Wireless end-user device with wireless modem power state control policy for background applications

What is this patent about?

’642 is related to the field of wireless network management and mobile device power optimization. Specifically, it addresses the technical challenge of preserving network capacity and device battery life by managing how and when applications trigger a wireless modem to transition between power states. The background context involves the increasing strain on wireless wide-area networks (WWAN) caused by background data synchronization and persistent signaling from standard Internet applications that were not originally optimized for constrained cellular environments.

The underlying idea behind ’642 is that a mobile device can intelligently gate network access based on the user-interaction state of an application. The system distinguishes between applications actively engaging the user in the foreground and those performing background tasks. By identifying when an application is not interacting with the user, the device can enforce a temporal policy profile that prevents inefficient, frequent power-state transitions in the modem, thereby reducing signaling overhead on the network and extending battery life.

The claims of ’642 focus on a wireless end-user device equipped with a WWAN modem and a processor configured to classify the state of an application. The independent claim specifically covers the mechanism of detecting whether an application is in the user interface foreground and applying a power state control policy to its Internet access requests. If the application is not in the foreground, the device is empowered to allow, disallow, or delay the request to align with specific timing rules for modem power changes.

In practice, the invention works by intercepting Internet access requests at the device level before they reach the modem. The system evaluates the application's status—such as whether it is currently visible to the user or playing media—and applies a differential network access control. For background applications, the device may aggregate multiple requests or delay them to prevent the modem from constantly cycling between idle and active states, which is a primary cause of both network congestion and rapid battery drain.

This approach differs from prior solutions by moving the intelligence from the core network to the device itself, allowing for a more granular understanding of application behavior. Unlike traditional fast dormancy features that simply release connections quickly, this invention proactively manages the demand side by gating the requests based on the application's context. By controlling access at the source, the system avoids the unnecessary consumption of over-the-air spectrum and signaling resources that occurs when background 'chatter' is blocked only after reaching the network core.