of second communications devices
to a second different time from among the plurality of different
times, wherein the first group of communications devices is to wake
up their wake-up receivers to listen for the wake-up signal during
the first different time and the second group of communications
devices is to wake up their wake-up receivers to listen for the
wake-up signal during the second different time, and wherein the
wake-up signal for the first group of communications devices
comprises a second pseudo-random noise sequence and the wake-up
signal for the second group of communications devices comprises a
third pseudo-random noise sequence.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein: the first modulation comprises
on-off keying; the first communications device comprises a base
station; and the second communications device comprises an internet
of everything (IOE) device.
9. A method for wireless communication, comprising: waking up a
wake-up receiver of a first communications device, while a primary
receiver of the first communications device is in deep sleep, at a
pre-determined time to listen for an embedded signal within at
least one selected subcarrier in an orthogonal frequency
multiplexing (OFDM) downlink signal from a second communications
device; detecting a signal at the wake-up receiver at the at least
one selected subcarrier during the pre-determined time; and
determining whether the detected signal is the embedded signal
having a first modulation from the second communications device and
intended for the first communications device, the first modulation
being different from a second modulation used in transmitting data
with one or more remaining subcarriers in the OFDM downlink
signal.
10. The method of claim 9, further comprising: waking up the
primary receiver in response to determining that the detected
signal is the embedded signal intended for the first communications
device, wherein: the first modulation comprises on-off keying; the
first communications device comprises an internet of everything
(IOE) device; and the second communications device comprises a base
station.
11. The method of claim 9, wherein: the pre-determined time
comprises a plurality of specified times, the embedded signal
comprises a synchronization signal that is assigned to a first time
from among the plurality of specified times, the synchronization
signal comprising a first pseudo-random noise sequence previously
shared with the first communications device, and the embedded
signal comprises a wake-up signal assigned to a second time from
among the plurality of specified times, the first and second times
being different from each other, the wake-up signal indicating to
the first communications device to wake up the primary receiver for
a pre-determined operation.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the detected signal is received
during the first time, the method further comprising: determining,
by the first communications device, a correlation of the detected
signal to the first pseudo-random noise sequence of the
synchronization signal; and correcting, by the first communications
device, a clock offset of a clock local to the first communications
device to be time aligned with a clock local to the second
communications device based on a resulting magnitude of the
correlation.
13. The method of claim 11, wherein the detected signal is received
during the second time, the wake-up signal comprises the first
pseudo-random noise sequence, and the second time is uniquely
assigned to the first communications device, the method further
comprising: determining, by the first communications device, a
correlation of the detected signal to the first pseudo-random noise
sequence of the wake-up signal; and comparing the correlation to a
pre-determined threshold level, wherein the first communications
device determines that the detected signal is the wake-up signal if
the correlation exceeds the pre-determined threshold level and, in
response, wakes up the primary receiver.
14. The method of claim 11, wherein the detected signal is received
during the second time, the wake-up signal comprises a second
pseudo-random noise sequence, and the second time is assigned to
more than one communications device including the first
communications device, the method further comprising: determining,
by the first communications device, a correlation of the detected
signal to the second pseudo-random noise sequence of the wake-up
signal; and comparing the correlation to a pre-determined threshold
level, wherein the first communications device determines that the
detected signal is the wake-up signal if the correlation exceeds
the pre-determined threshold level and, in response, wakes up the
primary receiver and that the detected signal is directed toward
another communications device sharing the second time if the
correlation falls below the pre-determined threshold.
15. The method of claim 11, wherein the detected signal is received
during the second time that is shared between a plurality of
communications devices including the first communications device,
the wake-up signal comprises the first pseudo-random noise
sequence, and the at least one selected subcarrier is uniquely
assigned to the first communications device, the method further
comprising: determining, by the first communications device, a
correlation of the detected signal to the first pseudo-random noise
sequence of the wake-up signal; and comparing the correlation to a
pre-determined threshold level, wherein the first communications
device determines that the detected signal is the wake-up signal if
the correlation exceeds the pre-determined threshold level and, in
response, wakes up the primary receiver.
16. A wireless communications device, comprising: a processor
configured to: identify at least one subcarrier within an
orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) downlink signal
for use in communicating with a wake-up receiver of a second
wireless communications device with a primary receiver of the
second wireless communications device in deep sleep; and insert an
embedded signal into the identified at least one subcarrier at one
or more pre-specified times for transmission; and a transceiver
configured to transmit the embedded signal for reception at the
wake-up receiver of the second wireless communications device with
a first modulation using the identified at least one subcarrier,
the first modulation being different from a second modulation used
in transmitting data with one or more remaining subcarriers in the
OFDM downlink signal.
17. The wireless communications device of claim 16, wherein the
transceiver is further configured to: modulate one or more adjacent
subcarriers to the identified one or more subcarriers with zero
amplitude; and boost a power of the embedded signal an amount based
on an amount of power freed up from the one or more adjacent
subcarriers modulated with zero amplitude.
18. The wireless communications device of claim 16, wherein: the
embedded signal comprises a synchronization signal assigned to a
first time from among the one or more pre-specified times, the
synchronization signal including data to enable the second wireless
communications device to synchronize a clock local to the second
wireless communications device to a clock local to the wireless
communications device, and the embedded signal comprises a wake-up
signal assigned to a second time from among the one or more
pre-specified times, the first and second times being different
from each other, the wake-up signal indicating to the second
wireless communications device to wake up the primary receiver for
a pre-determined operation.
19. The wireless communications device of claim 18, wherein: the
wireless communications device communicates with a plurality of
second wireless communications devices, each second wireless
communications device comprising a wake-up receiver, and the
transceiver is further configured to broadcast the synchronization
signal to the plurality of second wireless communications devices
in the first time, the synchronization signal comprising a first
pseudo-random noise sequence.
20. The wireless communications device of claim 19, wherein: the
second time comprises a plurality of times, each different from the
first time and from each other, the processor is further configured
to assign, to each second wireless communications device, a
different time from among the plurality of different times at which
each second wireless communications device is to wake up its
wake-up receiver to listen for the wake-up signal, and the wake-up
signal comprises the first pseudo-random noise sequence.
21. The wireless communications device of claim 19, wherein the at
least one subcarrier comprises a plurality of subcarriers, the
processor being further configured to: assign, to a first device
from among the plurality of second wireless communications devices,
a first subcarrier that is used to transmit the wake-up signal to
the first device during the second time; and assign, to a second
device from among the plurality of second wireless communications
devices, a second subcarrier that is used to transmit the wake-up
signal to the second device during the second time, the first and
second subcarriers being different from each other in frequency and
the wake-up signal being transmitted on the first and second
subcarriers each comprising the first pseudo-random noise
sequence.
22. The wireless communications device of claim 19, wherein the
second time comprises a plurality of times, each different from the
first time and from each other, the processor being further
configured to: assign a first group of wireless communications
devices from among the plurality of second wireless communications
devices to a first different time from among the plurality of
different times and a second group of wireless communications
devices from among the plurality of second wireless communications
devices to a second different time from among the plurality of
different times, wherein the first group of wireless communications
devices is to wake up their wake-up receivers to listen for the
wake-up signal during the first different time and the second group
of wireless communications devices is to wake up their wake-up
receivers to listen for the wake-up signal during the second
different time, and wherein the wake-up signal for the first group
of wireless communications devices comprises a second pseudo-random
noise sequence and the wake-up signal for the second group of
wireless communications devices comprises a third pseudo-random
noise sequence.
23. The wireless communications device of claim 16, wherein: the
first modulation comprises on-off keying; the wireless
communications device comprises a base station; and the second
wireless communications device comprises an internet of everything
(IOE) device.
24. A wireless communications device, comprising: a primary
receiver configured to enter deep sleep; and a wake-up receiver
configured to: wake up, while the primary receiver is in deep
sleep, at a pre-determined time to listen for an embedded signal
intended for the wireless communications device within at least one
selected subcarrier in an orthogonal frequency multiplexing (OFDM)
downlink signal from a second wireless communications device;
detect a signal at the at least one selected subcarrier during the
pre-determined time; and determine whether the detected signal is
the embedded signal having a first modulation from the second
wireless communications device, the first modulation being
different from a second modulation used in transmitting data with
one or more remaining subcarriers in the OFDM downlink signal.
25. The wireless communications device of claim 24, wherein the
wake-up receiver is further configured to: wake up the primary
receiver in response to determining that the detected signal is the
embedded signal intended for the wireless communications device,
wherein: the first modulation comprises on-off keying; the wireless
communications device comprises an internet of everything (IOE)
device; and the second wireless communications device comprises a
base station.
26. The wireless communications device of claim 24, wherein: the
pre-determined time comprises a plurality of specified times, the
embedded signal comprises a synchronization signal that is assigned
to a first time from among the plurality of specified times, the
synchronization signal comprising a first pseudo-random noise
sequence previously shared with the wireless communications device,
and the embedded signal comprises a wake-up signal assigned to a
second time from among the plurality of specified times, the first
and second times being different from each other, the wake-up
signal indicating to the wireless communications device to wake up
the primary receiver for a pre-determined operation.
27. The wireless communications device of claim 26, wherein the
detected signal is received during the first time, the wake-up
receiver being further configured to: determine a correlation of
the detected signal to the first pseudo-random noise sequence of
the synchronization signal; and correct a clock offset of a clock
local to the wireless communications device to be time aligned with
a clock local to the second wireless communications device based on
a resulting magnitude of the correlation.
28. The wireless communications device of claim 26, wherein the
detected signal is received during the second time, the wake-up
signal comprises the first pseudo-random noise sequence, and the
second time is uniquely assigned to the wireless communications
device, the wake-up receiver being further configured to: determine
a correlation of the detected signal to the first pseudo-random
noise sequence of the wake-up signal; compare the correlation to a
pre-determined threshold level; and determine that the detected
signal is the wake-up signal if the correlation exceeds the
pre-determined threshold level and, in response, wake up the
primary receiver.
29. The wireless communications device of claim 26, wherein the
detected signal is received during the second time, the wake-up
signal comprises a second pseudo-random noise sequence, and the
second time is assigned to more than one communications device
including the wireless communications device, the wake-up receiver
being further configured to: determine a correlation of the
detected signal to the second pseudo-random noise sequence of the
wake-up signal; compare the correlation to a pre-determined
threshold level; determine that the detected signal is the wake-up
signal if the correlation exceeds the pre-determined threshold
level and, in response, wake up the primary receiver; and determine
that the detected signal is directed toward another communications
device sharing the second time if the correlation falls below the
pre-determined threshold.
30. The wireless communications device of claim 26, wherein the
detected signal is received during the second time that is shared
between a plurality of wireless communications devices including
the wireless communications device, the wake-up signal comprises
the first pseudo-random noise sequence, and the at least one
selected subcarrier is uniquely assigned to the wireless
communications device, the wake-up receiver being further
configured to: determine a correlation of the detected signal to
the first pseudo-random noise sequence of the wake-up signal;
compare the correlation to a pre-determined threshold level; and
determine that the detected signal is the wake-up signal if the
correlation exceeds the pre-determined threshold level and, in
response, wake up the primary receiver.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present application claims priority to and the benefit
of the U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/181,635, filed
Jun. 18, 2015, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its
entirety.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] This application relates to wireless communication systems,
and more particularly to enabling a low-power "internet of
everything" (IOE) device to utilize a secondary low-power receiver
while not requiring additional transmit circuitry at a transmitting
base station.
INTRODUCTION
[0003] Sensors that can link to other sensors and computer systems
continue to be embedded with more and more devices or objects,
resulting in the "internet of everything" (also referred to as the
"internet of things"), using a variety of wired and/or wireless
communication technologies. The growth in connectivity results in
machine-to-machine (M2M) communication without human intervention.
Some examples of integration include devices that integrate sensors
or meters to capture information that is then relayed to a remote
system, such as a central server, via a base station. This can
include smart metering, temperature monitoring, pressure
monitoring, fluid flow monitoring, inventory monitoring, water
level monitoring, equipment monitoring, healthcare monitoring,
wildlife monitoring, weather and geological event monitoring, fleet
management and tracking, remote security sensing, physical access
control, transaction-based business charging, and other
applications.
[0004] Given their nature, IOE devices are typically designed to
consume low amounts of power and have low cost. For example, an IOE
device, such as including a sensor, deployed in a gas meter
(resulting in a "smart meter") may be expected to last years
without replacement or recharge (if recharging is possible). In
contrast, a user equipment (UE), such as a mobile device, has
significantly more transmit power that, together with other
features of the given UE, consume enough power that the UE is
expected to be recharged every few days, if not daily or more
frequently. Typically, these IOE devices are designed to
periodically wake up to deliver their data to a central server.
[0005] Further, it occasionally is desirable or necessary for the
central server, or other device, to communicate with the IOE
devices at times where the IOE devices are not scheduled to
transmit data to the server. To enable this, the base station may
transmit periodic wake-up signals to instruct one or more IOE
devices to wake up to receive and/or transmit data. This has
required the base station to include additional transmit circuitry,
beyond the transmit circuitry used to transmit other data messages,
to transmit specific wake-up signals to one or more of the IOE
devices.
BRIEF SUMMARY
[0006] The following summarizes some aspects of the present
disclosure to provide a basic understanding of the discussed
technology. This summary is not an extensive overview of all
contemplated features of the disclosure, and is intended neither to
identify key or critical elements of all aspects of the disclosure
nor to delineate the scope of any or all aspects of the disclosure.
Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects
of the disclosure in summary form as a prelude to the more detailed
description that is presented later.
[0007] In one aspect of the disclosure, a method for wireless
communication includes identifying, by a first communications
device, at least one subcarrier within an orthogonal frequency
division multiplexing (OFDM) downlink signal for use in
communicating with a wake-up receiver of a second communications
device while a primary receiver of the second communications device
is in deep sleep. The method also includes inserting, by the first
communications device, an embedded signal into the identified at
least one subcarrier at one or more pre-specified times for
transmission to the wake-up receiver of the second communications
device. The method further includes transmitting, from the first
communications device, the embedded signal to the wake-up receiver
of the second communications device with a first modulation using
the identified at least one subcarrier, the first modulation being
different from a second modulation used in transmitting data with
one or more remaining subcarriers in the OFDM downlink signal.
[0008] In an additional aspect of the disclosure, a method for
wireless communication includes waking up a wake-up receiver of a
first communications device, while a primary receiver of the first
communications device is in deep sleep, at a pre-determined time to
listen for an embedded signal within at least one selected
subcarrier in an orthogonal frequency multiplexing (OFDM) downlink
signal from a second communications device. The method also
includes detecting a signal at the wake-up receiver at the at least
one selected subcarrier during the pre-determined time. The method
further includes determining whether the detected signal is the
embedded signal having a first modulation from the second
communications device and intended for the first communications
device, the first modulation being different from a second
modulation used in transmitting data with one or more remaining
subcarriers in the OFDM downlink signal.
[0009] In an additional aspect of the disclosure, a wireless
communications device includes a processor configured to identify
at least one subcarrier within an orthogonal frequency division
multiplexing (OFDM) downlink signal for use in communicating with a
wake-up receiver of a second wireless communications device while a
primary receiver of the second wireless communications device is in
deep sleep. The processor is further configured to insert an
embedded signal into the identified at least one subcarrier at one
or more pre-specified times for transmission to the wake-up
receiver of the second communications device. The wireless
communications device also includes a transceiver configured to
transmit the embedded signal to the wake-up receiver of the second
wireless communications device with a first modulation using the
identified at least one subcarrier, the first modulation being
different from a second modulation used in transmitting data with
one or more remaining subcarriers in the OFDM downlink signal.
[0010] In an additional aspect of the disclosure, a wireless
communications device includes a primary receiver configured to
enter deep sleep. The wireless communications device also includes
a wake-up receiver configured to wake up, while the primary
receiver is in deep sleep, at a pre-determined time to listen for
an embedded signal intended for the wireless communications device
within at least one selected subcarrier in an orthogonal frequency
multiplexing (OFDM) downlink signal from a second wireless
communications device. The wake-up receiver is further configured
to detect a signal at the at least one selected subcarrier during
the pre-determined time. The wake-up receiver is also configured to
determine whether the detected signal is the embedded signal having
a first modulation from the second wireless communications device,
the first modulation being different from a second modulation used
in transmitting data with one or more remaining subcarriers in the
OFDM downlink signal.
[0011] In an additional aspect of the disclosure, a
computer-readable medium having program code recorded thereon
includes program code comprising code for causing a first
communications device to identify at least one subcarrier within an
orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) downlink signal
for use in communicating with a wake-up receiver of a second
communications device while a primary receiver of the second
communications device is in deep sleep. The program code further
comprises code for causing the first communications device to
insert an embedded signal into the identified at least one
subcarrier at one or more pre-specified times for transmission to
the wake-up receiver of the second communications device. The
program code also comprises code for causing the first
communications device to transmit the embedded signal to the
wake-up receiver of the second communications device with a first
modulation using the identified at least one subcarrier, the first
modulation being different from a second modulation used in
transmitting data with one or more remaining subcarriers in the
OFDM downlink signal.
[0012] In an additional aspect of the disclosure, a
computer-readable medium having program code recorded thereon
includes program code comprising code for causing a first
communications device to wake up a wake-up receiver of the first
communications device, while a primary receiver of the first
communications device is in deep sleep, at a pre-determined time to
listen for an embedded signal within at least one selected
subcarrier in an orthogonal frequency multiplexing (OFDM) downlink
signal from a second communications device. The program code
further comprises code for causing the first communications device
to detect a signal at the at least one selected subcarrier during
the pre-determined time. The program code also comprises code for
causing the first communications device to determine whether the
detected signal is the embedded signal having a first modulation
from the second communications device and intended for the first
communications device, the first modulation being different from a
second modulation used in transmitting data with one or more
remaining subcarriers in the OFDM downlink signal.
[0013] In an additional aspect of the disclosure, a wireless
communications device includes means for identifying at least one
subcarrier within an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing
(OFDM) downlink signal for use in communicating with a wake-up
receiver of a second wireless communications device while a primary
receiver of the second wireless communications device is in deep
sleep. The wireless communications device further includes means
for inserting an embedded signal into the identified at least one
subcarrier at one or more pre-specified times for transmission to
the wake-up receiver of the second wireless communications device.
The wireless communications device also includes means for
transmitting the embedded signal to the wake-up receiver of the
second wireless communications device with a first modulation using
the identified at least one subcarrier, the first modulation being
different from a second modulation used in transmitting data with
one or more remaining subcarriers in the OFDM downlink signal.
[0014] In an additional aspect of the disclosure, a wireless
communications device includes means for waking up a wake-up
receiver of the wireless communications device, while a primary
receiver of the wireless communications device is in deep sleep, at
a pre-determined time to listen for an embedded signal within at
least one selected subcarrier in an orthogonal frequency
multiplexing (OFDM) downlink signal from a second wireless
communications device. The wireless communications device further
includes means for detecting a signal at the wake-up receiver at
the at least one selected subcarrier during the pre-determined
time. The wireless communications device also includes means for
determining whether the detected signal is the embedded signal
having a first modulation from the second wireless communications
device and intended for the wireless communications device, the
first modulation being different from a second modulation used in
transmitting data with one or more remaining subcarriers in the
OFDM downlink signal.
[0015] Other aspects, features, and embodiments of the present
invention will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the
art, upon reviewing the following description of specific,
exemplary embodiments of the present invention in conjunction with
the accompanying figures. While features of the present invention
may be discussed relative to certain embodiments and figures below,
all embodiments of the present invention can include one or more of
the advantageous features discussed herein. In other words, while
one or more embodiments may be discussed as having certain
advantageous features, one or more of such features may also be
used in accordance with the various embodiments of the invention
discussed herein. In similar fashion, while exemplary embodiments
may be discussed below as device, system, or method embodiments it
should be understood that such exemplary embodiments can be
implemented in various devices, systems, and methods.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0016] FIG. 1 illustrates a wireless communication network in
accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.
[0017] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary base
station in accordance with various aspects of the present
disclosure.
[0018] FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary user
equipment in accordance with various aspects of the present
disclosure.
[0019] FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary resource block according to
aspects of the present disclosure.
[0020] FIG. 5A illustrates an exemplary subcarrier chart according
to aspects of the present disclosure.
[0021] FIG. 5B illustrates an exemplary subcarrier chart according
to aspects of the present disclosure.
[0022] FIG. 6A illustrates an exemplary resource element allocation
scheme for synchronization and wake-up signaling according to
aspects of the present disclosure.
[0023] FIG. 6B illustrates an exemplary resource element allocation
scheme for synchronization and wake-up signaling according to
aspects of the present disclosure.
[0024] FIG. 6C illustrates an exemplary resource element allocation
scheme for synchronization and wake-up signaling according to
aspects of the present disclosure.
[0025] FIG. 6D illustrates an exemplary resource element allocation
scheme for synchronization and wake-up signaling according to
aspects of the present disclosure.
[0026] FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method for
embedding signals into a downlink waveform in accordance with
various aspects of the present disclosure.
[0027] FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method for
receiving embedded signals in a downlink waveform in accordance
with various aspects of the present disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0028] The detailed description set forth below, in connection with
the appended drawings, is intended as a description of various
configurations and is not intended to represent the only
configurations in which the concepts described herein may be
practiced. The detailed description includes specific details for
the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of the various
concepts. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art
that these concepts may be practiced without these specific
details. In some instances, well-known structures and components
are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring such
concepts.
[0029] The techniques described herein may be used for various
wireless communication networks such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA,
SC-FDMA and other networks. The terms "network" and "system" are
often used interchangeably. A CDMA network may implement a radio
technology such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA),
cdma2000, etc. UTRA includes Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) and other
variants of CDMA. cdma2000 covers IS-2000, IS-95 and IS-856
standards. A TDMA network may implement a radio technology such as
Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). An OFDMA network may
implement a radio technology such as Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Ultra
Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX),
IEEE 802.20, Flash-OFDMA, etc. UTRA and E-UTRA are part of
Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS). 3GPP Long Term
Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) are new releases of UMTS
that use E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, LTE-A and GSM are
described in documents from an organization named "3rd Generation
Partnership Project" (3GPP). CDMA2000 and UMB are described in
documents from an organization named "3rd Generation Partnership
Project 2" (3GPP2). The techniques described herein may be used for
the wireless networks and radio technologies mentioned above as
well as other wireless networks and radio technologies, such as a
next generation (e.g., 5.sup.th Generation (5G)) network.
[0030] Embodiments of the present disclosure introduce systems and
techniques to embed a synchronization signal or a wake-up signal
into a downlink waveform at a base station that is intended for a
low-power wake-up receiver of one or more IOE devices (a specific
type of UE). As a result, the transmitting base station does not
require additional transmit circuitry for the dedicated
synchronization or wake-up signals intended for the low-power
wake-up receiver of the IOE device.
[0031] In an embodiment, a base station may assign time and
frequency resource elements at which to embed a synchronization or
wake-up signal for transmission to one or more IOE devices into a
downlink waveform. Where each IOE device is assigned unique
time/frequency resource elements for wake-up signaling, the base
station may use the same sequence, such as a pseudo-random noise
sequence, for both the synchronization signals and the wake-up
signals. Where multiple IOE devices are assigned to shared
time/frequency resource elements, the base station may use
different sequences for the wake-up signal for each IOE device,
such that no IOE device listening at the same time/frequency
combination as another IOE device may confuse a wake-up signal
directed to the other IOE device as intended for it. When embedding
a synchronization signal or wake-up signal into a downlink waveform
(e.g., that includes regular data and/or control signaling for one
or more other UEs), the base station may modulate the embedded
signal according to a different modulation scheme than the other
data in the downlink waveform. For example, the data may be
modulated according to orthogonal frequency division multiplexing
while the embedded signal may be modulated according to on-off
keying (OOK). Further, the base station may null out adjacent
subcarriers to the embedded signal in order to minimize
interference at the low-power wake-up receiver of the intended IOE
device(s).
[0032] In an embodiment, the IOE devices within range of the base
station may enter deep sleep modes and only wake up the low-power
wake-up receivers periodically according to information previously
specified from the base station. An IOE device may wake up the
low-power wake-up receiver to listen at specified times and
subcarriers to detect either a synchronization signal or wake-up
signal, depending upon the particular scheduled time. When
listening for a synchronization signal broadcast from the base
station, the IOE device may correlate the received signal to the
locally stored copy of the synchronization signal sequence.
Depending upon the result of the correlation, the IOE device may
correct a local clock to be better aligned with the clock at the
base station. When listening for a wake-up signal, the IOE device
may correlate whatever information is detected at the antenna to
the locally stored copy of the wake-up signal sequence for the IOE
device. The resulting correlation value may be compared to a
threshold value and, if the threshold is met, the IOE device may
determine that the detected information includes the wake-up
signal. In response, the IOE device may cause other elements of the
IOE device to wake up momentarily so that the primary transceiver
may communicate with the base station in a desired manner (e.g., to
receive or transmit data such as sensor data). The IOE device may
then go back to sleep until the next scheduled time for the wake-up
receiver to listen again.
[0033] FIG. 1 illustrates a wireless communication network 100, in
accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. The
wireless network 100 may include a number of base stations 110. A
base station 110 may include an evolved Node B (eNodeB) in the LTE
context, for example. A base station may also be referred to as a
base transceiver station or an access point. For simplicity of
discussion, it will be referred to herein as a base station. It
will be recognized that there could be one to many base stations,
as well as be an assortment of different types such as macro, pico,
and/or femto base stations, and/or other devices that include at
least some capabilities of a base station.
[0034] The base stations 110 communicate with user equipments (UEs)
120 as shown. For example, as shown in FIG. 1 base station 110a may
communication with the UEs 120 that are within the cell 102a, the
base station 110b may communicate with the UEs 120 within the cell
102b, and the base station 102c may communicate with the UEs 120
within the cell 102c. A UE 120 may communicate with a base station
110 via an uplink and a downlink. The downlink (or forward link)
refers to the communication link from a base station 110 to a UE
120. The uplink (or reverse link) refers to the communication link
from a UE 120 to a base station 110.
[0035] The UEs 120 may be dispersed throughout the wireless network
100, and each UE 120 may be stationary or mobile. A UE may also be
referred to as a terminal, a mobile station, a subscriber unit,
etc. A UE 120 may be a cellular phone, a smartphone, a personal
digital assistant, a wireless modem, a laptop computer, a tablet
computer, etc. The wireless communication network 100 is one
example of a network to which various aspects of the disclosure
apply.
[0036] According to aspects of the present disclosure, one or more
of the UEs 120 may be "internet of everything" (IOE) devices
(and/or "internet of things" (IoT) devices; reference will be made
herein generally to IOE devices for simplicity of discussion).
These UEs (IOE devices) 120 may either be stand-alone or integrated
within other devices. The UEs (IOE devices) 120 may capture
information that is then relayed to a remote system, such as via a
base station 110. UEs (IOE devices) 120 may have limited power
resources because they are integrated with devices or objects, such
as to render those devices or objects "smart," and need to be able
to operate for long periods of time without replacement or
recharge, e.g. days, weeks, months, or years. Each of the UEs (IOE
devices) 120 may only awake at predefined time intervals according
to a pre-determined schedule order to decrease power consumption at
the UEs (IOE devices) 120.
[0037] Embodiments of this disclosure are directed to any type of
modulation scheme, but orthogonal frequency division multiplexing
(OFDM) is used as a representative modulation for regular data
transmissions in the downlink to UEs 120. OFDM is a multi-carrier
modulation technique that effectively partitions the overall system
bandwidth into multiple (K) orthogonal frequency subbands. These
subbands may also be referred to as tones, subcarriers, bins, and
frequency channels. With OFDM, each subband is associated with a
respective subcarrier that may be modulated with data. Up to K
modulation symbols may be sent on the K subbands in each 01-DM
symbol period.
[0038] According to aspects of the present disclosure, the base
stations 110a-110c may embed synchronization and/or wake-up
signaling into OFDM downlink signaling so that separate, dedicated
transmission hardware is not necessary at the base stations
110a-110c. A synchronization signal may be a symbol known to both
the transmitter and all listening receivers (e.g., UEs (IOE
devices) 120) and transmitted using one or more selected
subcarriers. A wake-up signal may be a symbol known to both the
transmitter and a particular listening receiver (e.g., UEs (IOE
devices) 120, where each UE 120 has a particular sequence assigned
to it). For an OFDM symbol with K subbands, any number and
configuration of subbands may be used for synchronization and/or
wake-up signals. For example, one or more selected subcarriers may
be used for synchronization signals, the same and/or other
subcarriers for wake-up signals, and the remaining subcarriers for
transmitting data symbols or control symbols on some or all of the
remaining subcarriers (or the remaining subcarriers may not be used
at all at times). These synchronization and wake-up signals may be
modulated using a different modulation than that used for
data/control symbols on any of the other subcarriers (e.g., OOK for
embedded signals and QAM for the other data).
[0039] The transmission and signaling techniques described herein
may be used for a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system.
These techniques may be used for an OFDM-based system and for other
multi-carrier communication systems. These techniques may also be
used with various OFDM subband structures.
[0040] For simplicity of discussion, an example is described where
the UEs 120 are IOE devices, and are therefore referred to herein
as IOE devices 120. It will be recognized that the UEs 120
communicating with a given base station 110 may include a mix of
both IOE devices as well as other types of UE such as mobile phones
or other types of mobile computers. The base station 110a in cell
102a will be used as an example.
[0041] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the base
station 110a may periodically send synchronization signals to the
IOE devices 120 that are within the cell 102a. These
synchronization signals are used to enable the IOE devices 120 to
periodically synchronize their local clocks with the clock of the
base station 110a. This often becomes necessary because the clocks
of the IOE devices 120 are less accurate due to the low power
demands imposed on the IOE devices 120. Thus, over time the clocks
for the IOE devices 120 tend to drift relative to the clock of the
base station 110a, which tends to be more accurate and stable. Due
to the drift, an offset arises between the time at which a receiver
of a given IOE device 120 wakes up to listen for a signal from the
base station 110a and the time at which the receiver of the given
IOE device 120 actually receives the signal from the base station
110a. If the drift becomes large enough, then the given IOE device
120 will no longer be able to decode the signal received from the
base station 110a. The synchronization signal provides the
information necessary for the IOE devices 120 to re-synchronize to
the base station 110a clock.
[0042] The synchronization signal may be periodically sent for
example at pre-specified time intervals that the IOE devices 120
are made aware of. For example, this may be established at a time
of initial setup such as when an IOE device 120 attaches to the
network via the base station 110a. Alternatively or in addition,
the base station 110a may establish the periodicity of the
synchronization signal, as well as what frequency and time at which
the synchronization signal will be transmitted, with a command sent
to the IOE devices 120 to place them into sleep mode. According to
embodiments of the present disclosure, the synchronization signal
may be embedded within an OFDM downlink waveform that includes
other information (such as data or control information) for one or
more other UEs 120. The synchronization signal is broadcast to all
IOE devices 120 within the OFDM downlink and is modulated according
to a different modulation scheme than that used for rest of the
OFDM downlink waveform. The IOE devices 120 within the cell 102a
wake up their low-power wake-up receivers at the times that the
synchronization signal is broadcast to re-sync to the clock of the
base station 110a, as described above.
[0043] According to further embodiments of the present disclosure,
each IOE device 120 within the cell 102a may be assigned a
particular set of resources (e.g., frequency subcarrier(s) and time
slot) at which they are to use their wake-up receivers to monitor
for a wake-up signal from the base station 110a. The base station
110a may establish the frequency, and time resource elements, as
well as the periodicity, at which the wake-up signal will be
transmitted with a command sent to the IOE devices 120 to place
them into sleep mode. In an embodiment, the base station 110a
assigns each IOE 120 within the cell 102a a different time slot
and/or frequency subcarrier(s) at which to wake up to listen for a
wake-up signal. In an embodiment, where each IOE device 120 listens
at a unique frequency subcarrier and/or time slot, the base station
110a may use the same sequence (e.g., a pseudo random noise
sequence) as the signal that is modulated for both the
synchronization signal and for each wake-up signal to each IOE
device 120. In an alternative embodiment, two or more IOE devices
120 within the cell 102a may be assigned to the same frequency
and/or time slot. In this embodiment, the base station 110a may use
a different sequence for each IOE device 120 that shares the same
frequency and/or time slot so that each IOE device 120 is able to
discern whether the wake-up signal is intended for them, as will be
discussed in further detail below.
[0044] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary base station 110
according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The base
station 110 may include a processor 202, a memory 204, a signal
embedding module 208, a transceiver 210, and an antenna 216. These
elements may be in direct or indirect communication with each
other, for example via one or more buses. As mentioned above with
respect to FIG. 1, the base station 110 may communicate with
multiple user equipments (UEs) and/or IOE devices 120 (e.g., smart
appliances, hub-type equipment, gateways, serving cells, scheduling
entities, set-top boxes, etc.).
[0045] The processor 202 may include a CPU, a DSP, an ASIC, a
controller, a FPGA device, another hardware device, a firmware
device, or any combination thereof configured to perform the
operations described herein with reference to the base station 110
introduced in FIG. 1 above. The processor 202 may also be
implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a
combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of
microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a
DSP core, or any other such configuration.
[0046] The memory 204 may include a cache memory (e.g., a cache
memory of the processor 302), RAM, MRAM, ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM,
flash memory, a solid state memory device, one or more hard disk
drives, other forms of volatile and non-volatile memory, or a
combination of different types of memory. In an embodiment, the
memory 204 includes a non-transitory computer-readable medium. The
memory 204 may store instructions 206. The instructions 206 may
include instructions that, when executed by the processor 202,
cause the processor 202 to perform the operations described herein
with reference to the base station 110 in connection with
embodiments of the present disclosure. Instructions 206 may also be
referred to as code. The terms "instructions" and "code" should be
interpreted broadly to include any type of computer-readable
statement(s). For example, the terms "instructions" and "code" may
refer to one or more programs, routines, sub-routines, functions,
procedures, etc. "Instructions" and "code" may include a single
computer-readable statement or many computer-readable
statements.
[0047] The signal embedding module 208 of the base station 110 may
be used for various aspects of the present disclosure. For example,
the signal embedding module 208 may manage frequency and time
resource element assignment/tracking for the devices 120 that are
attached to the network through the base station 110 or are
otherwise within range. This may be kept within a database on the
base station 110, for example. The signal embedding module 208 may
include information in a sleep mode message to IOE devices 120 that
identifies the assigned time and frequency resource elements that
each IOE device 120 has been assigned for wake-up signals and
synchronization signals, as well as a periodicity at which the
wake-up and synchronization signals will be transmitted from the
base station 110.
[0048] For example, a synchronization signal may be sent once in a
given transmission time interval (TTI). FIG. 4 illustrates an
exemplary resource block 400 that spans a transmission time
interval. As illustrated in FIG. 4, a resource block 400 may
include multiple frequency resource elements (12 illustrated in
FIG. 4 as one example, though other numbers are possible as well)
and multiple symbol time elements. A frequency resource element may
be one or more subcarriers for one or more symbols, and a time
resource element may be one or more periods of time for one or more
symbols. The signal embedding module 208 may be configured to cause
one synchronization signal to be broadcast in each TTI, or
alternatively multiple according to the design considerations of a
given application. The signal embedding module 208 may also be
configured to cause one wake-up signal for each IOE device 120 to
be transmitted in each TTI, or multiple as will be recognized. In
an embodiment, the wake-up signal may be a unicast message, e.g.
where the base station 110 seeks to wake up a specific IOE device
120. Alternatively, the wake-up signal may also be a multicast
message, for example where the base station 110 seeks to wake up
all or a subset of IOE devices 120 that are attached to the base
station 110.
[0049] Returning to FIG. 2, at the assigned times, the signal
embedding module 208 may insert a synchronization signal at the
assigned time/frequency into an OFDM downlink waveform that
includes data and/or control signaling to a range of devices 120
(e.g., UEs and IOE devices). In addition, the signal embedding
module 208 may instruct other components of the base station 110 to
null out adjoining subcarriers and/or time resource elements to the
time and frequency subcarrier resource element at which the
synchronization signal has been inserted. This is illustrated in
FIG. 5A, which illustrates an exemplary subcarrier chart 500
according to aspects of the present disclosure.
[0050] As shown in FIG. 5A, a synchronization signal (or wake-up
signal, as discussed further below) 502 may be embedded and
modulated at a selected frequency subcarrier (or set of
subcarriers), with adjoining frequency subcarriers 506 being nulled
out. Nulling out the adjoining frequency subcarriers involves
modulating those subcarriers 506 with zero amplitude. The
subcarriers modulated with zero amplitude may also be referred to
as guard tones. This is useful since some of the very low-power
wake-up receivers at IOE devices 120 may have poorer selectivity
than the higher-power primary transceivers at the same IOE devices
120 (e.g., OFDM receivers). Some or all of the remaining frequency
resource elements 504 in the subcarrier chart 500 may include data
or control signaling modulated with a different modulation than
that used for the signal 502. Although illustrated in FIG. 5 as
being at the relative center of the OFDM waveform, the subcarrier
used for the embedded synchronization (or wake-up) signal 502 may
be placed at other subcarriers of the spectrum for the OFDM
waveform. Nulling out one or more adjoining subcarriers may help in
minimizing interference at the low-power wake-up receivers of the
IOE devices 120, which may have poor selectivity.
[0051] FIG. 5A illustrates the signal 502 as having relatively the
same power at the selected subcarrier as the rest of the OFDM
waveform. Alternatively, the power of the signal 502 may be
increased relative to the power used for the remaining resource
elements 504, which is illustrated in FIG. 5B as signal 502A. Since
several of the OFDM subcarriers 506 are set to null, it is possible
to increase the power of the signal 502A at the selected subcarrier
used for the synchronization and wake-up signals, while still
maintaining the same total transmit power. For example, if four
subcarriers are nulled (as illustrated in FIG. 5B for ease of
illustration only) the subcarrier used for the synchronization and
wake-up signals 502A can be boosted (at least, and in some
embodiments more or less) to a power level multiple times the power
of the other subcarriers (e.g., 5 times), since the power not used
on the nulled subcarriers 506 can be allocated to this subcarrier
for the signal 502A. Although four subcarriers 506 are illustrated
as nulled in FIGS. 5A and 5B, it will be recognized that any number
of adjoining subcarriers may be nulled (including none). Continuing
with this example, making the signal 502A multiple times the power
of the other subcarriers 504 corresponds to approximately a 7 dB
power (as example only) boost on that subcarrier used for the
signal 502A. By allocating more power to the subcarrier for the
signal 502A, the link budget between the base station 110 and any
given low-power IOE device 120 may be improved, resulting in an
increase in the coverage of this wake-up signaling.
[0052] Returning to FIG. 2, the synchronization signal may be
broadcast according to a pre-defined schedule, e.g. periodic time
intervals, and all of the IOE devices 120 within range may be
assigned to wake up their low-power wake-up receivers at the same
time of the broadcast in order to synchronize their clocks to the
base station 110.
[0053] The synchronization signal may be composed of a sequence.
For example, the sequence may be a maximal length pseudo random
noise (PN) sequence, which is a sequence of ones and zeros whose
autocorrelation function approximates an impulse function. At the
wake-up receiver of the IOE devices 120, the received
synchronization signal may be detected and correlated to a local
copy of the sequence previously shared with the IOE devices 120.
When correlating the received synchronization signal to this
pre-shared maximal length sequence, the correlator of an IOE device
120 may see a strong correlation when the received synchronization
signal is properly time aligned. This allows the low-power wake-up
receiver of the IOE devices 120 to correct its clock offset to be
time aligned with the clock of the base station 110.
[0054] Further, at different assigned times the signal embedding
module 208 may insert a wake-up signal into an OFDM downlink
waveform that includes data and/or control signaling. The signal
embedding module 208 may similarly instruct components of the base
station 110 to null out adjoining subcarriers and/or time resource
elements to the time and frequency subcarrier resource element at
which the wake-up signal has been inserted. The signal embedding
module 208 may further instruct the transceiver 210 to modulate the
embedded wake-up signal with a modulation that is different than
the modulation used for the data/control signaling in the rest of
the OFDM downlink waveform, similar to the synchronization signal.
The wake-up signal may be transmitted according to a pre-defined
schedule, e.g. periodic time intervals that do not overlap with the
synchronization signals.
[0055] In an embodiment, the signal embedding module 208 may assign
each IOE device 120 a different time and frequency subcarrier
resource element at which to receive a wake-up signal, as
illustrated in FIG. 6A. All the low-power IOE devices 120 may have
their wake-up receiver listen at the same assigned time and
frequency for the synchronization signal S, so it can be shared by
all the low-power IOE devices 120.
[0056] As illustrated in FIG. 6A, a first IOE device 120 may be
assigned a first time and frequency resource element at which to
listen for a wake-up signal W1 intended for the first IOE
device120. Further, a second IOE device 120 may be assigned a
second time and frequency resource element to listen for a wake-up
signal W2, a third IOE device 120 may be assigned a third time and
frequency resource element to listen for a wake-up signal W3, and
so on for additional IOE devices 120 within range of the base
station 110. As illustrated in FIG. 6A, the base station 110 may
assign each IOE device 120 to a different time slot but to the same
frequency subcarrier. This is illustrated as the 5.sup.th
subcarrier in FIG. 6A, though as will be recognized this may be any
given subcarrier within the available frequency range. Thus, in
FIG. 6A a synchronization signal S may be transmitted at a first
time element at the assigned subcarrier, a wake-up signal W1 may be
transmitted at a second time element at the same assigned
subcarrier, a wake-up signal W2 may be transmitted at a third time
element at the same assigned subcarrier, and the wake-up signal W3
may be transmitted at a fourth time element at the same assigned
subcarrier.
[0057] In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 6A, the
synchronization signal is sent multiple times with the wake-up
signals W1, W2, and W3 interspersed throughout. As described above
with respect to FIG. 4, each synchronization signal S may represent
the start of a new TTI. Alternatively, the synchronization signals
S may be assigned a shorter periodicity so that multiple
synchronization signals S are sent in one TTI and the wake-up
signals for the different IOE devices 120 are transmitted in the
same TTI. The periodicity of the synchronization signals S and the
wake-up signals W depends upon the power constraints and latency
requirements of a given situation. As the latency increases, the
power consumption at the IOE devices 120 decreases as the low-power
wake-up receivers wake up less frequently to listen for either the
synchronization signals S or the wake-up signals W. In contrast, as
the latency decreases (corresponding to quicker response times),
the power consumption increases as the wake-up receivers wake up
more frequently to listen for synchronization signals S and wake-up
signals W. The latency is with respect to how quickly a desired IOE
device 120 responds to a request to wake up the primary transceiver
of the IOE device 120.
[0058] Alternatively, as illustrated in FIG. 6B, the different IOE
devices 120 may be assigned different frequency subcarriers at the
same time slot by the base station 110, or to a mix of frequency
subcarriers and time slots. In FIG. 6B, wake-up signals W1, W2, W3,
and W4 may all be transmitted during the same time slot but at
different subcarriers within the range of available frequencies.
Further, the wake-up signals may be transmitted at different times
than the assigned times for transmission of the synchronization
signals S.
[0059] As illustrated in FIG. 6B, a first IOE device 120 may wake
up at the assigned time to listen for wake-up signal W1 at a
2.sup.nd assigned subcarrier. A second IOE device 120 may wake up
at the same assigned time to listen for a wake-up signal W2 at a
5.sup.th assigned subcarrier. A third IOE device 120 may wake up at
the same assigned time to listen for a wake-up signal W3 at an
8.sup.th assigned subcarrier. A fourth IOE device 120 may wake up
at the same assigned time to listen for a wake-up signal W4 at an
11.sup.th assigned subcarrier. As will be recognized, these
subcarrier spacings are exemplary only and may be greater or
smaller, for example to incorporate a specified number of nulled
subcarriers as described above with respect to FIGS. 5A and 5B.
[0060] As a result, according to the assignment schemes in either
FIG. 6A or 6B, each IOE device 120 may wake up their low-power
wake-up receiver at a different time and/or frequency resource
element in order to listen for a wake-up signal W (and all wake up
at the same time/frequency to listen for a synchronization signal S
broadcast from base station 110). With each IOE device 120
listening at a different resource element for a wake-up signal, the
signal embedding module 208 of FIG. 2 may use the same sequence of
data for the wake-up signal for each IOE device 120. The signal
embedding module 208 may use the same sequence of data as the
synchronization signal. For example, the wake-up signal may also be
a maximal length PN sequence, since this type of sequence is easy
to detect with the low-power wake-up receiver at the IOE devices
120. Where each IOE device 120 has a unique time/frequency resource
element combination at which to listen for the wake-up signal, the
signal embedding module 208 may use the same maximal length PN
sequence for the synchronization signal S and each wake-up signal
W1, W2, W3, and W4 illustrated in FIGS. 6A and/or 6B.
[0061] Although described with respect to a maximal length PN
sequence, which has good autocorrelation properties, it will be
recognized that other PN sequences may alternatively (or
additionally) be used for the synchronization and/or wake-up
signals. Other PN sequences may be considered that have better
cross-correlation properties, which may be useful to minimize
interference from other transmitters, due to the low
cross-correlation properties. Other possible PN sequence
alternatives may include the Gold sequence (also called the Gold
code), the Kasami sequence, and the Walsh Hadimard sequence to name
just a few examples.
[0062] Returning to FIG. 2 and continuing with respect to the
wake-up signals, in an alternative embodiment the signal embedding
module 208 may assign multiple IOE devices 120 to wake up at the
same time and frequency resource elements in order to listen for a
wake-up signal with their respective low-power wake-up receivers.
This is illustrated in FIG. 6C.
[0063] As shown in FIG. 6C, multiple IOE devices 120 may be
assigned to wake up their low-power wake-up receivers at the same
time and frequency resource elements to listen for a wake-up signal
W1/2, W3/4, and W5/6. W1/2 indicates a wake-up signal that is
intended for either a first IOE device 120 or a second IOE device
120 (both of which wake up at the assigned time/frequency), W3/4
indicates a wake-up signal intended for either a third IOE device
120 or a fourth IOE device 120, and W5/6 indicates a wake-up signal
intended for either a fifth IOE device 120 or a sixth IOE device
120. Two IOE devices 120 assigned per resource element is used for
simplicity of discussion only. As will be recognized, any number of
IOE devices 120 may be assigned to listen at a shared
time/frequency resource element. As a result of the shared
assignment, multiple IOE devices 120 may wake up their low-power
wake-up receiver at the same time and frequency resource element in
order to listen for a wake-up signal.
[0064] In the example shown in FIG. 6C, the first IOE device 120
and the second IOE device 120 may both be assigned to the same
time/frequency resource elements. As a result, a wake-up signal
W1/2 transmitted will need to be configured so that the intended
recipient IOE device 120 will be able to recognize the wake-up
signal while the other IOE device 120 that wakes up at the same
time does not recognize the wake-up signal. The signal embedding
module 208 at the base station 110 may no longer use the same
sequence of data for the wake-up signal for each IOE device 120 (as
occurred with the embodiments of FIGS. 6A and 6B). Instead, the
signal embedding module 208 may assign a different unique sequence
to the first and second IOE devices 120. As a result, the signal
embedding module 208 may use a different sequence for the wake-up
signal W1/2 depending on which IOE device 120 is the intended
recipient, while sharing the same sequence for the synchronization
signals. Thus, when the wake-up signal W1/2 is intended for the
first IOE device 120, the signal embedding module 208 of the base
station 110 may insert a first sequence into the OFDM waveform for
modulation and transmission, and a second sequence when the wake-up
signal W1/2 is intended for the second IOE device 120. The
different sequences that can be transmitted for a signal wake-up
signal requires higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the low-power
wake-up receivers of the first and second IOE devices 120, since
the IOE devices 120 distinguish between a set of PN sequences to
determine if they are to wake-up their primary transceivers.
[0065] The first and second sequences may be orthogonal to each
other so that they do not correlate well with each other. In an
embodiment, the wake-up signal W1/2 may be composed of maximal
length PN sequences as well, or also may alternatively be composed
of different types of PN sequences. As with the synchronization
signal S, the first and second IOE devices 120 may have received
their assigned sequences at a previous time, such as during an
initial attach or in a later message from the base station 110
(such as with a sleep command) The wake-up signals W3/4 and W5/6
for the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth IOE devices 120 may be
configured in similar manner as described above with respect to
W1/2 (namely, different sequences identify which of the specific
IOE devices 120 listening at the assigned time/frequency the
wake-up signal is intended for). In an embodiment, the different
sequences used to distinguish between IOE devices 120 assigned to a
given time/frequency may be reused for other IOE devices 120
assigned to different time/frequency resource elements.
Alternatively, each IOE device 120 may be assigned a different
sequence that is distinct from all other sequences used for IOE
devices 120 within range of the base station 110, regardless of an
assigned time/frequency.
[0066] Alternatively, as illustrated in FIG. 6D, the multiple IOE
devices 120 may be assigned different frequency subcarriers at the
same time slot by the base station 110, or to a mix of frequency
subcarriers and time slots. In FIG. 6D, wake-up signals W1/2, W3/4,
W5/6, and W7/8 may all be transmitted during the same time slot but
at different subcarriers within the range of available frequencies.
Further, the wake-up signals may be transmitted at different times
than the assigned times for transmission of the synchronization
signals S. Thus, according to the embodiment of FIG. 6D, multiple
frequency subcarriers may be assigned to different sets of IOE
devices 120. Although illustrated with respect to two IOE devices
120 in FIGS. 6C and 6D, as will be recognized any number of IOE
devices 120 may be assigned to a given time/frequency resource
element.
[0067] Returning again to FIG. 2, the transceiver 210 may include a
modem subsystem 212 and a radio frequency (RF) unit 214. The
transceiver 210 is configured to communicate bi-directionally with
other devices, such as one or more UEs 120. The modem subsystem 212
may be configured to modulate and/or encode data according to a
modulation and coding scheme (MCS), e.g., a low-density parity
check (LDPC) coding scheme, a turbo coding scheme, a convolutional
coding scheme, etc.
[0068] The signal embedding module 208 may instruct the modem
subsystem 212 of the transceiver 210 to modulate the embedded
signal (synchronization or wake-up signal) with a modulation that
is different than the modulation used for the data/control
signaling in the rest of the OFDM downlink waveform. For example,
the synchronization or wake-up signal may be modulated by elements
of the modem subsystem 212 by some form of amplitude modulation,
such as on-off keying (OOK), while the other data/control signaling
is modulated according to QAM for example. OOK may be selected
since a number of low-power wake-up receivers detect the envelope
of the signal and hence can demodulate OOK. Other possible
modulations that may be used for the synchronization/wake-up
signals are binary phase shift keying (BPSK) and binary frequency
shift keying (FSK). Binary modulation may be selected for the
synchronization/wake-up signal because it is easier for the
low-power wake-up receivers at the IOE devices 120 to decode the
signals at low power. Where higher power (or SNR) is available,
other higher-order modulation schemes may instead be used, for
example amplitude shift keying (ASK) (which can be decoded with an
envelope detection type wake-up receiver), or quadrature phase
shift keying (QPSK) or higher order FSK at higher SNR.
[0069] The RF unit 214 may be configured to process (e.g., perform
analog to digital conversion or digital to analog conversion, etc.)
modulated/encoded data from the modem subsystem 212 (on outbound
transmissions) or transmissions originating from another source
such as a UE or IOE device 120. Although shown as integrated
together in transceiver 210, the modem subsystem 212 and the RF
unit 214 may be separate devices that are coupled together at the
base station 110 to enable the base station 110 to communicate with
other devices.
[0070] The RF unit 214 may provide the modulated and/or processed
data, e.g. data packets, to the antenna 216 for transmission to one
or more other devices such as UEs 120. After the transceiver 210
receives the OFDM information with the synchronization and/or
wake-up signals embedded within it from the signal embedding module
208, the modem subsystem 212 may modulate and/or encode the
identifying information in preparation for transmission. The RF
unit 214 may receive the modulated and/or encoded data packet and
process the data packet prior to passing it on to the antenna 216.
This may include, for example, transmission of data messages to one
or more UEs 120 including one or more IOE devices 120 according to
embodiments of the present disclosure. The antenna 216 may further
receive data messages transmitted from a UE and/or IOE device 120,
and provide the received data messages for processing and/or
demodulation at the transceiver 210.
[0071] As illustrated, antenna 216 may include multiple antennas of
similar or different designs in order to sustain multiple
transmission links. For example, the antenna 216, with multiple
antennas, may simultaneously transmit to multiple devices, such as
UE/IOE devices 120, such as employing one or more multiple-input,
multiple output (MIMO) transmission schemes. As another example,
the antenna 216's multiple transmit antennas could employ one or
more multiple-input, single-output (MISO) transmission schemes to
achieve transmit diversity or to achieve beamforming with respect
to the availability of a channel estimate.
[0072] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an exemplary UE/IOE device 120
according to embodiments of the present disclosure. For simplicity
of discussion, FIG. 3 will be described with respect to an IOE
device 120 as a specific example of a UE 120. The IOE device 120
may include a processor 302, a memory 304, a modem 308, a primary
transceiver 310, a secondary transceiver 312, an RF front end 314,
and an antenna 320 (which may be one or more multiple antennae,
such as to facilitate receive/transmit diversity schemes (selection
diversity, for example) to improve the robustness of
communication). These elements may be in direct or indirect
communication with each other, for example via one or more buses.
As mentioned above with respect to FIG. 1, the IOE device 120 may
communicate with a base station 110 that is within range.
[0073] The processor 302 may include a CPU, a DSP, an ASIC, a
controller, a FPGA device, another hardware device, a firmware
device, or any combination thereof configured to perform the
operations described herein with reference to the IOE device 120
introduced in FIG. 1 above. The processor 302 may also be
implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a
combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of
microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a
DSP core, or any other such configuration.
[0074] The memory 304 may include a cache memory (e.g., a cache
memory of the processor 302), RAM, MRAM, ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM,
flash memory, a solid state memory device, one or more hard disk
drives, other forms of volatile and non-volatile memory, or a
combination of different types of memory. In an embodiment, the
memory 304 includes a non-transitory computer-readable medium. The
memory 304 may store instructions 306. The instructions 306 may
include instructions that, when executed by the processor 302,
cause the processor 302 to perform the operations described herein
with reference to the IOE device 120 in connection with embodiments
of the present disclosure. Instructions 306 may also be referred to
as code. Instructions 306 may also be referred to as code, which
may be interpreted broadly to include any type of computer-readable
statement(s) as discussed above with respect to FIG. 2.
[0075] The modem subsystem 308 may be configured to modulate and/or
encode data according to a modulation and coding scheme (MCS),
e.g., a low-density parity check (LDPC) coding scheme, a turbo
coding scheme, a convolutional coding scheme, etc.
[0076] The primary transceiver 310 may include a transmitter and a
receiver and any other components to allow transmission and
reception of data, for example to process (e.g., perform analog to
digital conversion or digital to analog conversion, etc.)
modulated/encoded data from the modem subsystem 308 (on outbound
transmissions) or transmissions originating from another source
such as a UE or IOE device 120. For the transmitter, this may
include digital to analog conversion, a local oscillator, and up
conversion of baseband signals to the selected transmission
frequency, to name just a few examples. For the receiver, this may
include a down converter to put the received signal at baseband, a
baseband filter, and an analog-to-digital converter to name a few
examples.
[0077] The secondary transceiver 312 may be a low power wake-up
receiver that may wake up at pre-specified times in order to listen
for synchronization signals and wake-up signals. For example, the
secondary transceiver 312 may be, in an embodiment, a super
regenerative receiver (SRR). In some embodiments, the secondary
transceiver 312 does not include transmit capabilities. In some
embodiments, the secondary transceiver 312 may share at least some
hardware with the primary transceiver 310. In some embodiments, the
secondary transceiver 312 may refer to functionality of the primary
transceiver 310 associated with demodulating the synchronization
signals and wake-up signals using a low power operating mode of the
primary transceiver 310. The secondary transceiver 312 may include
an envelope (or energy) detector to detect the specific modulation
of the synchronization/wake-up signals from the base station 110
(e.g., a binary modulation), which may be selected to be easier for
the secondary transceiver 312 at the IOE device 120 to decode the
signals at low power consumption. The secondary transceiver 312 may
employ energy detection techniques in the time domain or the
frequency domain (e.g., by use of a fast Fourier transform) in case
the signal is transmitted on multiple carriers. The secondary
transceiver 312 may further compare a demodulated, decoded signal
(either synchronization or wake-up signals) to a previously shared
and stored sequence. The previously shared and stored sequence may
either be stored in a memory local to the secondary transceiver
312, or in the memory 304. For the synchronization signal, this
involves comparing the received signal to the previously stored
sequence to determine what local clock adjustment may be necessary
to realign the clock of the IOE device 120 to the clock of the base
station 110. For the wake-up signal, this involves comparing the
received signal to the previously stored sequence (which may or may
not be the same sequence as for the synchronization signal, as
described above with respect to FIGS. 6A-6D) to determine whether
the received signal is a wake-up message from the base station
110.
[0078] The RF front end 314 may include a filter 318, which may be
for example a band-pass filter to filter out-of-band signals. The
RF front end 314 may also include an impedance matching circuit and
an amplifier 316. Although illustrated as separate, as will be
recognized some aspects described above with respect to the primary
transceiver 310 may be performed by the RF front end 314 (e.g., up
conversion, down conversion, and mixing) and vice versa. The RF
front end 314 may provide the modulated and/or processed data, e.g.
data packets, to the antenna 320 for transmission to the base
station 110.
[0079] The antenna 320 may include one or multiple antennas of
similar or different designs in order to sustain a single or
multiple transmission links, respectively. The antenna 320 of the
IOE device 120 may transmit data provided from the primary
transceiver 310 after modulation and coding from the modem
subsystem 308 and amplification at the RF front end 314. The
antenna 320 of the IOE device 120 may also receive data from
multiple sources, including from a base station 110. The antenna
320 may feed the received data to the RF front end 314. Although
FIG. 3 illustrates the primary and secondary transceivers 310, 312
sharing the same antenna 320, it will be recognized that the IOE
device 120 may alternatively include separate antenna 320 for each
transceiver type.
[0080] When data received from the antenna 320 is filtered by the
filter 318, the received signal is input to the primary transceiver
310 when in regular operation. Alternatively, when the primary
transceiver 310 is placed in a low-power sleep mode (e.g., a very
low-power sleep mode), the received signal may be input to the
secondary transceiver 312. The secondary transceiver 312 may then
analyze the received information during the periods that it wakes
up to either receive and process a synchronization signal or
determine whether a wake-up signal has been received. If a wake-up
signal has been received, the secondary transceiver 312 may wake up
the primary transceiver 310 (and, in some embodiments, the rest of
the components of the device 120) so that desired operations may be
performed, such as receipt of data at the IOE device 120 or
transmission of collected data to the base station 110.
[0081] In an exemplary embodiment, the IOE device 120 may wake up
at a first, pre-specified time in order to listen for a
synchronization signal. Upon receipt, the received synchronization
signal may be compared to the stored (previously-shared)
synchronization signal. The comparison may be to determine a
correlation between the received synchronization signal and the
stored synchronization signal. When correlating to the stored
sequence, the correlator may obtain a strong correlation when the
received synchronization signal is properly time aligned.
Otherwise, when not properly time-aligned the correlator may find
at what time the received signal may reach a peak compared to the
stored sequence. This may allow the secondary transceiver 312 to
correct a clock offset local to the IOE device 120 (which may be
less accurate due to the low-power nature of the device) to be time
aligned with the clock of the base station 110 (which may be more
accurate).
[0082] In a further exemplary embodiment, the IOE device 120 may
wake up at a second, pre-specified time in order to listen for a
wake-up signal from the base station 110. As the antenna 320 picks
up information from the environment, the correlator of the
secondary transceiver 312 compares the information to a stored
sequence. In one embodiment that corresponds to FIG. 6A or 6B, the
stored sequence for the wake-up signal may be the same as the
stored sequence for the synchronization signal. In another
embodiment that corresponds to FIG. 6C or 6D, the stored sequence
for the wake-up signal may be different from the stored sequence
for the synchronization signal (as well as different than the
sequences associated with other IOE devices 120 within range of the
base station 110).
[0083] The secondary transceiver 312 may compare the demodulated,
decoded signal received during the second, pre-specified time
period to the stored sequence. A correlation value is determined as
a result of the comparison, which the secondary transceiver 312 may
compare to a pre-determined threshold (e.g., a correlation value
with a percentage greater than 50%, such as 80% or 90% to name just
a few examples). The correlation value may be related to a bit
error rate of a received signal. As the bit error rate increases,
the correlation value decreases; as the bit error rate decreases,
the correlation value increases. Thus, when there are fewer errors
between bits of a received signal and a desired sequence, the
correlation value is higher than when there are more errors between
bits. In an embodiment, the threshold may be with respect to a
correlation value, while in another embodiment the threshold may be
with respect to a bit error rate, to name just two examples.
[0084] In embodiments where the threshold value is a correlation
value, if the correlation value is less than (or less than/equal
to) the pre-determined threshold correlation value, then the
secondary transceiver 312 may determine that a wake-up signal was
not received. In the embodiments of FIGS. 6A-6B, this may mean that
no wake-up signal was transmitted at all from the base station 110,
while in the embodiments of FIGS. 6C-6D this may mean that either
no signal was transmitted or it was intended for another IOE device
120 (and, therefore, had a sequence that substantially did not
match the stored sequence at the particular IOE device 120). As a
result, the secondary transceiver 312 goes back to sleep until the
next pre-determined time interval.
[0085] If the correlation value is greater (or greater than/equal
to) than the pre-determined threshold, then the secondary
transceiver 312 may determine that the received signal was a
wake-up signal that targeted the IOE device 120. As a result, the
secondary transceiver 312 may send one or more signals to other
components of the IOE device 120 to wake them up from deep sleep
(for example, wake up the primary transceiver 310, the processor
302, and the memory 304).
[0086] In an embodiment, the pre-determined threshold may be a
constant value, for example a fixed threshold correlation value. In
an alternative embodiment, the pre-determined threshold may vary,
for example based upon the proximity of a given IOE device 120 to
the base station 110. For example, IOE devices 120 in closer
proximity to the base station 110 may have a higher threshold set
than IOE devices 120 that are further away. The proximity to the
base station 110 may be determined based on any number of factors,
including for example physical location positions (e.g., as
determined by GPS values) or time of flight computations.
[0087] Turning now to FIG. 7, a flowchart is presented that
illustrates an exemplary method 700 for embedding signals in a
downlink waveform in accordance with various aspects of the present
disclosure. The method 700 may be implemented in a base station 110
that is in communication with one or more IOE devices 120. The
method 700 will be described with respect to a specific base
station 110 for simplicity of discussion, though it will be
recognized that the aspects described herein may be applicable to
any number of base stations 110. It is understood that additional
steps can be provided before, during, and after the steps of method
700, and that some of the steps described can be replaced or
eliminated for other embodiments of the method 700.
[0088] At block 702, the base station 110 determines a resource
element usage policy. For example, the base station 110 may
determine that all attached IOE devices 120 will use distinct
resource elements. Alternatively, the base station 110 may
determine that multiple IOE devices 120 will share the same
time/frequency resource elements. The resource element usage policy
may have been previously assigned/programmed to the base station
110 (e.g., from an external element such as another network
element) or may be determined at this time.
[0089] At block 704, the base station 110 selects one or more
subcarriers in which to embed the signal (either synchronization or
wake-up signals according to embodiments of the present
disclosure). In embodiments where the resource usage policy was
previously assigned/programmed with the base station 110, the one
or more subcarriers may have been previously selected/assigned as
well. In that scenario, the base station 110 at block 704 retrieves
the information from storage. In some embodiments, the base station
110 may dynamically determine to change the time and/or frequency
resource elements in which the synchronization signal and/or
wake-up signal will be embedded.
[0090] At decision block 706, the method 700 proceeds to block 708
if, according to the resource element usage policy, different
attached IOE devices 120 do not share resource element(s). Since
each IOE device 120 is assigned a different combination of time and
frequency at which to wake up and listen to synchronization and/or
wake-up signals, at block 708 the base station 110 assigns the same
PN sequence to each IOE device 120 to be used for both
synchronization and wake-up signals. As described above with
respect to FIGS. 6A and 6B, the IOE devices 120 may be assigned to
different time slots but all listen at the same subcarrier, or may
be assigned to the same time slot but listen at different
subcarriers, to name some examples.
[0091] Returning to decision block 706, the method 700 proceeds to
block 710 if, according to the resource element usage policy,
multiple attached IOE devices 120 are assigned to share resource
element(s). Since multiple IOE devices 120 (e.g., two or more) may
share the same time/frequency resource element combination, the
base station 110 assigns different PN sequences to the IOE devices
120 sharing the resource element combination. These different PN
sequences may be orthogonal to each other in order to reduce the
correlation between them. As described above with respect to FIGS.
6C and 6D, multiple IOE devices 120 may share the same time slot
while all IOE devices 120 share the same subcarrier across time, or
multiple IOE devices 120 may share distinct subcarriers during the
same time slot.
[0092] The method 700 proceeds to block 712 from either block 708
or 710. At block 712, the base station 110 shares the assigned PN
sequence(s) with the attached IOE devices 120. If the method 700
proceeded from block 708, then the PN sequence shared with the
attached IOE devices 120 may be the same PN sequence that is used
for both synchronization signals and wake-up signals for the
attached IOE devices 120. This is possible because, for the wake-up
signals, each IOE device 120 wakes up at a unique time/frequency
resource element combination. If the method 700 proceeds from block
710, then the base station 110 shares a plurality of different PN
sequences. For example, each IOE device 120 may receive at least
two distinct PN sequences: one sequence that corresponds to the
sequence used for the synchronization signal and another sequence
that corresponds to the sequence used for the wake-up signal for
that particular IOE device 120. The sequences used for the wake-up
signal for each IOE device 120 will be distinct from those used for
the others.
[0093] The one or more PN sequences may be shared from the base
station 110, for example, as part of a command from the base
station 110 to put the IOE devices 120 into sleep mode. This
command to enter sleep mode may identify the time and frequency at
which each IOE device 120 should wake up the secondary transceiver
to listen for a synchronization signal as well as which to wake up
at to listen for a wake-up signal. The command may also specify how
often the synchronization and wake-up signals repeat so that the
IOE devices 120 know how often to wake up the secondary
transceivers to listen for these periodic signals.
[0094] At block 714, the base station 110 waits for a
pre-determined amount of time. If the next scheduled embedded
signal is a synchronization signal, then the base station 110 waits
the pre-determined amount of time between synchronization signals.
If the next scheduled embedded signal is a wake-up signal, then the
base station 110 waits the pre-determined amount of time between
wake-up signals.
[0095] As will be recognized, the period of time that the base
station 110 waits between embedded signals may be less than either
the pre-determined time for synchronization signals or the
pre-determined time for wake-up signals, as after a synchronization
signal, as the base station 110 waits the pre-determined time
between synchronization signals, one or more wake-up signals may be
scheduled to be transmitted. Thus, at block 714 the pre-determined
time the base station 110 waits may either correspond to the time
between synchronization signals or the time between wake-up
signals, or to the time between a synchronization signal and a
wake-up signal or a wake-up signal and a synchronization
signal.
[0096] At block 716, after waiting the pre-determined amount of
time the base station 110 inserts a PN sequence into the downlink
waveform. If the next scheduled embedded signal is a
synchronization signal, then the PN sequence being inserted
corresponds to the synchronization signal. If the next scheduled
embedded signal is a wake-up signal (for either one distinct IOE
device 120 or multiple IOE devices 120), then the PN sequence being
inserted corresponds to the wake-up signal.
[0097] At block 718, the base station 110 modulates the inserted
sequence of the embedded signal with a first modulation while the
rest of the data/control signaling in the rest of the downlink
waveform may be modulated according to a second modulation. For
example, the embedded signal (either synchronization or wake-up
signals) may be modulated with OOK while the rest of the waveform
is an OFDM downlink waveform which may be modulated with QAM.
[0098] At block 720, the base station 110 nulls out one or more
adjacent subcarriers to the selected subcarrier(s) for the embedded
signal, for example as illustrated in FIG. 5A and as described
above. In addition to nulling out the adjacent subcarriers, the
base station 110 may further increase the power of the subcarrier
used for the embedded signal while still maintaining the total
transmit power of the downlink waveform, as a result of allocating
the unused power of the nulled subcarriers to the embedded signal
subcarrier. In addition or as an alternative to nulling out
subcarriers, the base station 110 may null adjacent time slots. In
an alternative embodiment, the base station 110 may skip block 720
and not null out any adjacent subcarriers or time slots.
[0099] At block 722, the base station 110 transmits the downlink
waveform that includes the embedded signal to one or more UEs 120
within range, which may include one or more IOE devices.
[0100] The method 700 may then return to block 714 in order to wait
until the next scheduled time to embed a synchronization signal or
wake-up signal into the contemporary downlink waveform.
[0101] Turning now to FIG. 8, a flowchart is presented that
illustrates an exemplary method 800 for receiving embedded signals
in a downlink waveform in accordance with various aspects of the
present disclosure. The method 800 may be implemented in an IOE
device 120 that is in communication with a base station 110. The
method 800 will be described with respect to a specific IOE device
120 for simplicity of discussion, though it will be recognized that
the aspects described herein may be applicable to any number of IOE
devices 120. It is understood that additional steps can be provided
before, during, and after the steps of method 800, and that some of
the steps described can be replaced or eliminated for other
embodiments of the method 800.
[0102] At block 802, the IOE device 120 attaches to the base
station 110 that is within range.
[0103] At block 804, the IOE device 120 receives one or more
assigned PN sequences from the base station 110. As part of this
message, the IOE device 120 may also receive the time and frequency
resource elements at which the synchronization and wake-up signals
may be transmitted, as well as the pre-determined amounts of time
to wait to listen for a synchronization or wake-up signal. In an
embodiment, the assigned PN sequences (and assigned time/frequency
resource elements) may be received as part of a sleep command from
the base station 110 that is intended to place the IOE device 120
into sleep mode.
[0104] At block 806, the IOE device 120 puts some or all of its
constituent elements into sleep mode, e.g. a deep sleep such that
just a few elements are still active, such as a clock.
[0105] At block 808, the IOE device 120 waits a pre-determined
amount of time according to the times received from the base
station 110 at block 804.
[0106] At block 810, the IOE device 120 wakes up its secondary
transceiver, e.g. a low-power wake-up receiver, in order to listen
for a message from the base station 110. This message may be a
synchronization signal or a wake-up signal.
[0107] At decision block 812, if the scheduled wake-up event is for
a synchronization signal broadcast, then the method 800 proceeds to
block 814. At block 814, the IOE device receives the
synchronization signal broadcast from the base station 110 and
correlated to a local copy of the sequence previously shared with
the IOE devices 120 (at block 804). When correlating the received
synchronization signal to this pre-shared sequence, the IOE device
120 may see a strong correlation when the received synchronization
signal is properly time aligned. This allows the low-power wake-up
receiver of the IOE devices 120 to correct its clock offset to be
time aligned with the clock of the base station 110. The method 800
then proceeds back to block 808 and proceeds as described.
[0108] If, at decision block 812, the scheduled wake-up event is
not for a synchronization signal but rather for a wake-up signal,
then the method 800 proceeds to block 816. At block 816, the IOE
device 120 listens with the secondary transceiver and obtains
whatever information is picked up by the antenna(s).
[0109] At block 818, the IOE device 120 compares the information
obtained from the antenna to a stored sequence (the PN sequence
corresponding to the wake-up sequence received at block 804). The
stored sequence for the wake-up signal may be the same as the
stored sequence for the synchronization signal. Alternatively, the
stored sequence for the wake-up signal may be different from the
stored sequence for the synchronization signal (as well as
different than the sequences associated with other IOE devices 120
within range of the base station 110). As a result of the
comparison, a correlation value may be determined.
[0110] At decision block 820, the IOE device 120 compares the
correlation value to a pre-determined threshold (e.g., a
correlation value with a percentage greater than 50%, such as 80%
or 90% to name just a few examples). The IOE device 120 determines
whether the determined correlation value exceeds (or, in some
embodiments, is greater than or equal to) the pre-determined
threshold. If the determined correlation value is not, then the
method 800 returns to step 806--the secondary transceiver goes back
to sleep and the IOE device 120 waits another period of time to
wake up the secondary transceiver again. This corresponds to the
base station 110 not having sent a wake-up signal for the IOE
device 120 during that scheduled time slot.
[0111] If the IOE device 120 determines at decision block 820 that
the determined correlation value exceeds the threshold, then the
method 800 proceeds to block 822, where the secondary transceiver
of the IOE device 120 causes the primary transceiver (and, in
embodiments, of the components of the IOE device 120) to wake up to
perform one or more desired operations with the base station 110
(e.g., either receiving data or transmitting requested data to the
base station 110).
[0112] In embodiments where the threshold value is a correlation
value, if the correlation value is less than (or less than/equal
to) the pre-determined threshold correlation value, then the
secondary transceiver 312 may determine that a wake-up signal was
not received. In the embodiments of FIGS. 6A-6B, this may mean that
no wake-up signal was transmitted at all from the base station 110,
while in the embodiments of FIGS. 6C-6D this may mean that either
no signal was transmitted or it was intended for another IOE device
120 (and, therefore, had a sequence that substantially did not
match the stored sequence at the particular IOE device 120). As a
result, the secondary transceiver 312 goes back to sleep until the
next pre-determined time interval.
[0113] The method 800 may then return to block 808 in order to wait
until the next scheduled time to wake up the secondary transceiver
to listen for either a synchronization signal or wake-up signal
from the base station 110.
[0114] Information and signals may be represented using any of a
variety of different technologies and techniques. For example,
data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols,
and chips that may be referenced throughout the above description
may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves,
magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any
combination thereof.
[0115] The various illustrative blocks and modules described in
connection with the disclosure herein may be implemented or
performed with a general-purpose processor, a DSP, an ASIC, an FPGA
or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor
logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof
designed to perform the functions described herein. A
general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the
alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor,
controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also
be implemented as a combination of computing devices (e.g., a
combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple
microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a
DSP core, or any other such configuration).
[0116] The functions described herein may be implemented in
hardware, software executed by a processor, firmware, or any
combination thereof. If implemented in software executed by a
processor, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as
one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium.
Other examples and implementations are within the scope of the
disclosure and appended claims. For example, due to the nature of
software, functions described above can be implemented using
software executed by a processor, hardware, firmware, hardwiring,
or combinations of any of these. Features implementing functions
may also be physically located at various positions, including
being distributed such that portions of functions are implemented
at different physical locations. Also, as used herein, including in
the claims, "or" as used in a list of items (for example, a list of
items prefaced by a phrase such as "at least one of" or "one or
more of") indicates an inclusive list such that, for example, a
list of [at least one of A, B, or C] means A or B or C or AB or AC
or BC or ABC (i.e., A and B and C).
[0117] Embodiments of the present disclosure include a
computer-readable medium having program code recorded thereon, the
program code comprising: code for causing a first communications
device to identify at least one subcarrier within an orthogonal
frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) downlink signal for use in
communicating with a wake-up receiver of a second communications
device while a primary receiver of the second communications device
is in deep sleep. The program code further comprises code for
causing the first communications device to insert an embedded
signal into the identified at least one subcarrier at one or more
pre-specified times for transmission to the wake-up receiver of the
second communications device. The program code further comprises
code for causing the first communications device to transmit the
embedded signal to the wake-up receiver of the second
communications device with a first modulation using the identified
at least one subcarrier, the first modulation being different from
a second modulation used in transmitting data with one or more
remaining subcarriers in the OFDM downlink signal.
[0118] The program code further includes code for causing the first
communications device to modulate one or more adjacent subcarriers
to the identified one or more subcarriers with zero amplitude. The
program code further includes code for causing the first
communications device to boost a power of the embedded signal a
fixed amount that is less than or equal to an amount of power freed
up from the one or more adjacent subcarriers modulated with zero
amplitude. The program code further includes wherein the embedded
signal comprises a synchronization signal assigned to a first time
from among the one or more pre-specified times, the synchronization
signal including data to enable the second communications device to
synchronize a clock local to the second communications device to a
clock local to the first communications device. The program code
further includes wherein the embedded signal comprises a wake-up
signal assigned to a second time from among the one or more
pre-specified times, the first and second times being different
from each other, the wake-up signal indicating to the second
communications device to wake up the primary receiver for a
pre-determined operation. The program code further includes wherein
the first communications device communicates with a plurality of
second communications devices, each second communications device
comprising a wake-up receiver. The program code further includes
code for causing the first communications device to broadcast the
synchronization signal to the plurality of second communications
devices in the first time, the synchronization signal comprising a
first pseudo-random noise sequence. The program code further
includes wherein the second time comprises a plurality of times,
each different from the first time and from each other. The program
code further includes code for causing the first communications
device to assign, to each second communications device, a different
time from among the plurality of different times at which each
second communications device is to wake up its wake-up receiver to
listen for the wake-up signal, wherein the wake-up signal comprises
the first pseudo-random noise sequence. The program code further
includes wherein the at least one subcarrier comprises a plurality
of subcarriers. The program code further includes code for causing
the first communications device to assign, to a first device from
among the plurality of second communications devices, a first
subcarrier that is used to transmit the wake-up signal to the first
device during the second time. The program code further includes
code for causing the first communications device to assign, to a
second device from among the plurality of second communications
devices, a second subcarrier that is used to transmit the wake-up
signal to the second device during the second time, the first and
second subcarriers being different from each other in frequency,
wherein the wake-up signal transmitted on the first and second
subcarriers each comprises the first pseudo-random noise sequence.
The program code further includes wherein the second time comprises
a plurality of times, each different from the first time and from
each other. The program code further includes code for causing the
first communications device to assign a first group of
communications devices from among the plurality of second
communications devices to a first different time from among the
plurality of different times and a second group of communications
devices from among the plurality of second communications devices
to a second different time from among the plurality of different
times. The program code further includes wherein the first group of
communications devices is to wake up their wake-up receivers to
listen for the wake-up signal during the first different time and
the second group of communications devices is to wake up their
wake-up receivers to listen for the wake-up signal during the
second different time. The program code further includes wherein
the wake-up signal for the first group of communications devices
comprises a second pseudo-random noise sequence and the wake-up
signal for the second group of communications devices comprises a
third pseudo-random noise sequence. The program code further
includes code for causing the first communications device to share
the first pseudo-random noise sequence to the plurality of second
communications devices prior to transmission of the embedded
signal. The program code further includes wherein the first
modulation comprises on-off keying, the first communications device
comprises a base station, and the second communications device
comprises an internet of everything (IOE) device. The program code
further includes code for causing the first communications device
to assign a periodicity to the embedded signal to achieve a
pre-determined amount of desired latency for waking up the primary
receiver of the second communications device from the deep
sleep.
[0119] Embodiments of the present disclosure further include a
computer-readable medium having program code recorded thereon, the
program code comprising code for causing a first communications
device to wake up a wake-up receiver of the first communications
device, while a primary receiver of the first communications device
is in deep sleep, at a pre-determined time to listen for an
embedded signal within at least one selected subcarrier in an
orthogonal frequency multiplexing (OFDM) downlink signal from a
second communications device. The program code further includes
code for causing the first communications device to detect a signal
at the at least one selected subcarrier during the pre-determined
time. The program code further includes code for causing the first
communications device to determine whether the detected signal is
the embedded signal having a first modulation from the second
communications device and intended for the first communications
device, the first modulation being different from a second
modulation used in transmitting data with one or more remaining
subcarriers in the OFDM downlink signal.
[0120] The program code further includes code for causing the first
communications device to wake up the primary receiver in response
to determining that the detected signal is the embedded signal
intended for the first communications device. The program code
further includes wherein the pre-determined time comprises a
plurality of specified times. The program code further includes
wherein the embedded signal comprises a synchronization signal that
is assigned to a first time from among the plurality of specified
times, the synchronization signal comprising a first pseudo-random
noise sequence previously shared with the first communications
device. The program code further includes wherein the embedded
signal comprises a wake-up signal assigned to a second time from
among the plurality of specified times, the first and second times
being different from each other, the wake-up signal indicating to
the first communications device to wake up the primary receiver for
a pre-determined operation. The program code further includes
wherein the detected signal is received during the first time. The
program code further includes code for causing the first
communications device to determine a correlation of the detected
signal to the first pseudo-random noise sequence of the
synchronization signal. The program code further includes code for
causing the first communications device to correct a clock offset
of a clock local to the first communications device to be time
aligned with a clock local to the second communications device
based on a resulting magnitude of the correlation. The program code
further includes wherein the detected signal is received during the
second time, the wake-up signal comprises the first pseudo-random
noise sequence, and the second time is uniquely assigned to the
first communications device. The program code further includes code
for causing the first communications device to determine a
correlation of the detected signal to the first pseudo-random noise
sequence of the wake-up signal. The program code further includes
code for causing the first communications device to compare the
correlation to a pre-determined threshold level. The program code
further includes code for causing the first communications device
to determine that the detected signal is the wake-up signal if the
correlation exceeds the pre-determined threshold level and, in
response, to wake up the primary receiver. The program code further
includes wherein the detected signal is received during the second
time, the wake-up signal comprises a second pseudo-random noise
sequence, and the second time is assigned to more than one
communications device including the first communications device.
The program code further includes code for causing the first
communications device to determine a correlation of the detected
signal to the second pseudo-random noise sequence of the wake-up
signal. The program code further includes code for causing the
first communications device to compare the correlation to a
pre-determined threshold level. The program code further includes
code for causing the first communications device to determine that
the detected signal is the wake-up signal if the correlation
exceeds the pre-determined threshold level and, in response, to
wake up the primary receiver. The program code further includes
code for causing the first communications device to determine that
the detected signal is directed toward another communications
device sharing the second time if the correlation falls below the
pre-determined threshold. The program code further includes wherein
the detected signal is received during the second time that is
shared between a plurality of communications devices including the
first communications device, the wake-up signal comprises the first
pseudo-random noise sequence, and the at least one selected
subcarrier is uniquely assigned to the first communications device.
The program code further includes code for causing the first
communications device to determine a correlation of the detected
signal to the first pseudo-random noise sequence of the wake-up
signal. The program code further includes code for causing the
first communications device to compare the correlation to a
pre-determined threshold level. The program code further includes
code for causing the first communications device to determine that
the detected signal is the wake-up signal if the correlation
exceeds the pre-determined threshold level and, in response, to
wake up the primary receiver. The program code further includes
wherein the first modulation comprises on-off keying, the first
communications device comprises an internet of everything (IOE)
device, and the second communications device comprises a base
station. The program code further includes code for causing the
first communications device to wake up the wake-up receiver
according to a pre-assigned periodicity to achieve a pre-determined
amount of desired latency for waking up the primary receiver of the
first communications device from the deep sleep.
[0121] Embodiments of the present disclosure further include a
wireless communications device comprising means for identifying at
least one subcarrier within an orthogonal frequency division
multiplexing (OFDM) downlink signal for use in communicating with a
wake-up receiver of a second wireless communications device while a
primary receiver of the second wireless communications device is in
deep sleep. The wireless communications device further includes
means for inserting an embedded signal into the identified at least
one subcarrier at one or more pre-specified times for transmission
to the wake-up receiver of the second wireless communications
device. The wireless communications device further includes means
for transmitting the embedded signal to the wake-up receiver of the
second wireless communications device with a first modulation using
the identified at least one subcarrier, the first modulation being
different from a second modulation used in transmitting data with
one or more remaining subcarriers in the OFDM downlink signal.
[0122] The wireless communications device further includes means
for modulating one or more adjacent subcarriers to the identified
one or more subcarriers with zero amplitude. The wireless
communications device further includes means for boosting a power
of the embedded signal a fixed amount that is less than or equal to
an amount of power freed up from the one or more adjacent
subcarriers modulated with zero amplitude. The wireless
communications device further includes wherein the embedded signal
comprises a synchronization signal assigned to a first time from
among the one or more pre-specified times, the synchronization
signal including data to enable the second wireless communications
device to synchronize a clock local to the second wireless
communications device to a clock local to the wireless
communications device. The wireless communications device further
includes the embedded signal comprises a wake-up signal assigned to
a second time from among the one or more pre-specified times, the
first and second times being different from each other, the wake-up
signal indicating to the second wireless communications device to
wake up the primary receiver for a pre-determined operation. The
wireless communications device further includes wherein the
wireless communications device communicates with a plurality of
second wireless communications devices, each second wireless
communications device comprising a wake-up receiver. The wireless
communications device further includes means for broadcasting the
synchronization signal to the plurality of second wireless
communications devices in the first time, the synchronization
signal comprising a first pseudo-random noise sequence. The
wireless communications device further includes wherein the second
time comprises a plurality of times, each different from the first
time and from each other. The wireless communications device
further includes means for assigning, to each second wireless
communications device, a different time from among the plurality of
different times at which each second wireless communications device
is to wake up its wake-up receiver to listen for the wake-up
signal, wherein the wake-up signal comprises the first
pseudo-random noise sequence. The wireless communications device
further includes wherein the at least one subcarrier comprises a
plurality of subcarriers. The wireless communications device
further includes means for assigning, to a first device from among
the plurality of second wireless communications devices, a first
subcarrier that is used to transmit the wake-up signal to the first
device during the second time. The wireless communications device
further includes means for assigning, to a second device from among
the plurality of second wireless communications devices, a second
subcarrier that is used to transmit the wake-up signal to the
second device during the second time, the first and second
subcarriers being different from each other in frequency, wherein
the wake-up signal transmitted on the first and second subcarriers
each comprises the first pseudo-random noise sequence. The wireless
communications device further includes wherein the second time
comprises a plurality of times, each different from the first time
and from each other. The wireless communications device further
includes means for assigning a first group of communications
devices from among the plurality of second wireless communications
devices to a first different time from among the plurality of
different times and a second group of communications devices from
among the plurality of second wireless communications devices to a
second different time from among the plurality of different times.
The wireless communications device further includes wherein the
first group of communications devices is to wake up their wake-up
receivers to listen for the wake-up signal during the first
different time and the second group of communications devices is to
wake up their wake-up receivers to listen for the wake-up signal
during the second different time. The wireless communications
device further includes wherein the wake-up signal for the first
group of communications devices comprises a second pseudo-random
noise sequence and the wake-up signal for the second group of
communications devices comprises a third pseudo-random noise
sequence. The wireless communications device further includes means
for sharing the first pseudo-random noise sequence to the plurality
of second wireless communications devices prior to transmission of
the embedded signal. The wireless communications device further
includes wherein the first modulation comprises on-off keying, the
wireless communications device comprises a base station, and the
second wireless communications device comprises an internet of
everything (IOE) device. The wireless communications device further
includes means for assigning a periodicity to the embedded signal
to achieve a pre-determined amount of desired latency for waking up
the primary receiver of the second wireless communications device
from the deep sleep.
[0123] Embodiments of the present disclosure further include a
wireless communications device comprising means for waking up a
wake-up receiver of the wireless communications device, while a
primary receiver of the wireless communications device is in deep
sleep, at a pre-determined time to listen for an embedded signal
within at least one selected subcarrier in an orthogonal frequency
multiplexing (OFDM) downlink signal from a second wireless
communications device. The wireless communications device further
includes means for detecting a signal at the wake-up receiver at
the at least one selected subcarrier during the pre-determined
time. The wireless communications device further includes means for
determining whether the detected signal is the embedded signal
having a first modulation from the second wireless communications
device and intended for the wireless communications device, the
first modulation being different from a second modulation used in
transmitting data with one or more remaining subcarriers in the
OFDM downlink signal.
[0124] The wireless communications device further includes means
for waking up the primary receiver in response to determining that
the detected signal is the embedded signal intended for the
wireless communications device. The wireless communications device
further includes wherein the pre-determined time comprises a
plurality of specified times. The wireless communications device
further includes wherein the embedded signal comprises a
synchronization signal that is assigned to a first time from among
the plurality of specified times, the synchronization signal
comprising a first pseudo-random noise sequence previously shared
with the wireless communications device. The wireless
communications device further includes wherein the embedded signal
comprises a wake-up signal assigned to a second time from among the
plurality of specified times, the first and second times being
different from each other, the wake-up signal indicating to the
wireless communications device to wake up the primary receiver for
a pre-determined operation. The wireless communications device
further includes wherein the detected signal is received during the
first time. The wireless communications device further includes
means for determining a correlation of the detected signal to the
first pseudo-random noise sequence of the synchronization signal.
The wireless communications device further includes means for
correcting a clock offset of a clock local to the wireless
communications device to be time aligned with a clock local to the
second wireless communications device based on a resulting
magnitude of the correlation. The wireless communications device
further includes wherein the detected signal is received during the
second time, the wake-up signal comprises the first pseudo-random
noise sequence, and the second time is uniquely assigned to the
wireless communications device. The wireless communications device
further includes means for determining a correlation of the
detected signal to the first pseudo-random noise sequence of the
wake-up signal. The wireless communications device further includes
means for comparing the correlation to a pre-determined threshold
level. The wireless communications device further includes means
for determining that the detected signal is the wake-up signal if
the correlation exceeds the pre-determined threshold level and, in
response, for waking up the primary receiver. The wireless
communications device further includes wherein the detected signal
is received during the second time, the wake-up signal comprises a
second pseudo-random noise sequence, and the second time is
assigned to more than one wireless communications device including
the wireless communications device. The wireless communications
device further includes means for determining a correlation of the
detected signal to the second pseudo-random noise sequence of the
wake-up signal. The wireless communications device further includes
means for comparing the correlation to a pre-determined threshold
level. The wireless communications device further includes means
for determining that the detected signal is the wake-up signal if
the correlation exceeds the pre-determined threshold level and, in
response, for waking up the primary receiver. The wireless
communications device further includes means for determining that
the detected signal is directed toward another wireless
communications device sharing the second time if the correlation
falls below the pre-determined threshold. The wireless
communications device further includes wherein the detected signal
is received during the second time that is shared between a
plurality of wireless communications devices including the wireless
communications device, the wake-up signal comprises the first
pseudo-random noise sequence, and the at least one selected
subcarrier is uniquely assigned to the wireless communications
device. The wireless communications device further includes means
for determining a correlation of the detected signal to the first
pseudo-random noise sequence of the wake-up signal. The wireless
communications device further includes means for comparing the
correlation to a pre-determined threshold level. The wireless
communications device further includes means for determining that
the detected signal is the wake-up signal if the correlation
exceeds the pre-determined threshold level and, in response, for
waking up the primary receiver. The wireless communications device
further includes wherein the first modulation comprises on-off
keying, the wireless communications device comprises an internet of
everything (IOE) device, and the second wireless communications
device comprises a base station. The wireless communications device
further includes means for waking up the wake-up receiver according
to a pre-assigned periodicity to achieve a pre-determined amount of
desired latency for waking up the primary receiver of the first
communications device from the deep sleep.
[0125] As those of some skill in this art will by now appreciate
and depending on the particular application at hand, many
modifications, substitutions and variations can be made in and to
the materials, apparatus, configurations and methods of use of the
devices of the present disclosure without departing from the spirit
and scope thereof. In light of this, the scope of the present
disclosure should not be limited to that of the particular
embodiments illustrated and described herein, as they are merely by
way of some examples thereof, but rather, should be fully
commensurate with that of the claims appended hereafter and their
functional equivalents.
* * * * *