Method and apparatus for communication between inside and outside of transmission medium using transmission medium as communication line

• US 20030092973A1
• Filed: 05/30/2002
• Published: 05/15/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
• Original Assignee: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
• Inventors: Jung, Han, Kim, Kyung Hwan, Moon, Sung-Wook, Kim, Byung Kyu, Kang, Ji-Yoon, Park, Jong-Oh, Kim, Tae-Song
• Granted Patent: US 7,307,544 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/300
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0031 Implanted circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 13/005 Transmission systems in which the medium consists of the human body

Abstract

A method for communication between inside and outside of a transmission medium using the transmission medium as a communication line, includes the steps of: receiving an electric signal having information related to a transmission medium from a plurality of sensors inside the transmission medium; conducting the electric signal to the transmission medium; and sensing the electric signal flowing to the outside of the transmission medium. Because a modulating unit is not necessary, a power consumption is minimized. In addition, since an electric signal is directly conducted to a medium, it is not necessary to use an antenna, and thus, degradation of a reception rate according to a directional property of the antenna can be prevented. Moreover, since the electric signal is directly generated in the medium and the medium is directly used as an electric conductor, the overall size of a transmitter is reduced.

Claims

1. A method for communication between inside and outside of a transmission medium using the transmission medium as a communication line, comprising the steps of:

receiving an electric signal having information related to a transmission medium from a plurality of sensors inside the transmission medium;

conducting the electric signal to the transmission medium; and

sensing the electric signal flowing to the outside of the transmission medium.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the medium is a human body.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of converting the electric signal into a serial signal, before the step of conducting the electric signal.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising the step of coding the electric signal which has been converted into the serial signal, into a certain code.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the certain code is a Manchester code.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the certain code is a differential binary phase shift keying (DBPSK) code.

7. The method of one of claims 1, 3 or 4, further comprising the step of error-correcting and coding the electric signal, before the step of conducting the electric signal to the medium.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of sensing the electric signal comprises:

converting the electric signal into a sine wave signal of two voltage levels; and

clamping the electric signal which has been converted into the sine wave signal, into a signal of TTL level.

9. The method of claim 5 or 8, further comprising the step of decoding the electric signal which has been coded to a Manchester code.

10. The method of claim 6 or 8, further comprising the step of decoding the electric signal which has been coded to the DBPSK code.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of decoding the coded electric signal comprises:

detecting a first rising edge of the coded electric signal and designating the first rising edge as a data ‘

1’

; and

detecting a rising or a falling edge for every signal period corresponding to a transmission frequency on the basis of the first rising edge and designating the rising edge or the falling edge as data ‘

1’

or ‘

0’

.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the rising edge or the falling edge are detected with a faster frequency than the transmission frequency in a certain range of the transmission period.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the certain range is about ±

25% of the transmission period.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the faster frequency is about 8 times of the transmission frequency.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of sensing an electric signal comprises a step of removing a noise contained in the electric signal.

16. An apparatus for communication between inside and outside of a transmission medium using the transmission medium as a communication line, comprising:

a transmitter for receiving an electric signal having information on a transmission medium from a plurality of sensors existing inside the transmission medium and conducting it to the transmission medium; and

a receiver for sensing the electric signal flowing to the outside of the transmission medium.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the transmitter includes a means for converting the electric signal into a serial signal.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the transmitter includes a means for coding the electric signal which has been converted into a serial signal, into a certain code.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the certain code is a Manchester code.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the certain code is a DBPSK code.

21. The apparatus of one of claim 16 to 18, the transmitter include a means for error-correcting and coding the electric signal.

22. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the receiver comprises:

a means for converting the electric signal into a sine wave signal of certain two voltage levels; and

a clamping means for converting the electric signal which has been converted into the sine wave signal, into a TTL level signal.

23. The apparatus of claim 19 or 22, wherein the receiver additionally comprises a means for decoding the electric signal which has been coded into a Manchester code.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein, the means for decoding the coded electric signal detects a first rising edge of the coded electric signal to designated it as a data ‘

1’

, and detects a rising edge or a falling edge for every signal period corresponding a transmission frequency on the basis of the first rising edge to designate it as ‘

1’

or ‘

0’

.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the rising or falling edge is detected with a faster frequency than the transmission frequency in a certain range of the transmission period.

26. The apparatus of claim 20 or 22, wherein the receiver additionally includes a means for decoding the electric signal which has been coded into the DBPSK code.

27. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the receiver additionally includes a means for removing a noise contained in the electric signal.