Qualcomm · Chip · Filed May 9, 2025 · USPTO published Nov 12, 2026 · This week's release

Qualcomm Files Patent for Letting Devices Sleep Through Minor Background Tasks

Every time a sleeping gadget wakes up, it burns battery. Qualcomm's filing has the chip hold minor wake-ups in a line and handle them all at once.

By Patentlyze Team · Updated Nov 12, 2026 · 3 min read

Internal chips and memory in a device collect minor background chores together so the main processor only wakes up when truly necessary. Drawing from patent filing US 2026/0358873 A1. — Internal chips and memory in a device collect minor background chores together so the main processor only wakes up when truly necessary.All 8 drawings ↓

Publication number: US 2026/0358873 A1(US20260358873A1)
Applicant: QUALCOMM Incorporated
Filed · Published: May 9, 2025 · Nov 12, 2026
Inventors: Ujjwal LNU, Srikanth RAPOLU
Status when we published: Company responded; back with the examiner
Document: 20 claims
US classification: 713/323
Examiner: PATEL, HETUL B (Art Unit 3992)

What Qualcomm's wake-up batching actually does

Ever had a phone or gadget that seems to wake up for no good reason, over and over? Behind the screen, small background chores, like checking location or running a self-test, can each pull a sleeping device back to life.

Qualcomm's filing describes a chip that sorts these wake-ups into two piles. Routine ones go into a waiting line instead of acting right away. The chip runs the whole batch at once when a timer runs out, when the line gets long enough, or when something urgent shows up, like you touching the screen or a message arriving from the network.

One wake-up for a whole batch costs less battery than many separate ones. And you still get an instant response when it counts.

From the filing · CLAIM 1

queue one or more wake requests associated with a first category, in a monitoring interval; and execute the queued one or more wake requests based on one of: an expiry of the monitoring interval …

Translation: The chip holds off on minor background tasks until a set time period finally runs out.

How the chip decides when to run the queue

The filing is about a system-on-chip (SoC, the main chip that runs a phone, sensor or car module). Inside it sits an event control circuit, a small manager that decides when a sleeping device should wake up.

Wake requests come in two flavors. Low-priority ones come from inside the chip, such as a location check, a self-diagnosis or a debugging routine. High-priority ones come from outside: a touch, a keypress, or data arriving from a network. Low-priority requests go into a buffer (a temporary holding area) while a timer, started by the first request, counts through a 'monitoring interval.' The chip runs the whole batch when any one of three things happens first:

The interval ends;
The queue grows past a threshold (the example uses three);
A high-priority request arrives, which runs along with the queue.

The settings can adapt. The filing describes a remote device with a long interval (20 hours or 2 days) and a high threshold (100 or 500). A device in a busy area or doing emergency work gets a short interval (20 minutes) and a low threshold (3 or 5). The timer can count in even steps or in doubling steps (1, 2, 4, 8 minutes). Batching also means the high-speed link between the main chip and other parts, such as the modem, is set up once per batch instead of for every wake-up.

From the filing · THE ABSTRACT

… generate low priority wake requests in a low power state of the device and queue the generated wake requests, in a monitoring interval.

Translation: While resting, the device saves up unimportant tasks instead of waking up immediately.

Why fewer wake-ups could stretch battery life

Anything that spends most of its life asleep, such as a remote sensor, a tracker or a laptop in standby, loses charge each time it wakes. The filing describes a way to cut those wake-ups, and says fewer link setups could also make the device more stable. It points to devices in remote areas where long battery life matters, and lists phones, wearables, cars and smart-home gear as places the chip could go.

The application is still early. The examiner's first review rejected the claims as filed, which is routine at this stage and usually followed by amendments, so the final wording could change. The filing names no specific product.

Qualcomm's 72nd filing in our chip patent coverage since May adds to a run that includes loading data mid-work and reshuffling data during loads, two ideas we've tracked closely.

Editorial take

Batching wake requests saves power by keeping the chip asleep longer, but the price is delay. The filing's own example puts a task at the back of a 10-hour line if nothing urgent shows up first, which is fine for a background health check and wrong for anything time-sensitive.

The settings carry real risk. A long interval lets background jobs go stale; a loose queue limit dumps a pile of tasks on the chip all at once, a load the filing itself flags as a problem. The patent answers this by letting the device tune both numbers to its situation, but that tuning is where the design succeeds or fails.

The trade reads as worth it for most devices. Truly urgent things, a tap on the screen or an incoming call, skip the line entirely, so users should rarely feel the wait. The savings compound on devices that run for months on a single charge, and that matters.

Source: US 2026/0358873 A1 at the USPTO (PDF). Full patent text and figures are in the official publication.

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The drawings · 8 sheets

8 drawing sheets from US 2026/0358873 A1 · click any drawing to enlarge

Phone parts that batch background wakeups to save battery, drawing sheet 1 from US 2026/0358873 A1 — Sheet 1 Phone parts that batch background wakeups to save battery

Delaying low priority wake signals until specific triggers occur, drawing sheet 2 from US 2026/0358873 A1 — Sheet 2 Delaying low priority wake signals until specific triggers occur

Bringing a sleeping phone fully active after batching queued tasks, drawing sheet 3 from US 2026/0358873 A1 — Sheet 3 Bringing a sleeping phone fully active after batching queued tasks

Waking the phone once background requests hit a limit, drawing sheet 4 from US 2026/0358873 A1 — Sheet 4 Waking the phone once background requests hit a limit

Running delayed tasks after a timer runs out, drawing sheet 5 from US 2026/0358873 A1 — Sheet 5 Running delayed tasks after a timer runs out

Answering urgent tasks immediately alongside all queued background jobs, drawing sheet 6 from US 2026/0358873 A1 — Sheet 6 Answering urgent tasks immediately alongside all queued background jobs

Tracking sleep intervals using linear or logarithmic timer steps, drawing sheet 7 from US 2026/0358873 A1 — Sheet 7 Tracking sleep intervals using linear or logarithmic timer steps

Clearing the queue and resetting timers after handling delayed requests, drawing sheet 8 from US 2026/0358873 A1 — Sheet 8 Clearing the queue and resetting timers after handling delayed requests

The drawings · 8 sheets

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