Wireless communication systems have been the subject of substantial development activity in accordance with the ever-increasing demand for better and more flexible communication devices. Wireless telephone systems are also known as portable, cordless or mobile telephone systems. A typical wireless communication system has a base station that is connected to the Public Switched Telephone Network over a wireline interface and communicates with a mobile unit or handset over an air interface that permits the user to communicate remotely from the base station.
In the past, the enhanced features and high voice quality demanded by users have been achieved by the use of sophisticated and complex algorithms and methods that require substantial processor resources and large amounts of memory. Technical problems associated with the need for using faster and more powerful processors include larger packaging to accommodate the larger-sized components. In the past, such wireless systems have been large and bulky and have weighed more than what is satisfactory to many users.
While wireless communication devices and methods have provided an improvement over prior approaches in terms of features, voice quality, cost, packaging size and weight, the challenges in the field of wireless telecommunications have continued to increase with demands for more and better techniques having greater flexibility and adaptability.