System and methods for locating relative positions of multiple patient antennas
First Claim
1. A method of locating a plurality of antennas positioned about a body of a patient, the method comprising:
- determining first relative locations of antennas coupled with a patient, said determining first locations comprising;
generating a first transmit signal for transmission from any of a plurality of antennas, the plurality of antennas positioned about a body of a patient;
providing the first transmit signal to at least two of the plurality of antennas to cause at least the two of the antennas to transmit the first transmit signal;
receiving a set of first receive signals from the antennas, the first receive signals responsive to the first transmit signal;
determining first phase shifts among the first receive signals;
adjusting the first phase shifts to produce adjusted first phase shifts based at least in part on first mutual inductance between at least two of the antennas to account at least partly for the second order coupling effects between at least some of the antennas;
determining initial estimates of first relative locations of the antennas based at least in part on linear processing of the adjusted first phase shifts; and
refining the initial estimates of first relative locations of the antennas by applying nonlinear processing to the initial linear estimates of first relative locations to produce nonlinear estimates of first relative locations of the antennas;
determining second relative locations of the antennas coupled with the patient to account for movement of the antennas due to movement of the patient, said determining second locations comprising;
generating a second transmit signal for transmission from any of the plurality of antennas;
providing the second transmit signal to at least two of the plurality of antennas to cause at least the two of the antennas to transmit the second transmit signal;
receiving a set of second receive signals from the antennas, the second receive signals responsive to the second transmit signal;
determining second phase shifts among the second receive signals;
adjusting the second phase shifts to produce adjusted second phase shifts based at least in part on second mutual inductance between at least two of the antennas to account at least partly for the second order coupling effects between at least two of the antennas;
determining initial estimates of second relative locations of the antennas based at least in part on linear processing of the adjusted second phase shifts; and
refining the initial estimates of second relative locations of the antennas by applying nonlinear processing to the initial linear estimates of second relative locations to produce nonlinear estimates of the second relative locations, the second relative locations of the antennas different from the first relative locations of the antennas;
using the nonlinear estimates of the first and second relative locations of the antennas to calculate first and second respective positions of a pill transmitter swallowed by the patient;
outputting the first and second positions of the pill transmitter for presentation to a clinician on a display; and
wherein at least said estimating relative locations of the antennas is performed by processing electronics.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods described herein use near field communications to locate a set of antennas attached to, coupled with, or near the patient. A signal emitted by an antenna in the set of antennas can be received by the other antennas in the set. A second signal can be further transmitted from another antenna in the set. The differential phase and/or time shifts between the antennas from the multiple signal transmissions can contain sufficient information to find the locations of the antennas in antenna centric coordinates. The antenna locations can then be used to find a location of a pill transmitter swallowed by the patient.
57 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method of locating a plurality of antennas positioned about a body of a patient, the method comprising:
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determining first relative locations of antennas coupled with a patient, said determining first locations comprising; generating a first transmit signal for transmission from any of a plurality of antennas, the plurality of antennas positioned about a body of a patient; providing the first transmit signal to at least two of the plurality of antennas to cause at least the two of the antennas to transmit the first transmit signal; receiving a set of first receive signals from the antennas, the first receive signals responsive to the first transmit signal; determining first phase shifts among the first receive signals; adjusting the first phase shifts to produce adjusted first phase shifts based at least in part on first mutual inductance between at least two of the antennas to account at least partly for the second order coupling effects between at least some of the antennas; determining initial estimates of first relative locations of the antennas based at least in part on linear processing of the adjusted first phase shifts; and refining the initial estimates of first relative locations of the antennas by applying nonlinear processing to the initial linear estimates of first relative locations to produce nonlinear estimates of first relative locations of the antennas; determining second relative locations of the antennas coupled with the patient to account for movement of the antennas due to movement of the patient, said determining second locations comprising; generating a second transmit signal for transmission from any of the plurality of antennas; providing the second transmit signal to at least two of the plurality of antennas to cause at least the two of the antennas to transmit the second transmit signal; receiving a set of second receive signals from the antennas, the second receive signals responsive to the second transmit signal; determining second phase shifts among the second receive signals; adjusting the second phase shifts to produce adjusted second phase shifts based at least in part on second mutual inductance between at least two of the antennas to account at least partly for the second order coupling effects between at least two of the antennas; determining initial estimates of second relative locations of the antennas based at least in part on linear processing of the adjusted second phase shifts; and refining the initial estimates of second relative locations of the antennas by applying nonlinear processing to the initial linear estimates of second relative locations to produce nonlinear estimates of the second relative locations, the second relative locations of the antennas different from the first relative locations of the antennas; using the nonlinear estimates of the first and second relative locations of the antennas to calculate first and second respective positions of a pill transmitter swallowed by the patient; outputting the first and second positions of the pill transmitter for presentation to a clinician on a display; and wherein at least said estimating relative locations of the antennas is performed by processing electronics. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A system for locating a plurality of antennas positioned about a body of a patient, the system comprising:
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an array of antennas configured to be positioned about a body of a patient; and processing electronics configured to; generate a transmit signal for transmission from the array of antennas, provide the transmit signal to a first antenna of the array of antennas to cause the first antenna to transmit the transmit signal; receive a set of receive signals from second antennas of the array of antennas, the receive signals responsive to the transmit signal; determine phase shifts among the receive signals; adjust the phase shifts to produce adjusted first phase shifts based at least in part on mutual inductance between at least two of the antennas to account at least partly for the second order coupling effects between at least some of the antennas; apply linear processing on the adjusted phase shifts to generate first estimates of relative locations of the antennas; refine the first estimates by applying nonlinear processing to the first estimates to generate second estimates of relative locations of the antennas; and use the second estimated relative locations of the antennas to calculate a position of a pill transmitter swallowed by the patient. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. An apparatus for locating a plurality of antennas positioned about a body of a patient, the apparatus comprising:
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processing electronics configured to dynamically calculate positions of antennas located about a body of a patient to account for movement of the body of the patient, the processing electronics operative to; provide a first transmit signal to the antennas at a first time; receive first receive signals from the antennas, the first receive signals responsive to the first transmit signal; determine first mutual inductance between at least two of the antennas; estimate first relative locations of the antennas based at least in part on linear processing of the first mutual inductance; refine the first relative locations of the antennas by applying a nonlinear process to the first relative locations to produce non-linear estimates of the first relative locations of the antennas; provide a second transmit signal to the antennas at a second time subsequent to the first time; receive second receive signals from the antennas; determine second mutual inductance between at least two of the antennas; estimate second relative locations of the antennas based at least in part on a linear processing of the second mutual inductance, the second relative locations different from the first relative locations; refine the second relative locations of the antennas by applying nonlinear processing to the second relative locations to produce nonlinear estimates of the second relative locations of the antennas; and a memory device configured to store data representing the first and second relative locations of the antennas. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification