A power management technique at a mobile station is disclosed that features a dedicated processor for continuously processing sensor data, in addition to a main processor for the conventional processing in the mobile station. The dedicated processor executes a set of data-processing primitives. The data-processing primitives operate on received sensor signals that are based on the monitoring of one or more physical conditions. The processing primitives process the received sensor signals, in which the processing of the signals results in a transitioning of the dedicated processor from one data-processing state to another data-processing state. The transitioning is based on one or more predetermined patterns being detected in the data. The processing performed by the primitives results in the generating of a power management signal based on the transition between states and also results in the transitioning of the main processor to an active mode of processing.