Methods and apparatus for conserving energy used by a mobile device

1. A method of saving energy in a mobile device configured to maintain a persistent communication session with an application server over a wireless network, the method comprising:

detecting a traffic pattern between the mobile device and the application server for maintaining the persistent communication session; and

automatically initiating a transition of the mobile device from a first operating state to a second operating state in response to detecting the traffic pattern, wherein power consumption associated with the second operating state is less than power consumption associated with the first operating state.

2. The method of claim 1 , the persistent communication session comprising persistent internet protocol (IP) connection, wherein detecting the traffic pattern comprises identifying an acknowledgment message sent by the mobile device to the application server in response to the mobile device receiving a push notification from the application server.

3. The method of claim 1 , the persistent communication session comprising persistent internet protocol (IP) connection, wherein detecting the traffic pattern comprises identifying an acknowledgment message received by the mobile device in response to the mobile device sending a keep-alive notification to the application server.

4. The method of claim 1 , the persistent communication session comprising persistent internet protocol (IP) connection, the persistent IP connection having configuration information associated therewith, wherein detecting the traffic pattern comprises determining a first packet received by the mobile device has configuration information matching the configuration information for the persistent IP connection.

5. The method of claim 1 , the persistent communication session comprising persistent internet protocol (IP) connection, the persistent IP connection having configuration information associated therewith, wherein detecting the traffic pattern comprises determining a first packet sent by the mobile device has configuration information matching the configuration information for the persistent IP connection.

6. The method of claim 1 , the persistent communication session comprising persistent internet protocol (IP) connection, wherein detecting the traffic pattern comprises identifying a packet having an IP address associated with the application server.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the packet is selected from the group consisting of a TCP/IP packet, an IP datagram, and a TCP segment.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein automatically initiating the transition to the second operating state comprises transmitting a signaling connection release indication to the wireless network.

9. The method of claim 8 , the wireless network being configured to send an acknowledgment message in response to the signaling connection release indication, wherein the method further comprises configuring the mobile device for the second operating state in response to receiving the acknowledgment message.

10. The method of claim 9 , the mobile device including a transmitter arrangement and a receiver arrangement, wherein configuring the mobile device for the second operating state comprises disabling at least one of the transmitter arrangement and the receiver arrangement.

11. The method of claim 1 , the first operating state comprising a CELL_DCH state, wherein automatically initiating the transition to the second operating state comprises configuring the mobile device for an operating state selected from the group consisting of a CELL_FACH state, a CELL_PCH state, a URA_PCH state, and an idle state.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein automatically initiating comprises automatically initiating the transition of the mobile device from the first operating state to the second operating state independent of application software being executed by the mobile device.

13. A method of saving energy in a mobile device configured to maintain a persistent communication session with an application server over a wireless network, the persistent communication session comprising a persistent internet protocol (IP) connection, the method comprising:

detecting a traffic pattern between the mobile device and the application server corresponding to data traffic for maintaining the persistent IP connection; and

automatically initiating a transition of the mobile device from a CELL_DCH state to a lower power state in response to detecting the traffic pattern, the lower power state comprising a CELL_FACH state, a CELL_PCH state, a URA_PCH state, or an idle state.

14. A method of saving energy in a mobile device configured to maintain a persistent communication session with an application server over a wireless network, the mobile device implementing a protocol stack including a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer residing on a radio link control (RLC) layer, the method comprising:

detecting, by the PDCP layer, a traffic pattern between the mobile device and the application server for maintaining the persistent communication session; and

automatically initiating, by the PDCP layer, a transition of the mobile device from a first operating state to a second operating state in response to detecting the traffic pattern, wherein power consumption associated with the second operating state is less than power consumption associated with the first operating state.

15. The method of claim 14 , the protocol stack including an application layer, wherein detecting the traffic pattern comprises identifying, by the PDCP layer, a packet sent on behalf of the application layer comprises an acknowledgement message when the packet includes configuration information matching configuration information associated with an application service executed by the application server.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein detecting the traffic pattern comprises identifying, by the PDCP layer, the packet sent on behalf of the application layer comprises an acknowledgement message after identifying a second packet received by the mobile device comprises a push notification when the second packet includes the configuration information associated with the application service.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein detecting the traffic pattern comprises identifying, by the PDCP layer, a packet received by the mobile device comprises an acknowledgement message when the packet includes configuration information matching configuration information associated with an application service executed by the application server.

18. The method of claim 17 , the protocol stack including an application layer, wherein detecting the traffic pattern comprises identifying, by the PDCP layer, the packet received by the mobile device comprises an acknowledgement message after identifying a second packet sent on behalf of the application layer comprises a heartbeat message when the second packet includes the configuration information associated with the application service.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising identifying the packet received by the mobile device comprises an acknowledgement message when an acknowledgement number in a header of the packet matches a sequence number in a header of the second packet.

20. The method of claim 14 , the protocol stack including an application layer, wherein the PDCP layer automatically initiates the transition of the mobile device from the first operating state to the second operating state independent of the application layer by:

signaling a radio resource control (RRC) layer residing on the RLC layer to transmit a signaling connection release indication message to a wireless network, the wireless network including a network controller configured to send an acknowledgement message in response to the signaling connection release indication message; and

configuring the mobile device for an idle state in response to receiving the acknowledgement message from the wireless network.