LINK QUALITY DIAGNOSTIC APPLICATION

• US 20170171046A1
• Filed: 12/15/2015
• Published: 06/15/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Starkey Laboratories Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Starkey Laboratories Incorporated
• Inventors: Flood, Stephen Paul, Polinske, Beau Jay
• Granted Patent: US 10,708,157 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/385 Transceivers carried on the body, e.g. in helmets
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/309 Measuring or estimating channel quality parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2225/55 Communication between hearing aids and external devices via a network for data exchange
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2420/07 Applications of wireless loudspeakers or wireless microphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/00 Deaf-aid sets , i.e. electro-acoustic or electro-mechanical hearing aids; Electric tinnitus maskers providing an auditory perception electrical stimulation of auditory nerves to promote the auditory function A61N1/36038; optical stimulation of auditory nerves to promote the auditory function A61N5/0622
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/554 using a wireless connection, e.g. between microphone and amplifier or using Tcoils
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A system for use by an end user of a wearable device may include a personal electronic device configured to communicate over a wireless communication link to the wearable device. The personal electronic device may include a link quality diagnostic application. The personal electronic device is configured to operate on the link quality diagnostic application to present the end user of the wearable device with one or more troubleshooting questions based on a link quality degradation, and process one or more answers from the end user, and provide diagnostic feedback to the end user to suggest corrective action to improve the link quality of the wireless communication link.

Claims

1. A system for use by an end user of a wearable device, comprising:

a personal electronic device configured to communicate over a wireless communication link to the wearable device;

the personal electronic device including a link quality diagnostic application, wherein the personal electronic device is configured to operate on the link quality diagnostic application to;

present the end user of the wearable device with one or more troubleshooting questions based on a link quality degradation, and process one or more answers from the end user; and

provide diagnostic feedback to the end user to suggest corrective action to improve the link quality of the wireless communication link.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the personal electronic device is configured to operate on the link quality diagnostic application to:

acquire at least one link quality metric (LQM) for the wireless link measured using the personal electronic device, the wearable device, or both the personal electronic device and the wearable device;

detect the link quality degradataion using the at least one LQM; and

using the at least one LQM to select at least one troubleshooting question and provide the diagnostic feedback.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the at least one LQM includes at least one LQM selected from the group of LQMs consisting of:

received signal strength indicator (RSSI);

bit error rate (BER),

packet error rate (PER),

cyclic redundancy check (CRC) errors,

forward error correction (FEC) errors,

signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and

retransmissions; and

throughput for an Echo test.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the at least one LQM includes at least two LQMs selected from the group of LQMs, and the personal electronic device is configured to operate on the link quality diagnostic application to:

acquire the at least two LQMs for the wireless link using the personal electronic device, the wearable device, or both the personal electronic device and the wearable device; and

using the at least two LQMs to select at least one troubleshooting question and determine the at least one potential solution.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the personal electronic device is configured to operate on the link quality diagnostic application to geotag a location and time stamp for a link quality event, the link quality event being an instance of the link quality degradation.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the personal electronic device is configured to operate on the link quality diagnostic application to sense if the personal electronic device is inside in a multi-path environment or outside.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the personal electronic device is configured to operate on the link quality diagnostic application to sense location-related data using Wi-Fi signals.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the personal electronic device is configured to operate on the link quality diagnostic application to sense location-related data using GPS.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the personal electronic device is configured to operate on the link quality diagnostic application to sense location-related data using cellular signals.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the personal electronic device is configured to operate on the link quality diagnostic application to sense location-related data using broadcast station signals.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the personal electronic device is configured to operate on the link quality device to alert the end user of the link quality degradation using the personal electronic device to produce vibrations or sound.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the personal electronic device is configured to operate on the link quality device to alert the end user of the link quality degradation using a pop-up window, a banner, a badge, or a listing in a notification center of the personal electronic device.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the personal electronic device is a smart phone.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the wearable device is a hearing instrument configured to communicate with the personal electronic device over the wireless link.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the personal electronic device is configured to operate on the link quality diagnostic application to:

alert the end user of the degraded link quality using the hearing instrument to present sound to the end user;

or

alert the end user of an improved link quality using the hearing instrument present sound to the end user;

or alter the end user of both the degraded link quality and the improved link quality using the hearing instrument to present sound to the end user.

16. The system of claim 14, further comprising another hearing instrument configured to communication with the personal electronic device over another wireless link, wherein the personal electronic device is configured to operate on the link quality diagnostic program to:

acquire at least one link quality metric (LQM) for each of the two wireless links;

compare the at least one LQM for the two wireless links to provide a comparison; and

determine potential solutions for the link quality degradation using the comparison.

17. A method, comprising using a link quality diagnostic application operated on by a personal electronic device to:

present an end user of a wearable device with one or more troubleshooting questions based on a link quality degradation for a wireless communication link between the wearable device and the personal electronic device or for a wireless communication link between the wearable device and another external device;

process one or more answers from the end user; and

provide diagnostic feedback to the end user to suggest corrective action to improve the link quality.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising using the link quality diagnostic application on the personal electronic device to:

acquire at least two link quality metrics (LQMs) for the wireless link measured using the personal electronic device, the wearable device, or both the personal electronic device and the wearable device;

detect the link quality degradation using at least one of LQMs; and

using the at least two LQMs to select at least one troubleshooting question and provide the diagnostic feedback,

wherein the at least two LQMs are selected from the group of LQMs consisting of;

received signal strength indicator (RSSI);

bit error rate (BER),

packet error rate (PER),

cyclic redundancy check (CRC) errors,

forward error correction (FEC) errors,

signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and

retransmissions;

throughput for an Echo test; and

a channel map change.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the wearable device is a hearing instrument, and the wireless communication link is between the personal electronic device and the hearing instrument.

20. A system for use by an end user of a wearable device, comprising:

a personal electronic device configured to communicate over a wireless communication link to the wearable device;

the personal electronic device configured to interact with a cloud-based link quality diagnostic application, wherein the personal electronic device and the cloud-based link quality diagnostic application are configured to cooperate to;

present the end user of the wearable device with one or more troubleshooting questions based on a link quality degradation, and process one or more answers from the end user; and

provide diagnostic feedback to the end user to suggest corrective action to improve the link quality of the wireless communication link.