New technology will not bring back the days when cellphones could be left for days between charges. That was when they were used for not much more than making calls. But, when most smartphones barely last a working day, boosting battery life by about half would make a very useful difference.

The trick two scientists have come up with to extend time between charges is to create what they call a ¡°subconscious mode¡±. The proof of concept by University of Michigan computer science and engineering professor Kang Shin and doctoral student Xinyu Zhang for what they call E-MiLi is described in R&D Magazine.

It slows down the WiFi card¡¯s clock by up to 1/16 its normal frequency, but jolts it back to full speed when the phone notices information coming in. It¡¯s well known that you can slow a device¡¯s clock to save energy. The hard part, Shin says, was getting the phone to recognize an incoming message while it was in this slower mode.

¡°We came up with a clever idea,¡± Shin says. ¡°Usually, messages come with a header, and we thought the phone could be enabled to detect this, as you can recognize that someone is calling your name even if you¡¯re 90% asleep.¡±

The scientists claim their technology can reduce energy consumption by about 44% when applied to 92% of mobile devices in real-world situation. The big challenge is that to work E-MiLi would have to be incorporated into the firmware for the chipsets of Wi-Fi and mobile devices.

By: DocMemory
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