Methods and apparatus for controlling power consumption in an electronic device with a communication subsystem

1. A method of controlling a wireless communication subsystem in an electronic device, the method comprising:

determining an activity state of the electronic device, wherein the determined activity state is based on one or both of application activity and hardware activity;

changing a first threshold for switching from a power saving mode to an active mode based on the determined activity state; and

changing a second threshold for switching from the active mode to the power saving mode based on the determined activity state;

wherein the first threshold is a first packets per interval of wireless communication traffic and the second threshold is a second packets per interval of wireless communication traffic, wherein the first packets per interval is greater than the second packets per interval.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

switching the wireless communication subsystem to the power saving mode when the wireless communication traffic is below the second threshold; and

switching the wireless communication subsystem to the active mode when the wireless communication traffic is above the first threshold.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determined activity state is one of a plurality of defined activity states, wherein each defined activity state is associated with a corresponding level of anticipated communication traffic.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the defined activity states are each defined by an activation or deactivation of one or more applications on the electronic device.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the plurality of activity states are each defined by at least one of: media application activated, media application deactivated, browser activated, browser deactivated, social network application activated, social network application deactivated, game activated, game deactivated, telephone application activated or telephone application deactivated.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein the defined activity states are each defined by an activation or deactivation of one or more hardware elements of the electronic device.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the plurality of activity states are each defined by at least one of: display activated, display deactivated, input interface activated or input interface deactivated.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of defined activity states are each defined by a combination of an activation or an deactivation of two or more applications or hardware elements of the electronic device.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless communication subsystem is a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) radio compliant with at least one of an IEEE 802.11b standard, an IEEE 802.11a standard, an IEEE 802.11g standard, an IEEE 802.11n standard, a WiMax standard, a Bluetooth standard, and a Near Field Communication standard.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first threshold and the second threshold has a shorter interval of measurement when a first activity state is detected than when a second activity state is detected.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the active mode and the power saving mode each define a power level of the wireless communication subsystem to be applied when in the active mode or power saving mode respectively, wherein the defined power levels are selected from a range of power levels of the wireless communication subsystem.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the power level of the wireless communication subsystem is set in accordance with whether the wireless communication subsystem is in the active mode or the power saving mode.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the range of power levels of the wireless communication subsystem comprises four power levels including a 4×4 (four radio mode) with a highest power usage and highest performance, a 3×3 (three radio mode), a 2×2 (two radio mode), and a 1×1 (one radio mode) having a lowest power usage and lowest performance.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

providing a delay after switching the wireless communication subsystem from the active mode to the power saving mode before the wireless communication subsystem can be switched back to the active mode from the power saving mode.

15. An electronic device, comprising:

one or more processors;

a wireless communication subsystem having a power saving mode and an active mode, a first threshold of communication traffic being defined for switching from the power saving mode to the active mode and a second threshold of communication traffic being defined for switching from the active mode to the power saving mode;

a memory coupled to the one or more processors, wherein the memory tangibly stores executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the electronic device to:

determine an activity state of the electronic device, wherein the determined activity state is based on one or both of application activity and hardware activity;

change the first threshold for switching from the power saving mode to the active mode based on the determined activity state; and

change the second threshold for switching from the active mode to the power saving mode based on the determined activity state;

wherein the first threshold is a first packets per interval of wireless communication traffic and the second threshold is a second packets per interval of wireless communication traffic, wherein the first packets per interval is greater than the second packets per interval.

16. The electronic device of claim 15 , wherein the memory tangibly stores executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the electronic device to:

switch the wireless communication subsystem to the power saving mode when the wireless communication traffic is below the second threshold; and

switch the wireless communication subsystem to the active mode when the wireless communication traffic is above the first threshold.

17. The electronic device of claim 15 , wherein the determined activity state is one of a plurality of defined activity states, wherein each defined activity state is associated with a corresponding level of anticipated communication traffic.

18. The electronic device of claim 15 , wherein at least one of the first threshold and the second threshold has a shorter interval of measurement when a first activity state is detected than when a second activity state is detected.

19. The electronic device of claim 15 , wherein the active mode and the power saving mode each define a power level of the wireless communication subsystem to be applied when in the active mode or power saving mode respectively, wherein the defined power levels are selected from a range of power levels of the wireless communication subsystem.

20. A non-transitory machine readable medium having tangibly stored thereon executable instructions for performing a method of controlling a wireless communication subsystem in an electronic device, wherein the executable instructions, when executed by one or more processors of the electronic device, cause the electronic device to:

determine an activity state of the electronic device, wherein the determined activity state is based on one or both of application activity and hardware activity;

change a first threshold for switching from a power saving mode to an active mode based on the determined activity state; and

change a second threshold for switching from the active mode to the power saving mode based on the determined activity state;

wherein the first threshold is a first packets per interval of wireless communication traffic and the second threshold is a second packets per interval of wireless communication traffic, wherein the first packets per interval is greater than the second packets per interval.