Dynamic telemetry link selection for an implantable device

• US 20060030903A1
• Filed: 08/09/2004
• Published: 02/09/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/09/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cardiac Pacemakers Incorporated (Boston Scientific Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Cardiac Pacemakers Incorporated (Boston Scientific Corporation)
• Inventors: Li, Hui, Quiles, Sylvia, Seeberger, Michael, Kinnamon, Raymond P.
• Granted Patent: US 7,406,349 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 607/60
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/37223 Circuits for electromagnetic coupling
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 128/903 Radio telemetry

Abstract

Communications with an implantable device are conducted using a physical telemetry link dynamically selected from multiple physical telemetry links based on selected criteria including, for example, bandwidth, security, data throughput, channel availability and reliability.

Claims

1. An implantable apparatus comprising:

at least two telemetry circuits to communicate with an external device, the at least two telemetry circuits including a first telemetry circuit to wirelessly communicate using a first physical link and a second telemetry circuit to wirelessly communicate using a second physical link, the first physical link different than the second physical link; and

a controller coupled to each of the at least two telemetry circuits, the controller configured to select one of the at least two telemetry circuits for communicating, the one of the at least two telemetry circuits selected based on a selection signal received from the external device using at least one telemetry circuit of the at least two telemetry circuits.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the controller is configured to sequentially attempt to communicate using the first telemetry circuit and using the second telemetry circuit.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the at least two telemetry circuits includes a far field telemetry circuit and a near field telemetry circuit.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the at least two telemetry circuits includes at least one of an inductive telemetry circuit and a radio frequency telemetry circuit.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the controller is configured to deselect at least one telemetry circuit concurrent with selecting the one of the at least two telemetry circuits.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein selecting the one of the at least two telemetry circuits includes powering the one of the at least two telemetry circuits.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 further including at least one of a monitor circuit and a therapy circuit coupled to the controller.

8. A communication method comprising:

receiving a parameter at an external device;

executing a set of instructions using a processor of the external device to select a telemetry circuit from at least two telemetry circuits, each telemetry circuit configured to communicate wirelessly with an implantable device, the at least two telemetry circuits including a first telemetry circuit to communicate using a first physical link and a second telemetry circuit to communicate using a second physical link, the first physical link different than the second physical link, the telemetry circuit selected based on the parameter; and

generating an instruction for the implantable device to communicate using the selected telemetry circuit.

9. The method of claim 8 further including transmitting the instruction using the selected telemetry circuit.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein receiving the parameter includes measuring a value.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein receiving the parameter includes receiving at least one of a measure of reliability, a measure of quality, a measure of security, a measure of channel availability and a measure of data throughput associated with at least one of the first physical link and the second physical link.

12. The method of claim 8 wherein receiving the parameter includes receiving at least one of a user input and a condition signal from the implantable device, the parameter associated with at least one of the first physical link and the second physical link.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein receiving the condition signal includes receiving a battery status signal.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein receiving the user input includes receiving at least one of an indication of a preferred physical link and an ordered list of physical links.

15. The method of claim 8 further including:

generating a request to receive data stored in a memory of the implantable device;

sending the request to the implantable device; and

monitoring for a response using the selected telemetry circuit, wherein the selected telemetry circuit is selected based on the request.

16. The method of claim 8 further including:

detecting an error while communicating using a first telemetry circuit;

terminating communications using the first telemetry circuit; and

communicating using a second telemetry circuit.

17. The method of claim 8 further including:

transmitting the instruction using the selected telemetry circuit;

monitoring for a reply using the selected telemetry circuit;

after a predetermined time, transmitting a request to communicate using an alternate telemetry circuit of the at least two telemetry circuits; and

monitoring for a reply using the alternate telemetry circuit.

18. The method of claim 8 wherein the selected telemetry circuit includes the first telemetry circuit and further including alternately attempting to communicate with the implantable device using the first telemetry circuit and the second telemetry circuit.

19. A system comprising:

an implantable device including at least two implantable telemetry circuits, each implantable telemetry circuit to communicate with an external device, the at least two implantable telemetry circuits including a first implantable telemetry circuit to wirelessly communicate using a first physical link and a second implantable telemetry circuit to wirelessly communicate using a second physical link, the first physical link different than the second physical link, the at least two implantable telemetry circuits coupled to an implantable controller configured to select one of the at least two implantable telemetry circuits for communicating, the one of the at least two implantable telemetry circuits selected based on a selection signal received from the external device; and

an external device including at least one external telemetry circuit coupled to an external controller, the external controller coupled to an interface, the external device configured to generate and transmit the selection signal based on a parameter received by the interface.

20. The system of claim 19 further including a memory coupled to the external controller and wherein the parameter is based on data stored in the memory.

21. The system of claim 19 wherein the at least one external telemetry circuit includes a far field transceiver and a near field transceiver and wherein the external controller is configured to alternately monitor for a reply from the implantable device using the far field transceiver and the near field transceiver.