Importance

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Abstract

A centralized communication system controller (102) measures and stores a historical record of each subscriber unit's communication activity. By examining this historical record, the controller predicts the subscriber unit's communication activity over a future time interval. A code based upon this prediction is transmitted to the subscriber unit (110), which causes the subscriber unit to enter an energy saving mode and deactivate (208) non-essential circuits for a time period represented by the code. In this way, the duration of the 'sleep' interval may be optimally varied based upon the subscriber unit's communication history. In another aspect of the invention, unexpected messages for a subscriber unit in the energy saving mode are stored (114) electronically until the conclusion of the 'sleep' interval. This message storing function enhances system efficiency when the subscriber unit's communication history does not correlate with actual commuication traffic.

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First Claim