Apple patents phone feature to save battery while checking nearby cell towers
This filing describes a method for smartphones to decide when to use a low-power signal to check nearby cell towers. The phone's processor checks if a standard measurement would require a specific time gap, and if so, it asks the network to use a more energy-efficient wake-up signal instead.
In the filing’s own words
A user equipment (UE) includes a transceiver, a low power wake-up receiver (LP-WUR), and a processor. The processor is configured to receive a configuration of a low power wake-up signal (LP-WUS). The LP-WUS is received from a neighbor cell. The processor is also configured to determine whether a first measurement of a synchronization signal block (SSB) of the neighbor cell, via the transceiver, requires a first measurement gap; and determine, based at least in part on whether the first measurement of the SSB requires the first measurement gap, whether to transmit, to a network, a request to use the LP-WUS for mobility measurement.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. An apparatus comprising memory coupled to a processor, the processor configured to: receive a configuration of a low power wake-up signal (LP-WUS), the LP-WUS received from a neighbor cell; determine whether a first measurement of a synchronization signal block (SSB) of the neighbor cell requires a first measurement gap; and determine, based at least in part on whether the first measurement of the SSB requires the first measurement gap, whether to transmit, to a network, a request to use the LP-WUS for mobility measurement.
Facts
- Company
- Apple (Apple Inc.)
- Official title
- ADAPTIVE MEASUREMENT OF LOW POWER WAKE-UP SIGNAL OR LEGACY REFERENCE SIGNAL FOR RADIO RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
- Publication number
- US20260292695A1
- Application number
- 19473034
- Filed
- Apr 7, 2023
- Published
- Sep 24, 2026
- Inventors
- 6
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
H04W 52/0235 Electricity & electronicsH04W 76/28 Electricity & electronicsMore from Apple in Batteries & energy
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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.