Patent ID: 8144903
Filing Date: 2012-03-27
Classification: G09B,H04B,H04R

Abstract:
1. A method of operating a communication system comprising at least one receiver unit worn by a user and a plurality of transmission units each worn by a user and comprising a microphone arrangement, an audio signal transmission portion, an assistive digital link transceiver portion and a control unit, said method comprising: establishing a bidirectional assistive digital link from each transmission unit to at least one of the other transmission units and/or to an external command unit; capturing audio signals from the respective user's voice at least one of the transmission units, establishing a wireless audio link to said at least one receiver unit in order to transmit the captured audio signals to said at least one receiver unit, stimulating the hearing of the user(s) of the at least one receiver unit according to the audio signals received by the at least one receiver unit via said audio link, wherein audio signal transmission of each transmission unit is controlled according to data exchanged with the control unit of at least one of the other transmission units and/or the external command unit via the assistive digital link; wherein audio signal transmission of said transmission units is controlled by communication of the control units via the assistive digital link in such a manner that only one of the transmission units at a time is allowed to transmit audio signals via the audio link; wherein the communication protocol of the assistive digital link causes one of the control units to be a master and the other control units to be slaves, wherein each of the transmission units comprises a voice activity detector which determines whether the user of the respective transmission unit is presently speaking, and wherein the transmission units are worn around the respective user's neck or on the user's belt.