RF telemetry link quality assessment system and method
First Claim
1. A method, comprising:
- measuring a plurality of available wireless communication channels potentially used to communicate between an implantable medical device (IMD) and a programmer to determine signal and noise levels for the plurality of channels;
storing the signal and noise levels;
processing the stored levels to determine an interference potential on the channels adjacent to the available channels; and
selecting a preferred communication channel based on a function of noise level for a target center channel and interference potential for corresponding adjacent channels to the target channel.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for assessing link quality for radio frequency (RF) transmissions between a programmer and an implantable medical device (IMD) is provided. An embodiment of the method includes measuring a plurality of available wireless communication channel potentially used to communicate between an implantable medical device (IMD) and a programmer to determine signal and noise levels for the channels. The method also includes storing the signal and noise levels. The method further includes processing the stored levels to determine the interference potential on the channels adjacent to the available channels. In this embodiment, the method also includes selecting a preferred communication channel based on a function of noise level for a target center channel and interference potential for corresponding adjacent channels to the target channel. Other aspects and embodiments are provided herein.
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Citations
42 Claims
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1. A method, comprising:
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measuring a plurality of available wireless communication channels potentially used to communicate between an implantable medical device (IMD) and a programmer to determine signal and noise levels for the plurality of channels;
storing the signal and noise levels;
processing the stored levels to determine an interference potential on the channels adjacent to the available channels; and
selecting a preferred communication channel based on a function of noise level for a target center channel and interference potential for corresponding adjacent channels to the target channel. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method, comprising:
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receiving a request for a link quality assessment from a programmer;
simulating an IMD in an RF session with the programmer over a plurality of available wireless communication channels potentially used to communicate between the IMD and the programmer;
testing the plurality of available wireless communication channel to record the presence of frame error rates, retries, and packet errors on the channels; and
selecting a preferred communication channel based on lowest error rates, retries and packet errors. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A device, comprising:
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an antenna;
a communication circuit electrically connected to the antenna, the communication circuit adapted to receive wireless communication between an implantable medical device and a programmer;
a processor electrically connected to the communication circuit, the processor adapted to execute embedded instructions to evaluate signal and noise strength of available wireless communication channels potentially used to communicate between the IMD and the programmer to determine respective signal and noise levels for each channel, to determine the interference potential on the channels adjacent to each available channel, and to recommend a communication channel based on a function of noise level for a target center channel and interference potential for corresponding adjacent channels to the target channel; and
a memory electrically connected to the processor, the memory adapted to store the embedded instructions, measurements of individual channels and results of evaluation. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A system, comprising:
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an implantable medical device (IMD);
a programmer wirelessly coupled to the IMD; and
a radio frequency link quality assessment (LQA) device positioned to receive a radio frequency communication between the implantable medical device and the programmer;
wherein at least one of the IMD, the programmer, and the LQA device are adapted to evaluate signal and noise strength of available wireless communication channels potentially used to communicate between the IMD and the programmer to determine respective signal and noise levels for each channel. - View Dependent Claims (27)
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28. A system, comprising:
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an implantable medical device (IMD); and
a programmer wirelessly coupled to the IMD;
wherein at least one of the IMD and the programmer are adapted to evaluate signal and noise strength of available wireless communication channels potentially used to communicate between the IMD and the programmer to determine respective signal and noise levels for each channel. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30)
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31. A system, comprising:
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an implantable medical device (IMD);
a programmer wirelessly coupled to the IMD; and
a radio frequency link quality assessment device positioned to receive a radio frequency communication between the implantable medical device and the programmer, the radio frequency link quality assessment device including;
an antenna;
a communication circuit electrically connected to the antenna, the communication circuit adapted to receive wireless communication between the implantable medical device and the programmer;
a processor electrically connected to the communication circuit, the processor adapted to execute embedded instructions to evaluate signal and noise strength of available wireless communication channels potentially used to communicate between the IMD and the programmer to determine respective signal and noise levels for each channel, to determine the interference potential on the channels adjacent to each available channel, and to recommend a communication channel based on a function of noise level for a target center channel and interference potential for corresponding adjacent channels to the target channel; and
a memory electrically connected to the processor, the memory adapted to store the embedded instructions, measurements of individual channels and results of evaluation. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34)
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35. A system, comprising:
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an implantable medical device; and
a programmer wirelessly coupled to the implantable medical device, the programmer including;
an antenna;
a communication circuit electrically connected to the antenna, the communication circuit adapted to wirelessly communicate with the implantable medical device;
a processor electrically connected to the communication circuit, the processor adapted to execute embedded instructions to evaluate signal and noise strength of available wireless communication channels potentially used to communicate between the IMD and the programmer to determine respective signal and noise levels for each channel, to determine the interference potential on the channels adjacent to each available channel, and to select a communication channel based on a function of noise level for a target center channel and interference potential for corresponding adjacent channels to the target channel; and
a memory electrically connected to the processor, the memory adapted to store the embedded instructions, measurements of individual channels and results of evaluation. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39)
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40. A system, comprising:
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means for measuring a plurality of available wireless communication channels potentially used to communicate between an implantable medical device (IMD) and a programmer to determine respective signal and noise levels for the channels;
means for storing the signal and noise levels;
means for processing the stored levels to sort the available channels by noise level, and for processing the stored levels to determine the interference potential on the channels adjacent to the available channels; and
means for selecting a communication channel based on a lowest sum of noise level for a target center channel and interference potential for corresponding adjacent channels to the target channel. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42)
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Specification