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AppleGranted patentPhones & computersInterest 6/10

Apple patents smart way to cool phones by dropping weak data channels

Apple describes a method for phones to manage heat by intelligently choosing which data channel to shut down when the device gets too warm. Instead of randomly closing the newest channel, the system looks at factors like data speed and error rates to pick the least useful channel to drop. This approach aims to lower the phone's temperature while keeping the internet connection as fast as possible.

Why it mattersThis could help phones stay cooler during heavy use, such as gaming or video calls, by managing power more efficiently without sacrificing speed.

In the filing’s own words

A user equipment device may include a radio that conveys wireless data with one or more base stations using a set of component carriers (CCs) that are concurrently-active under a carrier aggregation scheme or a dual connectivity scheme. When in a thermally-constrained state, a resource manager on the radio may intelligently select a CC to drop from use in conveying the wireless data. The resource manager may select the CC to drop based on the bandwidths, data rates, error rates, and/or activation/deactivation rates of the set of CCs, a power budget assigned to the radio, and/or information about the demodulation and decoding clusters in a modem of the radio. Selecting the CC to drop in this way may provide greater power and temperature reduction at the radio and/or less wireless performance reduction than blindly dropping the most recently added CC from use in conveying the wireless data.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A method of using wireless circuitry, the method comprising: conveying, using a radio, wireless data using a set of component carriers (CCs) that are concurrently active; and removing, at the radio, a CC from the set of CCs used to convey the wireless data, wherein the removed CC comprises a CC from the set of CCs having a highest activation/deactivation rate.

Facts

Company
Apple (Apple Inc.)
Official title
Electronic devices with thermal component carrier management
Patent number
US12772173B2
Application number
18177690
Filed
Mar 2, 2023
Granted
Oct 20, 2026
Inventors
6
Claims
20

Classified under

H04W 52/0238 Electricity & electronicsH04L 5/001 Electricity & electronicsH04W 72/02 Electricity & electronics
Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.