QUICK RE-CONNECT DIVERSITY RADIO SYSTEM

• US 20120215092A1
• Filed: 10/14/2010
• Published: 08/23/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Harris, Otis Robert III, Harwell, Robert
• Granted Patent: US 9,331,772 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/410
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0602 using antenna switching H04B7/0686 takes precedence; antenna beam directivity switching H01Q3/24
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/082 selecting best antenna path
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/12 Frequency diversity

Abstract

An RF shielded room (14) which houses a magnetic resonance scanner (12) also houses a patient monitor (20) which includes a plurality of sensors (18) which collect physiological data about a patient undergoing a magnetic resonance examination. The monitor includes a transmitter (46) which transmits the physiological data on at least two frequency channels of a broadband frequency spectrum. A communication unit (26) located outside the RF shielded room includes first and second receivers (54, 58) which receive the physiological data from the monitor on the first and second frequency channels, respectively. A processor (62) combines physiological data received by the first and second receivers to. A display (32) displays the combined physiological data. A switch (56) switches antenna connections of the receivers (54, 58) responsive to detection of multipath fade.

Claims

1. A system for communicating patient data, the system comprising:

a patient monitor located within a radio frequency shielded room, the patient monitor including;

a plurality of sensors which collects data about a patient; and

at least one transmitter which alternatively transmits the physiological data on at least two frequency channels of a broadband frequency spectrum;

a communication unit located outside the RF shielded room, the communication unit including;

a first receiver configured to receive physiological data from the patient monitor on a first of the frequency channels;

a second receiver configured to operate concurrently with the first receiver to receive physiological data from the patient monitor on a second of the frequency channels;

a processor communicating with the first and second receivers to combine physiological data received by the first and second receivers to generate a received physiological data stream; and

a display which displays the received physiological data stream.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the communication unit further includes:

first and second antennas; and

a switch configured to switch between a first configuration in which the first antenna feeds the first receiver and the second antenna feeds the second receiver and a second configuration in which the first antenna feeds the second receiver and the second antenna feeds the first receiver;

wherein the processor is further configured to operate the switch exchange antenna/receiver pairings responsive to detection of a multipath destructive interference fade condition.

3. The system according to either claim 1, wherein the communication unit further includes:

at least one transmitter which transmits control data to a receiver of the patient monitor.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the processor disables the at least one transmitter in response to either one of the first or second receiver receiving physiological data and disables the first and second receivers in response to the at least one transmitter transmitting control data to the patient monitor.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the monitor further includes:

a unit which digitizes the physiological data and assembles the digitized physiological data into data packets, each data packet including a current data segment and at least one previous data segment.

6. The system according to claim 5, wherein the processor is further configured to:

synchronize data packets received from the first and second receivers to generate the received physiological data stream with no redundant data.

7. The system according to claim 1, further including:

a magnetic resonance (MR) scanner disposed in the RF shielded room.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the patient monitor includes:

a display which displays the physiological data to an attendant in the RF shielded room.

9. A method for communicating patient data, the method comprising:

alternating transmission of patient data from inside a radio frequency (RF) shielded room at a first RF frequency channel and a second RF frequency channel;

receiving the patient data transmitted in the first RF frequency channel with a first receiver outside the RF shielded room;

receiving the patient data transmitted in the second RF frequency channel with a second receiver outside the RF shielded room;

combining patient data received by the first and second receivers; and

at least one of displaying and storing the combined patient data received by the first and second receivers.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the combining is performed by a digital processor.

11. The method according to claim 9, further comprising:

responsive to detection of signal fade on at least one of the first and second receivers, switching antennas connected with the respective first and second receivers.

12. The method according to claim 9, further including transmitting control data from outside the RF shielded room to a patient monitor inside the RF shielded room.

13. The method according to claim 12, further including:

disabling a transmitter from transmitting data from exterior to the RF shielded room to the patient monitor in the RF shielded room in response to one of the first and second receivers receiving physiological data; and

disabling the first and second receivers when transmitting control data to the patient monitor.

14. The method according to claim 9, further including:

detecting a multipath fade on at least one of the first and second receivers; and

responsive to the detecting, exchanging antenna connections of the first and second receivers.

15. The method according to claim 14, further including at a patient monitor disposed in the RF shielded room:

digitizing the physiological data;

assembling the digitized physiological data into data packets, each data packet including a current segment and at least one previous segment.

16. The method according to claim 9, wherein the first and second RF frequency channels define a wide band of a wideband digital transmission.

17. The method according to claim 9, further including:

concurrently generating magnetic resonance image data of a patient and measuring the patient data from the patient.

18. The method according to claim 9, further including:

displaying the physiological data to an attendant within the RF shielded room.

19. A communication unit comprising:

a plurality of receivers receiving digital data at different respective radio frequencies;

a processor configured to combine digital data received by the plurality of receivers to generate a received digital data stream;

a plurality of antennas; and

a switch configured to connect the plurality of antennas with the plurality of receivers using a selectable configuration of antenna/receiver pairings;

wherein the processor is further configured to cause the switch to select a different selectable configuration of antenna/receiver pairings responsive to detection of signal fade on at least one of the plurality of receivers.