TRANSBODY COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS EMPLOYING COMMUNICATION CHANNELS

1 . A system comprising:

an in vivo transmitter to transmit an encoded signal;

a transbody functionality module to facilitate communication of the encoded signal; and

a receiver to receive the encoded signal.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the transbody functionality module is selected from the group consisting essentially of a beacon functionality module, a frequency hopping functionality module, and a collision avoidance functionality module.

3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the beacon functionality module comprises at least one element selected from the group consisting essentially of:

a beacon wakeup module to provide beacon wakeup functionality;

a beacon signal module to provide beacon signal functionality;

a wave/frequency module to provide a continuous wave and a single frequency tone;

a multiple frequency module to provide multiple frequencies; and

a modulated signal module to provide at least one modulated encoded signal.

4 . The system of claim 3 , wherein a frequency ratio of a beacon and data channel is invariant to frequency error in an ingestible event marker system to provide additional assurance of detection of the encoded signal.

5 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the frequency hopping functionality module comprises a random module to provide random frequency hops on a narrow band transmitted signal.

6 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the collision avoidance functionality module comprises at least one element selected from the group consisting essentially of:

a transmitter module to provide a first in vivo transmitter transmitting at a first frequency and a second in vivo transmitter transmitting at a second frequency module;

a duty cycle modulation module to provide duty cycle modulation functionality;

a retransmit randomization module to provide random retransmittals; and

a spread spectrum module to provide spread spectrum functionality.

7 . The system of claim 6 , wherein the duty cycle modulation module includes a dithering module to dither a duty cycle and frequency spread module to spread the transmissions among multiple frequencies.

8 . The system of claim 6 , wherein the transmitter modules comprises a multiple band pass filter module to provide multiple band pass filtering by different devices wherein respective encoded signals are filtered by respective band pass filters.

9 . A method comprising:

transmitting, via an in vivo transmitter, an encoded signal;

facilitating, via a transbody functionality module, communication of the signal; and

receiving, via a receiver, the encoded signal.

10 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

providing characteristics of the encoded signal, wherein the characteristics optimize power consumption to facilitate the receiver in at least one of the following: spending maximum time in an inactive mode, waking up quickly, and waking up during a period of high probability that the transmitter is present.

11 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the facilitating, via a transbody functionality module, communication of the signal comprises at least one of:

facilitating, via a beacon functionality module, communication of the encoded signal;

facilitating, via a frequency hopping functionality module, communication of the encoded signal; and

facilitating, via a collision avoidance functionality module, communication of the encoded signal.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the facilitating, via a beacon functionality module communication of the signal comprises at least one of:

providing beacon wakeup functionality;

providing beacon signal functionality;

generating a continuous wave, single frequency tone;

providing a first frequency that is different from a data signal which is at a second frequency; and

modulating the encoded signal.

13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the facilitating, via a frequency hopping functionality module, communication of the encoded signal comprises generating random frequency hops on a narrow band transmitted signal.

14 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the facilitating, via a collision avoidance functionality module, communication of the encoded signal comprises at least one of:

transmitting, via a first in vivo transmitter at a first frequency and transmitting, via a second in vivo transmitter, at a second frequency;

modulating a duty cycle;

retransmitting randomly; and

spreading across a frequency spectrum.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the modulating a duty cycle includes dithering the duty cycle and spreading among frequencies.

16 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the transmitting at different frequencies comprises providing multiple band pass filtering by different devices wherein respective encoded signals are filtered by respective band pass fillers.

17 . The method of claim 9 in a form of a machine-readable medium embodying a set of instructions that, when executed by a machine, causes the machine to perform the method of claim 8 .

18 . An article, comprising:

a storage medium having instructions, that when executed by a computing platform, result in execution of a method of providing transbody communications employing communication channels in a living body, the method comprising:

transmitting, via an in vivo transmitter, an encoded signal;

facilitating, via a transbody functionality module, communication of the signal; and

receiving, via a receiver, the encoded signal.

19 . The article of claim 18 , further comprising:

providing characteristics of the encoded signal, wherein the characteristics optimize power consumption to facilitate the receiver in at least one of the following: spending maximum time in an inactive mode, waking up quickly, and waking up during a period of high probability that the transmitter is present.

20 . The article of claim 18 , wherein the facilitating, via a transbody functionality module, communication of the signal comprises at least one of:

facilitating, via a beacon functionality module, communication of the encoded signal;

facilitating, via a frequency hopping functionality module, communication of the encoded signal; and

facilitating, via a collision avoidance functionality module, communication of the encoded signal.