Data transmission via wide band acoustic channels

• US 9,192,353 B2
• Filed: 10/27/2010
• Issued: 11/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Innurvation Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Innurvation Incorporated
• Inventors: Bandy, William R., Okunev, Yuri, Shanks, Wayne E.
• Primary Examiner(s): HULKA, JAMES R
• Application Number:
  US12/913,506
• Publication Number:
  US 20110237951A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,854 Days
• Field of Search: 367/134, 367/137, 367/138, 600/459
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0028 Body tissue as transmission medium, i.e. transmission systems where the medium is the human body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6861 Capsules, e.g. for swallowing or implanting
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/12 in body cavities or body tracts, e.g. by using catheters catheters per se A61M25/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 1/72 using ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 11/346 using phase variation
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 11/348 using amplitude variation
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 11/00 Transmission systems employing sonic, ultrasonic or infrasonic waves

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention relate to ultrasound (acoustic) data transmission systems, in particular data transmission over wide-band acoustic channels with frequency-dependant multi-path propagation. More specifically, embodiments of the invention involve increasing the bit rate in the acoustic channel by means of utilization of the entire ultrasound spectrum available for data transmission inside a human body.

Claims

1. An acoustic data transmitter, comprising:

a data buffer configured to accumulate data;

a data splitter configured to split the accumulated data into a plurality of data streams occupying corresponding frequency bands;

a plurality of modulators configured to modulate a respective data stream from among the plurality of data streams in accordance with a modulation scheme associated with a respective frequency band to generate a plurality of modulated data signals; and

a wide-band acoustic transducer configured to generate a wide-band acoustic signal incorporating each of the plurality of modulated data signals to be propagated over an acoustic channel at the same time;

wherein the wideband acoustic signal comprises a plurality of sub-bands corresponding to the plurality of data streams modulated with a plurality of modulation schemes.

2. The acoustic data transmitter of claim 1, wherein the wide-band acoustic transducer comprises:

a plurality of individual acoustic transducers, each individual acoustic transducer from among the plurality of individual acoustic transducers being configured to generate an acoustic signal based on a respective one of the plurality of modulated data streams.

3. The acoustic data transmitter of claim 2, wherein the plurality of acoustic transducers includes a plurality of wide-band frequency selective acoustic transducers, a plurality of narrow-band frequency selective acoustic transducers, or a combination of wide-band frequency selective acoustic transducers and narrow-band frequency selective acoustic transducers.

4. The acoustic data transmitter of claim 1, wherein the acoustic channel includes living tissue.

5. The acoustic data transmitter of claim 1, further comprising:

an ingestible capsule housing surrounding the data buffer, the data splitter, and the acoustic transducer.

6. The acoustic data transmitter of claim 1, wherein the plurality of modulators is further configured to generate the plurality of modulated data signals depending on parameters related to multi-path propagation and signal attenuation in the respective frequency band.

7. The acoustic data transmitter of claim 1, wherein the plurality of modulators is further configured to modulate a respective data stream at a lower frequency band using more subcarriers than a respective data stream at a higher frequency band.

8. The acoustic data transmitter of claim 1, wherein the modulation scheme includes differential quadrature phase-shift keying or quadrature amplitude modulation.

9. An acoustic data receiver, comprising:

a wide-band acoustic transducer configured to receive a wide-band acoustic signal and to transform the wide-band acoustic signal into a plurality of frequency-divided sub-band signals;

a plurality of demodulators configured to generate a plurality of data streams, each demodulator from among the plurality of demodulators being configured to demodulate a respective sub-band signal into a data stream according to a respective frequency band and demodulation scheme; and

a data combiner configured to combine the plurality of data streams into a data stream;

wherein the plurality of frequency-divided sub-band signals are modulated with a plurality of modulation schemes.

10. The acoustic data receiver of claim 9, wherein the wide-band acoustic transducer comprises:

a plurality of individual acoustic transducers, each individual acoustic transducer from among the plurality of individual acoustic transducers being configured to generate an acoustic signal based on a respective one of the plurality of sub-band signals.

11. The acoustic data receiver of claim 10, wherein the plurality of acoustic transducers includes a plurality of wide-band frequency selective acoustic transducers, plurality of narrow-band frequency selective acoustic transducers, or a combination of wide-band frequency selective acoustic transducers and narrow-band frequency selective acoustic transducers.

12. The acoustic data receiver of claim 9, wherein the plurality of demodulators is further configured to demodulate a respective data stream at a lower sub-band using more subcarriers than a respective data stream at a higher sub-band.

13. The acoustic data receiver of claim 9, wherein the demodulation scheme includes differential quadrature phase-shift keying or quadrature amplitude demodulation.

14. A method of modulating acoustic data, comprising:

dividing a wide-band acoustic data channel into N sub-bands, wherein the first sub-band corresponds to a maximum echo delay and a minimum signal attenuation and the Nth sub-band corresponds to a minimum echo delay and a maximum signal attenuation, such that echo delay decreases and signal attenuation increases as sub-bands increase in frequency from the first sub-band to the Nth sub-band; and

modulating data within each sub-band from among the N sub-bands using an acoustic modulation scheme that is different from modulation schemes used in other sub-bands; and

combining the modulated data from each sub-band from among the N sub-bands into a wide-band acoustic data signal;

wherein the sub-bands are modulated with a plurality of modulation schemes.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

transmitting the wide-band acoustic data signal via a plurality of transducers.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the transmitting comprises;

transmitting the wide-band acoustic data signal via a combination of wide-band frequency selective transducers and narrow-band frequency selective acoustic transducers.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the modulating comprises:

modulating data in the first sub-band and the Nth sub-band using a first and a second number of carriers, respectively, the first number of carriers being greater than the second number of carriers.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the modulating comprises:

modulating data in the first sub-band using quadrature amplitude modulation; and

modulating data in the Nth sub-band using differential quadrature phase-shift keying modulation.