Wireless communication device having reduced power consumption

1. A wireless communication device, comprising:

a receiver module configured to receive a signal;

a power reduction module configured to reduce a power consumption of the receiver module based on the received signal, the power reduction module including:

a signal analysis module configured to decode a control information portion of the received signal associated with a control information time period in the received signal, and to determine a location of needed information in the received signal based on decoded control information; and

a power control module configured to control the receiver module to operate in a HIGH power state during a time period that includes an entirety of the associated control information time period and an additional time period immediately after the control information time period, and during an information time period corresponding to the location of the needed information, and to control the receiver module to operate in a LOW power state during another time period of the received signal;

a measurement module configured to measure a signal characteristic; and

a decoder module configured to decode the needed information based on the measured signal characteristic;

wherein when the needed information is separated from the control information portion by a predetermined delay, the measurement module is configured to measure the signal characteristic based only on wake-up signals received during a second period of time that immediately precedes the needed information, and

wherein when the needed information is separated from the control information portion by less than the predetermined delay, the measurement module is configured to measure the signal characteristic after the information time period.

2. The wireless communication device of claim 1 ,

wherein the LOW power state consumes less power than the HIGH power state.

3. The wireless communication device of claim 2 , wherein the receiver module is powered off during the LOW power state.

4. The wireless communication device of claim 2 , wherein the power control module further controls the receiver module to operate in the HIGH power state while the signal analysis module performs the decoding and determining.

5. The wireless communication device of claim 2 , wherein the power control module is configured to control the receiver module to operate in the LOW power state during time periods other than the time period corresponding to the location of the needed information within a payload portion of the received signal.

6. The wireless communication device of claim 5 , wherein the control information portion of the received signal includes a physical layer beacon and control information,

wherein at least one of the physical layer beacon and the control information identifies locations of data bursts contained within the payload portion, and

wherein the time period corresponding to the location of the needed information includes time periods corresponding to the locations of the data bursts.

7. The wireless communication device of claim 6 , wherein the time period corresponding to the location of the needed information further includes the second period of time.

8. The wireless communication device of claim 7 , wherein a duration of the second period of time depends on a modulation scheme associated with the received signal.

9. The wireless communication device of claim 7 , wherein the received signal further includes a plurality of zones that each have a corresponding modulation scheme, and

a duration of the second period of time is set for each zone based on the corresponding modulation scheme.

10. The wireless communication device of claim 9 ,

wherein the predetermined delay is defined by a size of the second time period.

11. The wireless communication device of claim 10 , wherein the power control module controls the receiver module to operate in a HIGH power state during the measurement and the decoding.

12. The wireless communication device of claim 8 , wherein the second period of time is a minimum amount of time needed to make a channel estimation.

13. The wireless communication device of claim 8 , wherein the measured signal characteristic is a channel estimation, and

when the needed information is separated from the control information portion by the predetermined delay the measurement module performs the channel estimation during the second period of time, and the receiver module uses the channel estimation to decode the data bursts.

14. The wireless communication device of claim 2 , wherein the power reduction module further includes a priority module configured to determine a priority of a measurement to be performed by the receiver module.

15. The wireless communication device of claim 14 , wherein, if the priority module determines that the measurement is high-priority, the power control module controls the receiver module to operate in a HIGH power state for an entire sub-frame of the signal.

16. The wireless communication device of claim 14 , wherein, if the priority module determines that the measurement is low-priority, the power control module controls the receiver module to operate in a HIGH power state only during an initialization period and during at least one data burst.

17. The wireless communication device of claim 14 , wherein, if the priority module determines that the measurement is neither high-priority nor low-priority, the power control module controls the receiver module to operate in a HIGH power state during an initialization period, during at least one data burst, and during predetermined wake up periods preceding each data burst.

18. A method for reducing power in a wireless communication device, comprising:

receiving a signal by a receiver module;

decoding a control information portion of the received signal;

determining a location of needed information that require the receiver module to operate in a HIGH power state in the received signal based on decoded control information;

controlling the receiver module to operate in the HIGH power state during an entirety of an information period of time corresponding to the location of the needed information and an additional period of time within a payload portion of the received signal, the additional period of time located at the beginning of the payload portion, and to operate in a LOW power state during remaining periods of time in the payload portion of the received signal;

measuring a signal characteristic, including:

when the needed information is separated from the control information portion by a predetermined delay, measuring the signal characteristic based only on wake-up signals received during a second period of time that immediately precedes the needed information, and

when the needed information is separated from the control information portion by less than the predetermined delay, measuring the signal characteristic after the information period of time; and

decoding the needed information based on the measured signal characteristic.

19. The wireless communication device of claim 2 , wherein the receiver module includes a plurality of receiver antennas, and

wherein a first number of receiver antennas operated in the LOW power state is less than a second number of receiver antennas operated in the HIGH power state.

20. The wireless communication device of claim 7 , wherein a length of the second period of time is defined based on an amount of time needed for the receiver module to reach steady state.