Ex Parte Malcolm - Page 2


               Appeal 2007-1630                                                                            
               Application 10/422,661                                                                      
                                            THE INVENTION                                                  
                      The disclosed invention generally relates to a method and system for                 
               controlling power consumption of battery-powered portable devices such as                   
               handheld computers, cordless telephones, cellular telephones, and                           
               specialized portable terminal devices (e.g., handheld bar coding equipment,                 
               portable point-of-sale devices, and the like) (Spec. 2).  Upon detection of                 
               signal loss, the portable device enters a “smart nap” mode where the device                 
               stops searching for a network signal until a later time when the network                    
               signal is likely to be reliably available again.  The duration of the “smart                
               nap” mode is determined by searching “smart nap records” which store an                     
               accumulated history of signal conditions for the device (Spec. 17-18).                      
                      Independent claim 1 is illustrative:                                                 
               1.   A method for managing battery energy usage by a mobile                                 
                      wireless network device comprising:                                                  
                            determining that a period of signal intermittence has started by               
                      detecting threshold conditions for a transient network signal being                  
                      intermittently found and intermittently lost;                                        
                            recording events of said threshold conditions with operational                 
                      criteria associated with operational conditions of the events;                       
                            upon each detection of network signal loss, determining from                   
                      said event records a nap termination condition upon which network                    
                      signal has been historically reliable following said period of signal                
                      intermittence; and                                                                   
                            entering a nap mode until said nap termination condition is met,               
                      during said nap mode a state of lower power consumption being                        
                      achieved including defeating searching for said network signal.                      


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