Patent Issued for Preserving Cell Phone Battery Life

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Journal of Engineering -- From Alexandria, Virginia, VerticalNews journalists report that a patent by the inventor Davis, Benjamin (San Francisco, CA), filed on February 2, 2012, was cleared and issued on December 4, 2012.

The patent's assignee for patent number 8326231 is Google, Inc. (Mountain View, CA).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: "Daily use of mobile communication devices, such as cell phones, has dramatically increased over past decades. It has become more difficult for users to maintain mobile device power in between charges due to this increased use, limitations in battery technology and the inability to access electricity for periods of time.

"Typically, mobile devices remain continually connected to the network to check for incoming data. A large percentage of the time, however, a mobile device is not actively used to exchange communications, such as phone calls, e-mails and messaging. The continued network connection contributes to a large power consumption of the mobile device compared to the limited amount of time the mobile device is actively being used during the continued network connection. Some mobile devices offer a power-saving mode (i.e. airplane mode), during which time the device remains disconnected from the network. Users may also choose to turn the devices off to preserve power. But in both the power-saving mode and the power off state, users cannot receive or send any communication.

"This document describes methods and systems that are directed to solving at least some of the problems described above."

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, VerticalNews correspondents also obtained the inventor's summary information for this patent: "In an embodiment, a method of operating a mobile electronic device includes connecting, by an electronic device, to a network and transmitting, by the electronic device, at least one communication to the network. The method also includes identifying, by a processor of the electronic device, at least one communication parameter of the at least one communication and determining, by the processor of the electronic device, a first disconnect time as which to disconnect from the network based on the at least one communication parameter identified by the processor. The method further includes disconnecting from the network at the first disconnect time.

"In some embodiments, the method also includes detecting, by the processor of the electronic device, an instruction received at a user interface of the electronic device. The determining, by the processor of the electronic device, when to disconnect from the network is based on the received instruction at the user interface.

"In some embodiments, identifying at least one communication parameter includes identifying a time when the at least one communication was transmitted to the network, and the method also includes receiving an instruction to disconnect from the network when an amount of time has elapsed from the time when the at least one communication was transmitted to the network. Determining when to disconnect from the network includes determining when to disconnect from the network based on the amount of time that has elapsed from the time when the at least one communication was transmitted to the network.

"In some embodiments, identifying at least one communication parameter includes identifying a type of communication and determining when to disconnect from the network includes determining when to disconnect from the network based on the type of communication.

"In some embodiments, the type of communication is selected from a group of communication types consisting of voice transmissions, text messages, multi-media messages and e-mails.

"In some embodiments, identifying at least one communication parameter includes identifying an alphanumeric communication parameter from a group of alphanumeric communication parameters which include at least one alphanumeric character, a combination of alphanumeric characters, a number of occurrences of the alphanumeric character included in the at least one communication and the number of occurrences of the combination of alphanumeric characters included in the at least one communication. Determining when to disconnect from the network includes determining when to disconnect from the network based on the least one alphanumeric character of the at least one communication.

"In some embodiments, identifying at least one communication parameter includes identifying a destination of the at least one communication and determining when to disconnect from the network includes determining when to disconnect from the network based on the destination of the at least one communication.

"In some embodiments, the at least at least one communication includes a first communication and a second communication. Identifying at least one communication parameter includes identifying communication parameters of the first communication as a time that the first communication was transmitted and a destination of the first communication. Identifying at least one communication parameter also includes communication parameters of the second communication as a time that the second communication was transmitted and the destination of the first communication. Determining when to disconnect from the network is based on an amount of time between the time that the first communication was sent to the destination and the time that the second communication was sent to the destination.

"In some embodiments, the method includes determining, by the processor, when to reconnect to the network after disconnecting from the network based on the at least one communication parameter of the at least one communication.

"In an embodiment, a method of operating a mobile electronic device includes connecting, by an electronic device, to a network and transmitting, by the electronic device, a first communication to the network. The method also includes identifying, by a processor of the electronic device, at least one communication parameter of the first communication and determining, by the processor of the electronic device, a second transmitting time for transmitting a second communication to the network based on at least one communication parameter identified by the processor. The method also includes disconnecting, by the electronic device, from the network and determining, by the processor of the electronic device, a reconnecting time for reconnecting to the network based on the second transmitting time determined by the processor of the electronic device. The method further includes reconnecting, by the electronic device, to the network at the determined reconnecting time and transmitting the second communication to the network at the second transmission time, the second transmission time occurring within a predetermined allowance time period from the determined reconnecting time.

"In some embodiments, the method includes detecting, by the processor of the electronic device, an instruction received at a user interface of the electronic device. Determining, by the processor of the electronic device, a second transmitting time for transmitting a second communication to the network includes determining a second transmission time based on the received instruction at the user interface.

"In some embodiments, identifying at least one communication parameter includes identifying a time when the first communication was transmitted to the network. Determining a second transmitting time for transmitting a second communication to the network includes determining a second transmitting time based on the time when the first communication was transmitted to the network and a predetermined call back time period. The predetermined call back time period corresponds to a predetermined period of time that elapses from the time when the first communication was transmitted to the network.

"In some embodiments, the method includes receiving, by the other electronic device, the first communication from the electronic device and connecting, by another electronic device, to the network. The method also includes identifying the at least one communication parameter of the first communication as the time when the first communication was transmitted to the network, determining, by a processor of the other electronic device, the second transmitting time of the second communication based on the time when the first communication was transmitted and the predetermined call back time period and determining, by the processor of the other electronic device, a reconnecting time for reconnecting to the network based on the second transmitting time determined by the processor of the other electronic device. The method further includes displaying, at a display of the other electronic device, the second transmitting time, disconnecting, by the other electronic device, from the network and reconnecting, by the other electronic device, to the network at the determined reconnecting time.

"In some embodiments, the method also includes storing, at the electronic device and the other electronic device, the predetermined call back time period. Determining the second transmitting time by the processor of the electronic device includes determining the second transmitting time based on the time when the first communication was transmitted to the network and the stored predetermined call back time period. Determining the second transmitting time by the processor of the other electronic device includes determining the second transmitting time based on the time when the first communication was transmitted to the network and the stored predetermined call back time period.

"In an embodiment, a mobile electronic device operation system includes an electronic device that includes a transmitter configured to transmit at least one communication to a network, a user interface configured to receive user instructions from a user of the electronic device and a computing device having a processor and a memory. The memory has at least one of the user instructions and preset instructions that instruct the processor to identify at least one communication parameter of the at least one communication and determine a first disconnect time as which to disconnect from the network based on the at least one communication parameter identified by the processor and disconnect from the network at the first disconnect time.

"In some embodiments, the at least one of the user instructions and preset instructions further instruct the processor of the electronic device to identify the at least one communication parameter as a time when the at least one communication was transmitted to the network and disconnect from the network based on an amount of time that has elapsed from the time when the at least one communication was transmitted to the network.

"In some embodiments, the at least one of the user instructions and preset instructions further instruct the processor of the electronic device to reconnect to the network after disconnecting from the network based on the at least one communication parameter of the at least one communication.

"In some embodiments, the at least one of the user instructions and preset instructions further instruct the processor of the electronic device to identify the at least one communication parameter as a time when a first communication of the at least one communication was transmitted to the network and determine a second transmitting time for transmitting a second communication of the at least one communications to the network based on the time when the first communication was transmitted to the network and a predetermined call back time period. The predetermined call back time period corresponds to a predetermined period of time that elapses from the time when the first communication was transmitted to the network. The at least one of the user instructions and preset instructions further instruct the processor of the electronic device to disconnect the electronic device from the network, determine a reconnecting time for reconnecting to the network based on the second transmitting time determined by the processor of the electronic device, reconnect the electronic device to the network at the determined reconnecting time and transmit the second communication to the network at the second transmission time. The second transmission time occurs within a predetermined allowance time period from the determined reconnecting time.

"In some embodiments, the system also includes another electronic device that includes a receiver configured to receive at least one communication from the network and a user interface configured to receive user instructions from a user of the other electronic device. The system further includes a display configured to display messages to the user of the other electronic device and a computing device having a processor and a memory. The memory has at least one of the user instructions from the user of the other electronic device and preset instructions that instruct the processor of the other electronic device to: identify the at least one communication parameter of the first communication received from the electronic device as the time when the first communication was transmitted to the network by the electronic device; determine the second transmitting time of the second communication based on the time when the first communication was transmitted to the network and the predetermined call back time period; cause the display to display a message to the user of the other electronic device indicating the second transmitting time; disconnect the other electronic device from the network; and reconnect the other electronic device to the network at the second transmitting time.

"In some embodiments, the predetermined call back time period is stored at the memory of the electronic device and the memory of the other electronic device. The at least one of the user instructions and preset instructions further instruct the processor of the electronic device to determine the second transmitting time based on the time when the first communication was transmitted to the network and the predetermined call back time period stored at the electronic device. The at least one of the user instructions and preset instructions further instruct the processor of the other electronic device to determine the second transmitting time based on the time when the first communication was transmitted to the network and the predetermined call back time period stored at the other electronic device."

For additional information on this patent, see: Davis, Benjamin. Preserving Cell Phone Battery Life. U.S. Patent Number 8326231, filed February 2, 2012, and issued December 4, 2012. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=34&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1652&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=20121204.PD.&OS=ISD/20121204&RS=ISD/20121204

Keywords for this news article include: Google Inc.

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