Method and apparatus for power autoscaling in a resource-constrained network

Abstract

An electronic device may adaptively manage power consumption associated with transmission and/or reception of signals by the electronic device, wherein the adaptive power management may comprise adjusting transmit power and/or one or more power-related thresholds used during transmission or reception operations in the electronic device. Adjustments to the transmit power and/or the one or more power-related thresholds may be determined based on comparison between power measurement associated with signals received by said electronic device with original transmit power for the signals. The reception power measurement may be determined based on detected received signal strength indication (RSSI). The original transmit power may be determined based on signal transmission information embedded in at least one frame carried via said signals. The original transmission power may be embedded as an equivalent isotropic radiated power (EIRP) value.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method, comprising:
 adaptively managing power consumption of an electronic device by adaptively adjusting transmit power used during transmission of signals by said electronic device, wherein:
 said adaptive adjusting is based on received signal strength of a received frame and based on a power at which said received frame was transmitted; and 
 said power at which said received frame was transmitted is embedded in said received frame. 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said power at which said received frame was transmitted is embedded in said received frame as an equivalent isotropic radiated power (EIRP) value. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising adjusting said transmit power used during transmission of signals by said electronic device based on a determination of a desired maximum communication range and/or a particular target peer device. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , comprising determining said desired maximum communication based on power loss associated with communication of said received frame. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , comprising determining said power loss associated with communication of said received frame based on difference between said received signal strength of said received frame and said power at which said received frame was transmitted. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising selectively activating or deactivating said adaptive power management. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising applying said adaptive power management in accordance with a particular algorithm selected from a plurality of available algorithms, said plurality of available algorithms comprise standard based algorithms and/or proprietary algorithms. 
     
     
         8 . A method, comprising:
 adaptively managing power consumption of an electronic device by adaptively adjusting reception sensitivity applicable during reception of signals by said electronic device, wherein:
 said adaptive adjusting is based on received signal strength of a received frame and based on a power at which said received frame was transmitted; 
 said power at which said received frame was transmitted is embedded in said received frame; and 
 said reception sensitivity adaptively controls terminating processing of or discarding of said received frame. 
   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein said power at which said received frame was transmitted is embedded in said received frame as an equivalent isotropic radiated power (EIRP) value. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , comprising adaptively adjusting said reception sensitivity of said electronic device by adaptively adjusting one or more power-related thresholds used during reception of signals by said electronic device. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , comprising adjusting said one or more power-related thresholds based on a location of said electronic device. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein said one or more power-related thresholds comprise a threshold for controlling Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA) based operations in said electronic device, said threshold being compared to received signal strength indication (RSSI) detected by said electronic device. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein said one or more power-related thresholds comprise a threshold for controlling link quality, said controlling comprising discarding frames carried via received signals based on comparison of link utilization with said link quality threshold. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 8 , comprising selectively activating or deactivating said adaptive power management. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 8 , comprising applying said adaptive power management in accordance with a particular algorithm selected from a plurality of available algorithms, said plurality of available algorithms comprise standard based algorithms and/or proprietary algorithms. 
     
     
         16 . A system, comprising:
 an electronic device operable to adaptively manage its power consumption by adjusting transmit power used during transmission of signals by said electronic device and/or by adjusting reception sensitivity applicable during reception of signals by said electronic device, wherein:
 said adaptive adjusting is based on received signal strength of a received frame and based on a power at which said received frame was transmitted; and 
 said power at which said received frame was transmitted is embedded in said received frame. 
   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein said power at which said received frame was transmitted is embedded in said received frame as an equivalent isotropic radiated power (EIRP) value. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein said electronic device is operable to adjust said transmit power based on determination of a desired maximum communication range and/or a particular target peer device. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein said electronic device is operable to adjust said transmit power based on a difference between said received signal strength of said received frame and said power at which said received frame was transmitted. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein said electronic device is operable to adaptively adjust said reception sensitivity of said electronic device by adaptively adjusting one or more power-related thresholds used during reception of signals by said electronic device.