METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING FOR WIRELESS SENSORS

• US 20120263082A1
• Filed: 06/25/2012
• Published: 10/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Garudadri, Harinath, Baheti, Pawan Kumar, Majumdar, Somdeb
• Application Number:
  US13/532,078
• Publication Number:
  US 20120263082A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/310
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0209 adapted for power saving
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0002 Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network A61B5/07 takes precedence; transmission systems for measured values G08C; transmission H04B; transmission of digital information H04L; wireless communication networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/002 Monitoring the patient using a local or closed circuit, e.g. in a room or building A61B5/0017 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0024 for multiple sensor units attached to the patient, e.g. using a body or personal area network
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7232 involving compression of the physiological signal, e.g. to extend the signal recording period
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 21/00 Measuring or testing not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/0658 Clock or time synchronisation among packet nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0209 in terminal devices terminal devices per se H04W88/02

Abstract

Certain aspects of the present disclosure relate to a method for compressed sensing (CS). The CS is a signal processing concept wherein significantly fewer sensor measurements than that suggested by Shannon/Nyquist sampling theorem can be used to recover signals with arbitrarily fine resolution. In this disclosure, the CS framework is applied for sensor signal processing in order to support low power robust sensors and reliable communication in Body Area Networks (BANs) for healthcare and fitness applications.

Claims

1. A method of data communication, the method comprising:

obtaining an analog signal;

determining a digital signal based, at least in part, on the analog signal, wherein determining the digital signal comprises,

conditioning the analog signal, and

sampling the conditioned analog signal at non-uniform time instances,

generating at least one packet comprising, at least in part, the digital signal; and

transmitting the at least one packet over a wireless channel.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein conditioning the analog signal comprising amplifying the analog signal with a low noise amplifier.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein sampling the conditioned analog signal comprises sampling and holding the conditioned analog signal and quantizing the sampled and held signal.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the analog signal is not passed through an anti aliasing filter.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein a total number of samples in the digital signal is less that a number of samples corresponding to Nyquist rate sampling.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a number of clock cycles separating at least a first pair of adjacent samples in the digital signal is different than a number of clock cycles separating at least a second pair of adjacent samples in the digital signal.

7. An apparatus for data communication comprising:

a transducer configured to generate an analog signal;

a signal conditioner configured to condition the generated analog signal;

a signal sampler is configured to determine a digital signal by sampling the conditioned analog signal at non-uniform time instances;

a processing system configured to generate at least one packet comprising, at least in part, the digital signal; and

a transmitter configured to transmit the at least one packet.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the signal conditioner comprises a low noise amplifier circuit.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the signal sampler comprises a sample and hold circuit in line with a quantizing circuit.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the apparatus does not comprise an anti aliasing filter.

11. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein a total number of samples in the digital signal is less that a number of samples corresponding to Nyquist rate sampling.

12. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein a number of clock cycles separating at least a first pair of adjacent samples in the digital signal is different than a number of clock cycles separating at least a second pair of adjacent samples in the digital signal.

13. An apparatus for data communication comprising:

means for obtaining an analog signal;

means for determining a digital signal based, at least in part, on the analog signal, wherein the means for determining the digital signal comprises,

means for conditioning the analog signal, and

means for sampling the conditioned analog signal at non-uniform time instances,

means for generating at least one packet comprising, at least in part, the digital signal; and

means for transmitting the packet over a wireless channel.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the means for conditioning comprises a low noise amplifier circuit.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the means for sampling the conditioned signal comprises a sample and hold circuit in line with a quantizing circuit.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the apparatus does not comprise an anti aliasing filter.

17. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein a total number of samples in the digital signal is less that a number of samples corresponding to Nyquist rate sampling.

18. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein a number of clock cycles separating at least a first pair of adjacent samples in the digital signal is different than a number of clock cycles separating at least a second pair of adjacent samples in the digital signal.

19. A computer program product comprising:

a computer-readable medium having stored thereon, computer executable instructions that, if executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform a method comprising;

obtaining an analog signal;

determining a digital signal based, at least in part, on the analog signal, wherein determining the digital signal comprises,

conditioning the analog signal, and

sampling the conditioned analog signal at non-uniform time instances,

generating at least one packet comprising, at least in part the digital signal; and

transmitting the packet over a wireless channel.

20. A sensing device comprising:

a transducer configured to receive an analog signal;

a signal conditioner configured to condition the received analog signal;

a signal sampler configured to determine a digital signal by sampling the conditioned analog signal at non-uniform time instances;

a processing system coupled to generate at least one packet comprising, at least in part, the digital signal;

an antenna; and

a transmitter configured to transmit, via the antenna, the at least one packet.