System and method for sharing a common communication channel between multiple systems of implantable medical devices
First Claim
1. A method of enabling a plurality of systems to cooperatively coexist on a common communication channel wherein each system is comprised of a master device having a unique identification code and one or more associated slave devices that communicate with said master device during periodic and essentially temporally contiguous frame periods determined by each said master device and having occupied temporal portions of each said frame period comprised of transmission communication periods dedicated to each master device and to each slave device and wherein each said frame period has a start and an end that essentially spans the entire temporal bandwidth of said common communication channel, said method comprising the steps of:
- transmitting a plurality of beacon message types during each frame period from each said master device wherein each said beacon message type has a unique beacon marker code portion and at least one beacon message type has a moveable temporal offset from the start of its respective frame period;
receiving beacon messages by said master devices from other said master devices that are within communication range;
calculating the relative temporal displacement of the frame periods of other master devices according to the relative temporal offsets of one or more of said beacon messages to the start of the frame periods of said master devices;
determining whether at least one of said systems may interfere with communications of another one of said systems and accordingly calculating a new temporal placement for the frame period of a selected one of said systems according to said received beacon messages and said unique identification codes; and
causing said selected one of said systems comprised of a master device and one or more associated slave devices to temporally displace the start of its frame period to allow said occupied temporal portions of said selected one of said systems to be temporally interleaved with other occupied temporal portions of said systems on said common communication channel when said determining step has determined the potential for communication interference between two or more of said systems.
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Abstract
A system and method that facilitates multiple systems of communicating devices, i.e., a master device and one or more implantable slave devices, to coexist on a common, e.g., RF, communication channel having a limited temporal bandwidth while maintaining the required update rate between each master device and its associated slave devices. In embodiments of the present invention, master devices periodically transmit one or more beacon messages that are suitable for identification by other such master devices at a communication range greater than the communication range that may cause interference between systems and thus enabling one or more systems to cause the position of its frame periods to be interleaved with the frame periods of other such systems in anticipation of systems moving in closer proximity and actually interfering with each other.
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Citations
40 Claims
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1. A method of enabling a plurality of systems to cooperatively coexist on a common communication channel wherein each system is comprised of a master device having a unique identification code and one or more associated slave devices that communicate with said master device during periodic and essentially temporally contiguous frame periods determined by each said master device and having occupied temporal portions of each said frame period comprised of transmission communication periods dedicated to each master device and to each slave device and wherein each said frame period has a start and an end that essentially spans the entire temporal bandwidth of said common communication channel, said method comprising the steps of:
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transmitting a plurality of beacon message types during each frame period from each said master device wherein each said beacon message type has a unique beacon marker code portion and at least one beacon message type has a moveable temporal offset from the start of its respective frame period;
receiving beacon messages by said master devices from other said master devices that are within communication range;
calculating the relative temporal displacement of the frame periods of other master devices according to the relative temporal offsets of one or more of said beacon messages to the start of the frame periods of said master devices;
determining whether at least one of said systems may interfere with communications of another one of said systems and accordingly calculating a new temporal placement for the frame period of a selected one of said systems according to said received beacon messages and said unique identification codes; and
causing said selected one of said systems comprised of a master device and one or more associated slave devices to temporally displace the start of its frame period to allow said occupied temporal portions of said selected one of said systems to be temporally interleaved with other occupied temporal portions of said systems on said common communication channel when said determining step has determined the potential for communication interference between two or more of said systems. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. For a system comprised of a master device having a unique identification code and one or more associated slave devices that communicate with said master device during periodic and essentially temporally contiguous frame periods determined by each said master device and having occupied temporal portions of said frame period comprised of transmission communication periods dedicated to each master device and to each slave device and wherein each said frame period has a start and an end that essentially spans the entire temporal bandwidth of a common communication channel, an enhanced communication processing system to enable a plurality of said systems to cooperatively coexist on said common communication channel, said enhanced communication processing system comprising:
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at least one fixed beacon message generator having a unique beacon marker code portion for adding a fixed beacon message portion offset a fixed amount from said start of said frame period to communications from said master device during each frame period;
at least one wandering beacon generator having a unique beacon marker code portion for adding a wandering beacon message portion offset a predetermined but variable amount from said start of said frame period to communications from said master device during each frame period;
a plurality of correlators for identifying said beacon message portions according to said unique beacon marker codes;
a remote frame location processor coupled to said correlators for determining the relative temporal displacement of the frame period of each other detected master device according to the relative temporal offsets of one or more of said beacon messages to each said master device;
a new temporal placement processor for determining whether at least one of said systems may interfere with communications of another one of said systems and accordingly calculating a new temporal placement for the frame period of a selected one of said systems according to said received beacon messages and said unique identification codes; and
a relocation processor for causing said selected one of said systems comprised of a master device and one or more associated slave devices to temporally displace the start of its frame period to allow said occupied temporal portions of said selected one of said systems to be temporally interleaved with other occupied temporal portions of said systems on said common communication channel when said new temporal placement processor determines the potential for communication interference between two or more of said systems. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A communication protocol configured for enabling a plurality of systems to cooperatively coexist on a common communication channel wherein each system is comprised of a master device having a unique identification code and one or more associated slave devices that communicate with said master device during periodic and essentially temporally contiguous frame periods determined by each said master device and having occupied temporal portions of each said frame period comprised of transmission communication periods dedicated to each master device and to each slave device and wherein each said frame period has a start and an end that essentially spans the entire temporal bandwidth of said common communication channel, said communication protocol comprising:
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a system control message transmitted from each said master device for defining addressable data to be directed to each of a plurality of associated slave devices;
a response time period temporally displaced from said system control message for each said slave device to transmit data to its associated master device;
at least one fixed beacon message transmitted from each said master device wherein said fixed beacon message has a unique beacon marker code portion and a fixed predetermined offset from the start of said frame period;
at least one wandering beacon message transmitted from each said master device wherein said wandering beacon message has a unique beacon marker code portion and a moveable offset from the start of said frame period selected from a predetermined set of offsets; and
whereinwhen one of said master devices is within communication range of an other one of said master devices and receives at least two or more of said beacon messages, the relative temporal difference between said beacon messages is suitable to determine the relative temporal placement of the frame period of said other one of said master devices relative to its frame period and according to data within said beacon messages and said unique identification codes a new temporal placement for the frame period of a selected one of said systems is determined if at least one of said systems may interfere with communications of another one of said systems wherein said new temporal placement is used to cause said selected one of said systems comprised of a master device and one or more associated slave devices to temporally displace the start of its frame period to allow said occupied temporal portions of said selected one of said systems to be temporally interleaved with other occupied temporal portions of said systems across said common communication channel.
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30. A method of enabling a plurality of systems to communicate over a common communication channel wherein each system is configured to enable communication during periodic and essentially temporally contiguous frame periods determined essentially asynchronously by each said system and having occupied temporal portions of each said frame period comprised of transmission communication periods dedicated to each system and wherein each said frame period has a start and an end that essentially spans the entire temporal bandwidth of said common communication channel, said method comprising the steps of:
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transmitting during each said frame period at least one type of beacon message having a unique heavily-coded beacon marker code portion;
receiving beacon messages by said systems according to said heavily-coded beacon marker code portions from other said systems that are within communication range; and
processing two or more of said received heavily-coded beacon marker code portions of said beacon messages to thereby determine the start of the frame period of another one of said systems. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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Specification