ADAPTIVE RECEIVER FOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATION DEVICE

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce power consumption in a wireless communication device.SOLUTION: A high performance receiver 26 and a low power receiver 30 are combined within a wireless communication device (WCD) 6. Upon receiving a signal from a base station, a controller 22 within the WCD detects one or more channel conditions of a radio frequency (RF) environment between the base station and the WCD. The controller selects a low power receiver to process the received signal when the RF environment is unfavorable, and selects a high performance receiver to process the received signal when the RF environment is favorable. In this manner, the WCD implements an adaptive receiver 20 that adapts its receiver structure according to RF channel conditions.