The present invention is directed to a hearing aid which includes a lateral ear canal assembly and a medial ear canal assembly. In embodiments of the invention the medial ear canal assembly may include smart circuitry adapted to control parameters and outputs of the medial ear canal assembly. In embodiments of the invention various methods and circuitry are described, wherein the methods and circuitry are adapted to improve the performance and efficiency of the hearing aid.

The present invention comprises an antenna system consisting of two generally co-axial near field antennas, one mounted around the circumference of a human head, the other mounted on the body. The preferred embodiment discloses the dimensions necessary to create a viable near field communications (NFC) channel with existing commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) NFC circuits to create a secure wireless link between the head and shoulders.

Disclosed is a method for transferring data during power transfer in a wireless power transfer system (100). The wireless power transfer system (100) comprises a power transmit device (120) arranged to transfer power over an inductive wireless power transfer interface (105) operating at a transmit frequency to a power receive device (110). The wireless power transfer system (100) is adapted to transfer information at half duplex using Frequency Shift Keying, FSK, in one direction and Amplitude Shift Keying, ASK, in the other direction. The method comprises transferring, at the transmit frequency by the power transmit device (120), power to the power receive device (110) and, during the transferring transmitting, at the transmit frequency by one of the power transmit device (120) or the power receive device (110) a first data packet to the other of the power transmit device (120) or the power receive device (110) using one of two modulation types being FSK or ASK. The method further comprises, during the transmitting, determining, by the device (110, 120) transmitting the first data packet, if a signaling condition is fulfilled, and if the signaling condition is fulfilled, changing a data communication configuration of the device (110, 120) transmitting (311) the first data packet. Further to this, a power transmit device, a power receive device and a test system is disclosed.

There is described a method of determining an initial transmission phase offset in an NFC device configured to operate in NFC card mode only, wherein the NFC device comprises an NFC chip and a matching circuit. The method comprises: determining an initial RF matching resonance frequency of the NFC device utilizing an internal oscillator of the NFC chip; reading correction data from a non-volatile memory of the NFC chip, the correction data being indicative of a frequency offset of the internal oscillator relative to a nominal oscillator frequency; determining a corrected RF matching resonance frequency of the NFC device based on the initial RF matching resonance frequency and the correction data; and determining the initial transmission phase offset based on the corrected RF matching resonance frequency. Furthermore, a device and a method of manufacturing an NFC device are described.

The present disclosure provides a system for playing a voice, a method and apparatus for configuring a voice playing timbre, an electronic device, a computer readable storage medium and a computer program product, and relates to the technical fields of voice playing and near field communication. The system includes: a near field communication information storage, configured to store timbre configuration information that can be read through a near field communication mechanism; and a voice playing body provided with a near field communication scanner, configured to read the timbre configuration information in the near field communication information storage through the near field communication scanner, and play a voice content based on a timbre corresponding to the timbre configuration information.

A communication apparatus configured to contactlessly communicate a baseband signal to another communication apparatus includes a transmission unit configured to stop output of a transmission signal, which is to be transmitted to the other communication apparatus, while a reception intensity of a reception signal received from the other communication apparatus is lower than a first threshold value, and a transmission coupler configured to be coupled to a reception coupler of the other communication apparatus by electric field coupling.

An electronic device may contain an input-output device such as a speaker, vibrator, or near field communications antenna. The input-output device may include an inductor. The inductor in the input-output device may be shared by wireless charging circuitry in the electronic device so that wireless charging signals can be converted into power to charge a battery in the electronic device. A separate inductor may also be provided within an input-output device to support wireless charging. A drive circuit may supply drive signals to the input-output device such as audio signals, vibrator control signals, or near field communications output signals for external near field communications equipment. An input amplifier that is coupled across the inductor in the input-output device may be used in receiving near field communications signals.

In accordance with an embodiment, a method includes: transmitting, by a first near-field communication (NFC) device, a field emission burst; comparing a characteristic property of a signal of the field emission burst to a detection threshold; determining a presence of a detection error based on the comparing; and adjusting the detection threshold based on a number of determined detection errors.

The present invention features the application of a simple, inductively-coupled measurement system into the cap of standard laboratory sample tubes, thus enabling continuous, wireless ionic sensing of a bevy of samples. The system may be powered by a compact Class E amplifier using inductive coupling via a designed resonance frequency of 1 MHz. Other frequencies can be used, such as the popular near-field communication (NFC) frequency of 13.66 MHz. Signals are transmitted back via load modulation at frequencies a fraction of the power carrier frequency, thus allowing for extraction of the signal frequency. Results clearly show that modulation frequency tracks closely with open circuit potential, and the system features good sensitivity and linearity. This system holds promise for a host of applications.

A method for performing a card-to-card direct contactless transaction between a first active stored-value smart card (“SVSC”) and a second active SVSC, each comprising an active near-field communication (“NFC”) reader. The method may include activating the first active SVSC by receiving input of a personal identification number (“PIN”) on a keypad located on the first active SVSC, verifying the PIN and further receiving input of a transaction amount on the keypad. The method may further include initiating a wireless NFC communication to perform the transaction by positioning the first active SVSC within a pre-determined distance to the second active SVSC and confirming accuracy of each of the first and second active SVSC using the active NFC reader to retrieve card ID data and confirm accuracy. Following confirming, the method may include directly completing the transaction between the first active SVSC and the second active SVSC.