BODY COUPLED COMMUNICATION DEVICES AND SYSTEMS AS WELL AS A DESIGN TOOL AND METHOD FOR DESIGNING THE SAME

• US 20160233967A1
• Filed: 09/10/2014
• Published: 08/11/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Inventors: LINNARTZ, JOHAN-PAUL MARIE GERARD
• Granted Patent: US 9,692,526 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/385 Transceivers carried on the body, e.g. in helmets
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 13/005 Transmission systems in which the medium consists of the human body

Abstract

Based on new insights in body coupled communication systems, herein a design tool for designing a body coupled communication apparatus, and products for use in body coupled communication systems are provided herein.

Claims

1. A body coupled communication apparatus, comprising:

a transmitter module including a transmitter having outputs coupled to a pair of mutually opposed transmitter plates to provide a transmission signal, the transmitter plates having a first area (A1) and a first mutual distance (D1);

a receiver module including a receiver coupled to a pair of mutually opposed receiver plates to receive a reception signal, the receiver plates having a second area (A2) and a second mutual distance D2, wherein a ratio (A1*D2)/(A2*D1) is at least 2.

2. The body coupled communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transmitter module and the receiver module are integrated in a carrier having a thickness of at most 15 mm and having a main surface with lateral dimensions of at most 10 cm, wherein the pair of mutually opposed transmitter plates and the pair of mutually opposed receiver plates are arranged laterally besides each other, the carrier further including a power supply), wherein the first area (A1) of the pair of transmitter plates is at least two times larger than the second area (A2) of the pair of receiver plates.

3. The body coupled communication apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the pair of mutually opposed transmitter plates is aligned with the carrier surface and the pair of mutually opposed receiver plates is arranged transverse to the main surface at mutually opposite ends of the carrier.

4. The body coupled communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein one of the receiver plates is coupled via a controllable switching element to ground.

5. The body coupled communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the receiver plates is coupled via a controllable capacitive element to ground.

6. A computer-implemented design tool for designing a body coupled communication apparatus, comprising:

a transmitter to generate a transmission signal and coupled to a pair of mutually opposed transmitter plates to transmit the signal via a human body;

a receiver coupled to a pair of mutually opposed receiver plates to receive the transmission signal via said human body;

a data input to receive parameter values for a set of parameters of a first type and parameter values for a set of parameters of a second type;

a data output; and

a computation engine to calculate output data and to provide the output data indicative for a predicted performance to the data output, wherein the set of parameters of a first type specify a propagation environment for the signal to be transmitted from the transmitter to the receiver, including at least one of a distance between the human body and the transmitter plates, a distance between the human body and the receiver plates, and signal transmission properties of the human body, wherein the set of parameters of a second type includes at least one design choice relating to one or more of a transmit voltage, a receiver sensitivity, dimensions of the transmission plates, a first area (A1) of the transmission plates and their mutual distance (D1), sizes of the receiver plates, a second area (A2) of the receiver plates and their mutual distance (D2), and wherein the output data indicative for a predicted performance includes at least one of an expected attenuation of the transmission signal, a path loss, a link budget and a bit error rate, wherein the computation engine comprises a first computation unit to determine a capacitive transfer model from the transmitter via the human body to the receiver, and a second computation unit to predict the performance using the capacitive transfer model, wherein the at least one design choice specifies that a ratio (A1*D2)/(A2*D1) is at least 2.

7. The computer-implemented design tool according to claim 6, wherein the first computation unit determines the capacitive transfer model as a first and a second capacitance specifying a respective capacitive coupling between a first and a second one of the mutually opposed transmitter plates and the human body and further defining a third and a fourth capacitance specifying a respective capacitive coupling between the first and second one of the mutually opposed transmitter plates and ground, a fifth capacitance specifying a capacitive coupling between the human body and ground, a sixth and a seventh capacitance specifying a respective capacitive coupling between a first and a second one of the mutually opposed receiver plates and the human body, and an eight and a ninth capacitance specifying a respective capacitive coupling between the first and second one of the mutually opposed receiver plates and ground, and further a tenth capacitance specifying a mutual capacitive coupling between the mutually opposed receiver plates.

8. The design tool according to claim 6, wherein the first computation unit includes a finite element computation module to generate a capacitance matrix approximating the capacitive transfer path from the transmitter, via the human body to the receiver.

9. The design tool according to claim 6, wherein the second computation unit includes a matrix inversion module to invert a capacitance matrix representative for the capacitive transfer model and to predict the performance using the inverted capacitance matrix.

10. The design tool according to claim 6, wherein the second computation unit comprises a Wheatstone computation module to predict the performance on the basis of the approximation of the capacitive transfer path from the transmitter via the human body to the receiver by a first and a second capacitive Wheatstone bridge, wherein the first capacitive Wheatstone bridge includes the first and the second capacitance specifying the respective capacitive coupling between the first and a second one of the mutually opposed transmitter plates and the human body and the third and the fourth capacitance specifying the respective capacitive coupling between the first and the second one of the mutually opposed transmitter plates and ground, and wherein the second capacitive Wheatstone bridge includes the sixth and the seventh capacitance specifying the respective capacitive coupling between the first and the second one of the mutually opposed receiver plates and the human body, and the eight and the ninth capacitance specifying the respective capacitive coupling between the first and the second one of the mutually opposed receiver plates and ground, the approximation further including the fifth capacitance specifying the capacitive coupling between the human body and ground and further a tenth capacitance specifying a mutual capacitive coupling between the mutually opposed receiver plates.

11. The design tool according to claim 8, wherein the second computation unit includes a conversion module and a Wheatstone computation module, wherein the conversion module converts the capacitance matrix obtained from the finite element computation module into an approximate circuit model approximating the capacitive transfer path from the transmitter via the human body to the receiver by a first and a second capacitive Wheatstone bridge, wherein the first capacitive Wheatstone bridge includes a first and a second capacitance specifying the respective capacitive coupling between the first and a second one of the mutually opposed transmitter plates and the human body and a third and a fourth capacitance specifying the respective capacitive coupling between the first and the second one of the mutually opposed transmitter plates and ground, and wherein the second capacitive Wheatstone bridge includes a sixth and a seventh capacitance specifying the respective capacitive coupling between the first and the second one of the mutually opposed receiver plates and the human body, and an eight and a ninth capacitance specifying the respective capacitive coupling between the first and the second one of the mutually opposed receiver plates and ground, the approximation further including the fifth capacitance specifying the capacitive coupling between the human body and ground, as well as a tenth capacitance specifying a mutual capacitive coupling between the mutually opposed receiver plates (Rx1, Rx2), and wherein the second computation unit includes the Wheatstone computation module to predict the performance on the basis of the approximate circuit model.

12. The design tool according to claim 6, further including a user interface to enable a user to specify values for the set of parameters of the first type, and to provide a specification for a required performance, the design tool further including a generator for generating values for the set of parameters of the second type, wherein the computation engine predicts an actual performance on the basis of the values for the set of parameters of the first type specified by the user and the values for the set of parameters of the second type generated by the generator, wherein the generator is configured for adapting the values for the set of parameters of the second type on the basis of the specified performance and the actual performance in order to achieve the specified performance and wherein the user interface is further configured for providing the adapted values of the set of parameters of the second type to the user.

13. A method for designing a body coupled communication apparatus, comprising:

generating a transmission signal by a transmitter coupled to a pair of mutually opposed transmitter plates to transmit the signal via a human body;

receiving the transmission signal, via the human body, by receiver coupled to a pair of mutually opposed receiver plates;

receiving parameter values for a set of parameters of a first type and parameter values for a set of parameters of a second type;

calculating output data; and

providing the output data indicative for a predicted performance to a data output, wherein the set of parameters of the first type specify a propagation environment for the signal to be transmitted from the transmitter to the receiver including at least one of a distance between the human body and the transmitter plates, a distance between the human body and the receiver plates, and signal transmission properties of the human body, wherein the set of parameters of the second type includes at least one design choice relating to one or more of a transmit voltage, a receiver sensitivity, dimensions of the transmission plates, a first area (A1) of the transmission plates and their mutual distance (D1), sizes of the receiver plates, an area (A2) of the receiver plates and their mutual distance (D2), and wherein the output data indicative for a predicted performance includes at least one of an expected attenuation of the transmission signal, a path loss, a link budget and a bit error rate, wherein the calculating comprises determining a capacitive transfer model from the transmitter via the human body to the receiver, and predicting the performance using the capacitive transfer model, wherein the at least one design choice specifies that a ratio (A1*D2)/(A2*D1) is at least 2.

14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising:

enabling a user to specify values for said set of parameters of the first type and to provide a specification for a required performance;

generating values for the set of parameters of the second type;

predicting an actual performance on the basis of the values for the set of parameters of the first type specified by the user and the generated values for the set of parameters of the second type;

adapting the values for the set of parameters of the second type on the basis of the specified performance and the actual performance in order to achieve the specified performance; and

providing the adapted values of the set of parameters of the second type to the user.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having one or more executable instructions stored thereon, which when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method for designing a body coupled communication apparatus, the method comprising:

generating a transmission signal by a transmitter coupled to a pair of mutually opposed transmitter plates to transmit the signal via a human body;

receiving the transmission signal, via the human body, by a receiver coupled to a pair of mutually opposed receiver plates;

receiving parameter values for a set of parameters of a first type and parameter values for a set of parameters of a second type;

calculating output data; and

providing the output data indicative for a predicted performance to a data output, wherein the set of parameters of the first type specify a propagation environment for the signal to be transmitted from the transmitter to the receiver including at least one of a distance between the human body and the transmitter plates, a distance between the human body and the receiver plates, and signal transmission properties of the human body, wherein the set of parameters of the second type includes at least one design choice relating to one or more of a transmit voltage, a receiver sensitivity, dimensions of the transmission plates, a first area (A1) of the transmission plates and their mutual distance (D1), sizes of the receiver plates, an area (A2) of the receiver plates and their mutual distance (D2), and wherein the output data indicative for a predicted performance includes at least one of an expected attenuation of the transmission signal, a path loss, a link budget and a bit error rate, wherein the calculating comprises determining a capacitive transfer model from the transmitter via the human body to the receiver, and predicting the performance using the capacitive transfer model, wherein the at least one design choice specifies that a ratio (A1*D2)/(A2*D1) is at least 2.

16. The computer-implemented design tool, wherein capacitances between capacitively coupled elements are approximated by