Data Transmission Via Wide Band Acoustic Channels

• US 20110237951A1
• Filed: 10/27/2010
• Published: 09/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Innurvation Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Innurvation Incorporated
• Inventors: BANDY, William R., Okunev, Yuri, Shanks, Wayne E.
• Granted Patent: US 9,192,353 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/459
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0028 Body tissue as transmission medium, i.e. transmission systems where the medium is the human body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6861 Capsules, e.g. for swallowing or implanting
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/12 in body cavities or body tracts, e.g. by using catheters catheters per se A61M25/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 1/72 using ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 11/346 using phase variation
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 11/348 using amplitude variation
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 11/00 Transmission systems employing sonic, ultrasonic or infrasonic waves

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention relate to ultrasound (acoustic) data transmission systems, in particular data transmission over wide-band acoustic channels with frequency-dependant multi-path propagation. More specifically, embodiments of the invention involve increasing the bit rate in the acoustic channel by means of utilization of the entire ultrasound spectrum available for data transmission inside a human body.

Claims

1. An acoustic data transmitter, comprising:

a data buffer configured to accumulate data;

a data splitter configured to split the accumulated data in to a plurality of data streams;

a plurality of modulators configured to generate a plurality of modulated data signals, each modulator configured to modulate a respective data stream into a data signal according to a respective frequency band and modulation scheme; and

a wide-band acoustic transducer configured to generate a wide-band acoustic signal from the plurality of modulated data signals to be propagated over an acoustic channel.

2. The acoustic data transmitter of claim 1, wherein the wide-band acoustic transducer comprises a plurality of individual acoustic transducers, each individual acoustic transducer configured to generate an acoustic signal based on a respective one of the plurality of modulated data streams.

3. The acoustic data transmitter of claim 2, wherein the plurality of acoustic transducers includes a plurality of wide-band frequency selective acoustic transducers, a plurality of narrow-band frequency selective acoustic transducers, or a combination of wide-band frequency selective acoustic transducers and narrow-band frequency selective acoustic transducers.

4. The acoustic data transmitter of claim 1, wherein the acoustic channel includes living tissue.

5. The acoustic data transmitter of claim 1, further comprising an ingestible capsule housing surrounding the data buffer, the data splitter, and the acoustic transducer.

6. An acoustic data receiver, comprising:

a wide-band acoustic transducer configured to receive a wide-band acoustic signal and transform the wide-band acoustic signal into a plurality of frequency-divided sub-band signals;

a plurality of demodulators configured to generate a plurality of data streams, each demodulator configured to demodulate a respective sub-band signal into a data stream according to a respective frequency band and demodulation scheme; and

a data combiner configured to combine the plurality of data streams into a high bit rate data stream.

7. The acoustic data receiver of claim 6, wherein the wide-band acoustic transducer comprises a plurality of individual acoustic transducers, each individual acoustic transducer configured to generate an acoustic signal based on a respective one of the plurality of sub-band signals.

8. The acoustic data transmitter of claim 7, wherein the plurality of acoustic transducers includes a plurality of wide-band frequency selective acoustic transducers, a plurality of narrow-band frequency selective acoustic transducers, or a combination of wide-band frequency selective acoustic transducers and narrow-band frequency selective acoustic transducers.

9. A method of modulating acoustic data, comprising:

dividing a wide-band acoustic data channel into N sub-bands, wherein the first sub-band corresponds to a maximum echo delay and a minimum signal attenuation and the Nth sub-band corresponds to a minimum echo delay and a maximum signal attenuation, such that echo delay decreases and signal attenuation increases as sub-bands increase in frequency from the first sub-band to the Nth sub-band; and

modulating data for each sub-band using an acoustic modulation scheme that is different from modulation schemes used in other sub-bands; and

combining the modulated data from each sub-band into a wide-band acoustic data signal.