Method of exchanging data packages between first and second portable communication devices using a favoured frequency band

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9819705-B2
Application number	US-201514835584-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 25, 2015
Priority date	Aug 18, 2015
Publication date	Nov 14, 2017
Grant date	Nov 14, 2017

Abstract

The present disclosure relates in a first aspect to a method of exchanging data packages between a first portable communication device and a second portable communication device over a bi-directional wireless communication channel, where at least one of the first and second portable communication devices comprises a hearing instrument. The method comprises generating, by the first portable communication device, a plurality of data packages over time and transmitting the plurality of data packages from the first to the second portable communication device through a plurality of spaced apart frequency bands distributed across a predetermined radio frequency range of the bi-directional wireless communication channel. The method further comprises computing, at the first wireless communication device or at the second wireless communication device, respective transmission quality estimators of the plurality of spaced apart frequency bands and determining a favored frequency band based on the detected transmission quality estimators.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of exchanging data packages between a first portable communication device and a second portable communication device over a bi-directional wireless communication channel, where at least one of the first and second portable communication devices comprises a hearing instrument, the method comprising:
generating, by the first portable communication device, a first plurality of data packages;
transmitting the first plurality of data packages from the first portable communication device to the second portable communication device through a plurality of spaced apart frequency bands distributed across a radio frequency range of the bi-directional wireless communication channel;
computing, at the first wireless communication device or at the second wireless communication device, transmission quality estimators for the respective spaced apart frequency bands;
determining a favoured frequency band based on the transmission quality estimators; and
transmitting, from the first portable communication device to the second portable communication device, a second plurality of data packages on the favoured frequency band, the second plurality of data packages comprising a first data package;
wherein if the transmission of one of the second plurality of data packages fails, the method further comprises:
selecting, in accordance with a frequency hopping key, a frequency band of the plurality of spaced apart frequency bands that is different from the favoured frequency band; and
retransmitting the one of the second plurality of data packages on the different frequency band.

2. The method of exchanging data packages according to claim 1 , further comprising receiving a second data package transmitted from the second portable communication device to the first portable communication device on the favoured frequency band.

3. The method of exchanging data packages according to claim 1 , further comprising establishing a plurality of successive connection events through the bi-directional wireless communication channel;
wherein the second plurality of data packages is transmitted during at least a subset of the plurality of successive connection events on the favoured frequency band.

4. The method of exchanging data packages according to claim 1 , wherein one of the second plurality of data packages comprises a header section, a payload section, and a data check section holding a package error-detection code.

5. The method of exchanging data packages according to claim 4 , further comprising adding a band identifier indicating the favoured frequency band to a predetermined header field of the header section.

6. The method of exchanging data packages according claim 1 , wherein a first subset of the second plurality of data packages transmitted by the first portable communication device belongs to a first packet category comprising audio data, and a second subset of the second plurality of data packages belongs to a second packet category without audio data.

7. The method of exchanging data packages according to claim 6 , wherein a size of the data packages in the second subset belonging to the second packet category is smaller than a size of the data packages in the first subset belonging to the first packet category.

8. The method of exchanging data packages according to claim 1 , further comprising adding a first plurality of acknowledgement indicators, at the first portable communication device, to the first plurality of data packages before they are transmitted by the first portable communication device, wherein at least a subset of the first plurality of acknowledgement indicators indicates whether a previous data package was successfully received at the first portable communication device.

9. The method of exchanging data packages according to claim 8 , further comprising adding a second plurality of acknowledgement indicators, at the second portable communication device, to a third plurality of data packages before they are transmitted by the second portable communication device, wherein at least a subset of the second plurality of acknowledgement indicators indicates whether a previous data package was successfully received at the second portable communication device.

10. The method of exchanging data packages according to claim 1 , further comprising receiving a second data package at the first portable communication device;
wherein if an acknowledgement indicator of the second data package is set: the method further comprises generating, at the first portable communication device, a third data package comprising an acknowledgment indicator setting reflecting successful or failed receipt of the second data package, and transmitting the third data package to the second portable communication device.

11. The method of exchanging data packages according to claim 1 , wherein if the first portable communication device fails to receive a second data package or if an acknowledgement indicator of the second data package is unset: the method further comprises setting an acknowledgment indicator of one of the second plurality of data packages to reflect a failed receipt of the second data package, and retransmitting the one of the second plurality of data packages from the first portable communication device to the second portable communication device.

12. The method of exchanging data packages according to claim 11 , wherein act of retransmitting the one of the second plurality of data packages is performed if the one of the second plurality of data packages belongs to a packet category.

13. The method of exchanging data packages according to claim 1 , further comprising:
generating, by the second portable communication device, a second data package with an acknowledgment indicator setting reflecting successful or failed receipt of one of the first or second plurality of data packages; and
transmitting the second data package from the second portable communication device to the first portable communication device through the bi-directional wireless communication channel.

14. A method of exchanging data packages between a first portable communication device and a second portable communication device over a bi-directional wireless communication channel, where at least one of the first and second portable communication devices comprises a hearing instrument, the method comprising:
generating, by the first portable communication device, a first plurality of data packages;
transmitting the first plurality of data packages from the first portable communication device to the second portable communication device through a plurality of spaced apart frequency bands distributed across a radio frequency range of the bi-directional wireless communication channel;
computing, at the first wireless communication device or at the second wireless communication device, transmission quality estimators for the respective spaced apart frequency bands;
determining a favoured frequency band based on the transmission quality estimators; and
transmitting, from the first portable communication device to the second portable communication device, a second plurality of data packages on the favoured frequency band, the second plurality of data packages comprising a first data package;
wherein a first subset of the second plurality of data packages transmitted by the first portable communication device belongs to a first packet category comprising audio data, and a second subset of the second plurality of data packages belongs to a second packet category without audio data;
wherein if the transmission of one of the second plurality of data package

Assignees

• Gn Hearing As

Inventors

• Pedersen Brian Dam
• Jensen Klaus Hagen

Classifications

• H04R2225/55

  Communication between hearing aids and external devices via a network for data exchange · CPC title

• H04B1/715 Primary

  Interference-related aspects · CPC title

• H04L1/16

  in which the return channel carries supervisory signals, e.g. repetition request signals · CPC title

• H04L65/40

  Support for services or applications · CPC title

• H04W84/18

  Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks · CPC title