Techniques for inductive communication systems

• US 20020132585A1
• Filed: 03/15/2002
• Published: 09/19/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Freelinc Holdings, LLC
• Original Assignee: Aura Communications, Inc.
• Inventors: Marshall, Charles M., Palermo, Vincent, LaFranchise, Jeffrey R., White, Timothy E., Voegelin, Stephen A.
• Application Number:
  US10/100,229
• Publication Number:
  US 20020132585A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/41.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/00 Near-field transmission systems, e.g. inductive or capacitive transmission systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/48 Transceivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/02 Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas RAKE receivers H04B1/7115
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/022 Site diversity; Macro-diversity using two or more spaced independent antennas H04B7/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6066 including a wireless connection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/727 Identification code transfer arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/737 Characterised by transmission of electromagnetic waves other than radio waves, e.g. infrared waves
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2420/07 Applications of wireless loudspeakers or wireless microphones

Abstract

Contents of one or more received messages can be analyzed to determine whether a transceiver device generating the inductive field has already been programmed with a unique communication code. If not, bidirectional communications can be established to program the transceiver device with a unique communication code over an inductive link. Orientation or position of a transceiver device can be used to initiate a process for programming a communication code. Generally, the communication code can define a unique relationship between two or more transceiver devices.

Claims

1. A method of communicating in an inductive communication system including multiple transceiver devices, the method comprising:

establishing an exclusive communication relationship between the devices by;

at one of the devices, initiating an initialization process in which the devices communicate with each other;

from the strength of communication signals, assuring that the devices are in a close physical proximity which is closer than used for normal communications; and

establishing a communication code transferred between the devices; and

conducting normal communications between the devices using the communication code to maintain an exclusive communication relationship between the devices.

2. A method as in claim 1, wherein the initialization process is initiated by receipt of a message from a paging transceiver device.

3. A method as in claim 2, wherein the message form the paging transceiver device is initiated at least in part by sensing a predetermined condition caused by a user.

4. A method as in claim 1, wherein the initialization process is enabled at least in part based on a detected orientation of a transceiver device.

5. A method as in claim 1, wherein the communication code identifies a specific transceiver device and also identifies a type of transceiver device.

6. A method as in claim 1, wherein the communication code supports exclusive communications between a first transceiver device coupled to a cell phone and a second transceiver device coupled to a headset worn by a user.

7. A method as in claim 1 further comprising:

storing a communication code at each of two communicating devices to support future exclusive communications between the two or more devices.

8. A method as in claim 1, wherein the initialization process is initiated by sensing whether a received signal is above a threshold.

9. A method as in claim 1, wherein the communication code is at least partially derived form a randomly generated number.

10. A method as in claim 1 further comprising:

sensing a position of the device as a part of the initialization process.

24. A system as in claim 21, wherein communication is initiated at least in part based on a detected orientation of the first transceiver device.

11. A method of communicating in an inductive communication system, the method comprising:

receiving a message from a transceiver device generating an inductive field;

based upon contents of the received message, determining whether the transceiver device has been programmed with a unique communication code that is used to support exclusive communications when communicating with at least one other transceiver device; and

if the transceiver device generating the inductive field has not been programmed with a unique communication code, establishing bidirectional communications with the transceiver device to program it with a unique communication code.

12. A method as in claim 11, wherein the step of determining whether the transceiver device has been programmed with a unique communication code includes detecting whether a valid communication code is received in a paging message generated by the transceiver device.

13. A method as in claim 11 further comprising:

sensing that a predetermined condition has been met before programming the transceiver device with the communication code.

14. A method as in claim 13, wherein the condition is a predetermined protocol indicating a user'"'"'s desire to initialize a remote transceiver device for further communications with a base transceiver device.

15. A method as in claim 11 further comprising:

detecting that the transceiver device generating the inductive field is in closer proximity to a particular reference transceiver device than is necessary to support communications; and

initializing the transceiver device with a unique communication code.

16. A method as in claim 15, wherein the transceiver device generating the inductive field is positioned at particular angular orientation relative to the reference transceiver device before it is programmed with a unique communication code.

17. A method as in claim 11 further comprising:

transmitting messages from the transceiver device, the messages including the communication code to identify an origin of each message.

18. A method as in claim 11, wherein the communication code includes information identifying a type of the transceiver device generating an inductive field.

19. A method as in claim 11 further comprising:

generating a communication code at a base transceiver that communicates with multiple remote transceiver devices; and

transmitting the communication code from the base transceiver to program one of the remote transceiver devices with the communication code.

20. An inductive communication system including multiple transceiver devices, the system comprising:

means for establishing an exclusive communication relationship between the devices by;

at one of the devices, supplying means for initiating an initialization process in which the devices communicate with each other;

from the strength of communication signals, sensing that the devices are in close physical proximity to communicate; and

providing a means for establishing a communication code transferred between the devices; and

means for conducting normal communications between the devices using the communication code to maintain an exclusive communication relationship between the devices.

21. An inductive communication system comprising:

a first transceiver device that initiates communication by generating a communication signal over an inductive field;

a second transceiver device that receives the communication signal and, based on a measured characteristic of the inductive field, the transceiver devices establishing a communication code that is to be transferred between the devices to maintain an exclusive communication relationship.

22. A system as in claim 21, wherein communication is initiated by receipt of a message from a paging transceiver device.

23. A system as in claim 22, wherein the message from the paging transceiver device is initiated at least in part by sensing a predetermined condition.

25. A system as in claim 21, wherein the communication code identifies a specific transceiver device and also identifies a type of transceiver device.

26. A system as in claim 21, wherein the communication code supports exclusive communications between the second transceiver device coupled to a cell phone and the first transceiver device coupled to a headset worn by a user.

27. A system as in claim 21 further comprising:

a memory device in each transceiver to store a communication code identifying a relationship between the first and second transceiver devices.

28. A system as in claim 21, wherein establishing a communication code is initiated by sensing whether a received signal is above a threshold.

29. A system as in claim 21, wherein the communication code is at least partially derived from a randomly generated number.

30. A system as in claim 21 further comprising:

multiple transducers in a transceiver device to sense its orientation before initiating communication and an initialization process to program a code.

31. A system as in claim 21, wherein the measured characteristic is a strength of the inductive field.

32. A method of supporting inductive communications among multiple transceivers, the method comprising:

sharing a wireless bandwidth to support bidirectional communications between pairs selected from at least three transceivers, a transceiver pair being assigned use of one or more time slots to communicate within a communication cycle;

disposing at least two transducer elements in at least one transceiver to support communications between the transceivers at any angular orientation relative to each other within a range of distance;

for each pair of transceivers communicating with each other, comparing link qualities of communications between different transmit-receive transducer element pairs of communicating transceivers; and

selecting transmit-receive pairs of transducer elements to support further communications in respective time slots between pairs of transceivers based on detected link quality.

33. A method as in claim 32 further comprising:

transmitting a signal from a single transceiver of the at least three transceivers; and

simultaneously receiving the transmitted signal at each of multiple transceivers to determine link quality.

34. A method as in claim 32, wherein link qualities are compared by determining which of multiple transducer elements in a transceiver device receives a strongest signal from a transmitting transceiver.

35. A method as in claim 32 further comprising:

transmitting a message from at least one of the transceivers to indicate which of multiple transducer elements supports a strongest received signal at the remote transceiver.

36. A method as in claim 34, wherein the strongest signal is determined by comparing amplitudes of a received signal.

37. A method as in claim 32, wherein the at least three transceivers includes a base transceiver and at least two remote transceivers with which the base transceiver communicates.

38. A method as in claim 37, wherein the base transceiver includes multiple transducers and the remote transceivers each include a single transducer to support inductive communications.

39. A method as in claim 38 further comprising:

generating a signal from a selected transducer in the base transceiver; and

simultaneously receiving the signal on at least two remote transceivers to compare link qualities of different transducer element pairs.

40. A method as in claim 32 further comprising:

allocating at least a portion of the shared wireless bandwidth to receive paging signals from other transceivers.

41. A method as in claim 40, wherein at least one of the other transceivers generating paging signals attempts to initiate an initialization process to establish a communication code for exclusive communications with a base transceiver.

42. A method as in claim 32, wherein a base transceiver includes one or more transducers and at least two remote transceivers each include two or more transducers at unique orientations with respect to each other to support communication with the base transceiver.

43. A system supporting inductive communications among multiple transceivers, the system comprising:

at least three transceivers sharing a wireless bandwidth that supports bidirectional communications between pairs selected from the at least three transceivers, a transceiver pair being assigned use of one or more time slots to communicate within a communication cycle;

at least two transducer elements disposed in at least one transceiver to support communications between the transceivers at any angular orientation relative to each other within a range of distance;

a comparator to compare link qualities of communications between different transmit-receive transducer elements in transceivers communicating with each other; and

a controller to select which of multiple potential transmit-receive transducer elements is used to support further communications in respective time slots between pairs of transceivers based on detected link quality.

44. A system as in claim 43, wherein a signal is transmitted from a single transceiver of the at least three transceivers and is simultaneously received at each of multiple transceivers to determine link quality.

45. A system as in claim 43, wherein the comparator determines which of multiple transducer elements in a transceiver device receives a strongest signal from a transmitting transceiver.

46. A system as in claim 43, wherein a message is transmitted from at least one of the transceivers to indicate which of multiple transducer elements supports a strongest received signal at the remote transceiver.

47. A system as in claim 45, wherein the strongest signal is determined by comparing amplitudes of received signals.

48. A system as in claim 43, wherein the at least three transceivers includes a base transceiver and at least two remote transceivers with which the base transceiver communicates.

49. A system as in claim 48, wherein the base transceiver includes multiple transducers and the remote transceivers each include a single transducer to support inductive communications.

50. A system as in claim 49, wherein a signal is generated from a selected transducer in the base transceiver and is simultaneously received on at least two remote transceivers to compare link qualities of different transducer element pairs.

51. A system as in claim 43, wherein at least at least a portion of the shared wireless bandwidth is allocated for receiving paging signals from other transceivers.

52. A system as in claim 51, wherein at least one of the other transceivers generating paging signals attempts to initiate an initialization process to establish a communication code for exclusive communications with a base transceiver.

53. A system as in claim 43, wherein a base transceiver includes one or more transducers and at least two remote transceivers each include two or more transducers at unique orientations with respect to each other to support communication with the base transceiver.

54. A system as in claim 43, wherein bidirectional communications between a pair of transceivers is supported by a selected pair of transmit-receive transducers, each transceiver of the pair of transceivers including one transducer of the transmit-receive pair of transducers.