TRANSBODY COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS EMPLOYING COMMUNICATION CHANNELS

• US 20090135886A1
• Filed: 11/26/2008
• Published: 05/28/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/27/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Proteus Digital Health, Inc. (Otsuka Holdings Company Limited)
• Original Assignee: Proteus Biomedical, Inc. (Otsuka Holdings Company Limited)
• Inventors: Robertson, Timothy, Crandall, Kenneth C., Arne, Lawrence W.
• Application Number:
  US12/324,798
• Publication Number:
  US 20090135886A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 375/133
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0031 Implanted circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/073 Intestinal transmitters
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6861 Capsules, e.g. for swallowing or implanting
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/37252 Details of algorithms or data aspects of communication system, e.g. handshaking, transmitting specific data or segmenting data
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 13/005 Transmission systems in which the medium consists of the human body

Abstract

Transbody communication systems employing communication channels are provided. Various aspects include, for example, an in vivo transmitter to transmit an encoded signal; a transbody functionality module to facilitate communication of the encoded signal; and a receiver to receive the encoded signal. Methods and apparatus are also provided.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

an in vivo transmitter to transmit an encoded signal;

a transbody functionality module to facilitate communication of the encoded signal; and

a receiver to receive the encoded signal.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the transbody functionality module is selected from the group consisting essentially of a beacon functionality module, a frequency hopping functionality module, and a collision avoidance functionality module.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the beacon functionality module comprises at least one element selected from the group consisting essentially of:

a beacon wakeup module to provide beacon wakeup functionality;

a beacon signal module to provide beacon signal functionality;

a wave/frequency module to provide a continuous wave and a single frequency tone;

a multiple frequency module to provide multiple frequencies; and

a modulated signal module to provide at least one modulated encoded signal.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein a frequency ratio of a beacon and data channel is invariant to frequency error in an ingestible event marker system to provide additional assurance of detection of the encoded signal.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the frequency hopping functionality module comprises a random module to provide random frequency hops on a narrow band transmitted signal.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein the collision avoidance functionality module comprises at least one element selected from the group consisting essentially of:

a transmitter module to provide a first in vivo transmitter transmitting at a first frequency and a second in vivo transmitter transmitting at a second frequency module;

a duty cycle modulation module to provide duty cycle modulation functionality;

a retransmit randomization module to provide random retransmittals; and

a spread spectrum module to provide spread spectrum functionality.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the duty cycle modulation module includes a dithering module to dither a duty cycle and frequency spread module to spread the transmissions among multiple frequencies.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the transmitter modules comprises a multiple band pass filter module to provide multiple band pass filtering by different devices wherein respective encoded signals are filtered by respective band pass filters.

17. The method of claim 9 in a form of a machine-readable medium embodying a set of instructions that, when executed by a machine, causes the machine to perform the method of claim 8.

9. A method comprising:

transmitting, via an in vivo transmitter, an encoded signal;

facilitating, via a transbody functionality module, communication of the signal; and

receiving, via a receiver, the encoded signal.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

providing characteristics of the encoded signal, wherein the characteristics optimize power consumption to facilitate the receiver in at least one of the following;

spending maximum time in an inactive mode, waking up quickly, and waking up during a period of high probability that the transmitter is present.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the facilitating, via a transbody functionality module, communication of the signal comprises at least one of:

facilitating, via a beacon functionality module, communication of the encoded signal;

facilitating, via a frequency hopping functionality module, communication of the encoded signal; and

facilitating, via a collision avoidance functionality module, communication of the encoded signal.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the facilitating, via a beacon functionality module communication of the signal comprises at least one of:

providing beacon wakeup functionality;

providing beacon signal functionality;

generating a continuous wave, single frequency tone;

providing a first frequency that is different from a data signal which is at a second frequency; and

modulating the encoded signal.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the facilitating, via a frequency hopping functionality module, communication of the encoded signal comprises generating random frequency hops on a narrow band transmitted signal.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the facilitating, via a collision avoidance functionality module, communication of the encoded signal comprises at least one of:

transmitting, via a first in vivo transmitter at a first frequency and transmitting, via a second in vivo transmitter, at a second frequency;

modulating a duty cycle;

retransmitting randomly; and

spreading across a frequency spectrum.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the modulating a duty cycle includes dithering the duty cycle and spreading among frequencies.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the transmitting at different frequencies comprises providing multiple band pass filtering by different devices wherein respective encoded signals are filtered by respective band pass fillers.

18. An article, comprising:

a storage medium having instructions, that when executed by a computing platform, result in execution of a method of providing transbody communications employing communication channels in a living body, the method comprising;

transmitting, via an in vivo transmitter, an encoded signal;

facilitating, via a transbody functionality module, communication of the signal; and

receiving, via a receiver, the encoded signal.

19. The article of claim 18, further comprising:

providing characteristics of the encoded signal, wherein the characteristics optimize power consumption to facilitate the receiver in at least one of the following;

spending maximum time in an inactive mode, waking up quickly, and waking up during a period of high probability that the transmitter is present.

20. The article of claim 18, wherein the facilitating, via a transbody functionality module, communication of the signal comprises at least one of:

facilitating, via a beacon functionality module, communication of the encoded signal;

facilitating, via a frequency hopping functionality module, communication of the encoded signal; and

facilitating, via a collision avoidance functionality module, communication of the encoded signal.