Antenna diversity for magnetic induction radio
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A receiver for a magnetic induction transmission system comprising:
- an antenna for receiving a signal having at least a first part and a second part as a received first part and a received second part; and
a processor configured to process the received first part and to determine a first error rate from the received first part;
the processor being further configured to, in response to the first error rate not exceeding an error threshold, output the processed first part without processing the second part and without determining a second error rate from the second part, and in response to the first error rate exceeding the error threshold, process the received second part, determine a second error rate from the received second part, and output the respective one of the processed first part and the processed second part corresponding to the lower of the first and second error rate;
wherein the signal is a time division multiple access signal, and the first part and the second part each comprise a streaming channel frame of a superframe of the time division multiple access signal.
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Abstract
A magnetic induction system is disclosed, which has antenna diversity at the transmitter side, but which does not require a bidirectional link to pass information regarding received signal quality back to the transmitter. The system uses a time division multiplexing access (TDMA) arrangement, to transmit the same, or correlated, information with a level of redundancy, from two, or more, antenna to at least a receiver. The or each receiver is configured to determine a received signal quality from the channel received from one antenna, and, in response to inadequate signal quality, to switch to another antenna.
- A receiver, and a transmitter for such a magnetic induction system are also disclosed, as is an associated method.
- A non-limiting application of such a system is in binaural hearing aids, in which antenna diversity is preferred at the transmitter because of space limitations.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. A receiver for a magnetic induction transmission system comprising:
- an antenna for receiving a signal having at least a first part and a second part as a received first part and a received second part; and
a processor configured to process the received first part and to determine a first error rate from the received first part;
the processor being further configured to, in response to the first error rate not exceeding an error threshold, output the processed first part without processing the second part and without determining a second error rate from the second part, and in response to the first error rate exceeding the error threshold, process the received second part, determine a second error rate from the received second part, and output the respective one of the processed first part and the processed second part corresponding to the lower of the first and second error rate;
wherein the signal is a time division multiple access signal, and the first part and the second part each comprise a streaming channel frame of a superframe of the time division multiple access signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
- an antenna for receiving a signal having at least a first part and a second part as a received first part and a received second part; and
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6. A method of operating a magnetic induction transmission system having a receiver, and a transmitter comprising a plurality of antennae, the method comprising:
- transmitting a first part of a signal from the first antenna, the signal comprising the first part and a second part;
subsequently transmitting the second part of the signal from the second antennae;
receiving the first part as a received first part and the second part as a received second part;
processing the received first part and determining a first error rate from the received first part;
outputting the processed first part in response to the first error rate not exceeding an error threshold without processing the received second part and without determining a second error rate from the second part; and
in response to the first error rate exceeding the error threshold;
processing the received second part;
determining a second error rate from the received second part; and
outputting the respective one of the processed first part and the processed second part corresponding to the lower of the first and second error rate;
wherein the signal is a time division multiple access signal, and the first part and the second part each comprise a streaming channel frame of a superframe of the time division multiple access signal. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
- transmitting a first part of a signal from the first antenna, the signal comprising the first part and a second part;
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12. A method of operating a magnetic induction transmission system having a receiver, the method comprising:
- receiving a first part of a signal as a received first part and a second part of the signal as a received second part;
processing the received first part and determining a first error rate from the received first part;
outputting the processed first part in response to the first error rate not exceeding an error threshold without processing the received second part and without determining a second error rate from the second part; and
in response to the first error rate exceeding the error threshold, processing the received second part;
determining a second error rate from the processed second part; and
outputting the respective one of the processed first part and the processed second part corresponding to the lower of the first and second error rate;
wherein the signal is a time division multiple access signal, and the first part and the second part each comprise a streaming channel frame of a superframe of the time division multiple access signal. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
- receiving a first part of a signal as a received first part and a second part of the signal as a received second part;
Specification