Telecommunications – Transmitter and receiver at same station – Radiotelephone equipment detail
Reexamination Certificate
1999-02-05
2001-08-21
Nguyen, Lee (Department: 2683)
Telecommunications
Transmitter and receiver at same station
Radiotelephone equipment detail
C455S039000, C455S158400, C455S159100, C455S550100, C455S574000, C455S343200, C345S211000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06278887
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to wireless handsets and more specifically to a system and method for conserving power in wireless handsets.
2. Related Art
The advent of wireless personal communications devices has revolutionized the telecommunications industry. Cellular, PCS and other services provide wireless personal communications to businesses and individuals at home, in the office, on the road, and virtually anywhere the wireless network reaches. Wireless telephone subscribers no longer have to stop at pay telephones along the road, or wait until they return home or to the office to check messages and return important business calls. Instead, wireless subscribers carry out their day to day business from their cars, from the jobsite, while walking along the airport concourse, and just about anywhere their communication signals are accessible.
Thus, it is no surprise that since the introduction of the cellular telephone service, the number of wireless telephone subscribers has increased steadily. Indeed, the number of wireless telephone subscribers is staggering and continues to increase daily. In fact, many households have multiple wireless telephones in addition to their conventional land-line services.
Because of the enormous and continually increasing market size, there is fierce competition among hardware manufacturers and service providers. In an attempt to lure customers, most providers offer handsets with desirable features or attributes such as small size, light weight, longer battery life, speed dial, and so forth. More recent additions to the marketplace include multi-functional handsets that provide pocket-organizer functions integrated into the wireless handset.
As more and more features are added, and as package size diminishes, battery life becomes a more critical factor in the design of the handset. This criticality can be attributed to two causes: the addition of power-consuming features is outpacing advances in battery technology; and the smaller package sizes also require smaller battery dimensions, thus impacting battery life.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed toward a system and method for providing power saving features in an electronic device such as a wireless communication handset. Because wireless communication handsets are typically battery-operated devices, it is desirable that power saving features be provided to extend battery life, thus enhancing the usefulness of the device. As such, the various aspects of the invention provide power saving features such as selective shut-off for device displays, display back lights, and keypad back lights. According to one aspect of the invention, the device display is operated with a timeout feature that powers down the device display during periods of time when it is likely that the display is not needed. According to one aspect of the invention, when the device is turned on a timer is set that automatically turns off the display after a predetermined time. The display can be reactivated for a given timeout period based on user action such as keypad inputs. Thus, when a user depresses a key on a keypad, the display will turn on or remain on for a predetermined period of time. The display will automatically turn off after this predetermined time to conserve power. Because many users rely on the display to provide an indication of whether the device is turned on, an alternative power-on indicator can be provided for time periods when the display is turned off. This alternative power-on indicator can be an intermittent indicator such as a flashing LED that flashes or is illuminated at predetermined intervals.
Similarly, another aspect of the invention disables display and keypad back lights during periods of time when such back lights are not likely to be needed. For example, if the device is being operated during daylight hours, the back light for the display or keypad can be left off. Additionally, for periods of time where the back lights are needed, these back lights can be operated on timers similar to that described above for the display, to enable the back lights to be turned off after predetermined time intervals when back lighting is not likely to be needed by the user.
Thus, these various aspects of the invention that can be implemented individually or in combination can provide power saving features to an electronic device such as a wireless communication handset.
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Chung Jong T.
Son William Y.
Lyon & Lyon LLP
Neopoint, Inc.
Nguyen Lee
Nguyen Simon
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