SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING A DATA TRANSMISSION LAYER FOR A PERSONAL MEDICAL DEVICE

• US 20090028185A1
• Filed: 06/16/2008
• Published: 01/29/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Biotronik SE & Company KG
• Original Assignee: Biotronik VI Patent AG (Biotronik SE & Company KG)
• Inventors: Reinke, Joachim, Doerr, Thomas
• Granted Patent: US 7,894,476 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/467
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/37254 Pacemaker or defibrillator security, e.g. to prevent or inhibit programming alterations by hackers or unauthorised individuals
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/37288 Communication to several implantable medical devices within one patient
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/40 for the management of medical equipment or devices, e.g. scheduling maintenance or upgrades
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/18 Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols

Abstract

A system (10) for managing data transmission for a medical device (20) has several data transmission protocols (15, 15′, 15″), each having a differentiating designation (30). Each of several medical devices (20) have an identification (45) which identifies the medical device (20), and a data transmission interface (35) for data transmission from and to the medical device (20). A management unit (25) has a query unit (45) for the designation (30) of the data transmission protocol (15, 15′, 15″) of a medical device (20) on the basis of its identification (30), and a storage unit (50) for storing data transmission protocols (15, 15′, 15″). The management unit (25) provides, on the basis of the designation query of an external device (55), a data transmission protocol (15, 15′, 15″) from the storage unit (50) which is compatible with the data transmission protocol (15, 15′, 15″) of the medical device (20).

Claims

1. A system (10) for managing data transmission for a programmable personal medical device (20), in particular an implantable personal medical device such as a cardiac pacemaker, defibrillator, or the like, the system including:

a. a plurality of data transmission protocols (15, 15′

, 15″

), each data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) having a designation (30) which differentiates the data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) from at least one other data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) of the plurality of data transmission protocols (15, 15′

, 15″

),

b. a plurality of programmable personal medical devices (20), each programmable personal medical device (20) having;

(1) a programmable data transmission interface (35) for a data transmission from and to the personal medical device (20) using one of the data transmission protocols (15, 15′

, 15″

) of the plurality of data transmission protocols (15, 15′

, 15″

),

(2) a control unit (40) for changing the data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) of the programmable data transmission interface (35), the control unit (40) accepting a data transmission via the data transmission interface (35), and

(3) an identification (45) which identifies the personal medical device (20),

c. a management unit (25) having;

(1) a query unit (55) for a designation query of the designation (30) of the data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) of one of the personal medical devices (20) on the basis of the identification (45) of the personal medical device (20), and

(2) a storage unit (50) for storing at least one data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) of the plurality of data transmission protocols (15, 15′

, 15″

),

wherein the management unit (25);

i. transmits a data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) from the storage unit (50), on the basis of the designation query (100), to the control unit (40) of the personal medical device (20) to change the data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) of the data transmission interface (35), and/or

ii. provides a data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) from the storage unit (50), on the basis of the designation query as supplied to an external device (55), wherein the data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) is compatible with the data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) of the personal medical device (20).

2. The system (10) of claim 1 wherein at least one personal medical device (20) of the plurality of personal medical devices (20) is an active medical implant (20).

3. The system (10) of claim 2 wherein the personal medical device (20) is an implantable cardiac pacemaker (20) or defibrillator-cardioverter (20).

4. The system (10) of claim 1 wherein the plurality of data transmission protocols (15, 15′

, 15″

) includes;

a. encryption and decryption protocols for encrypting and decrypting a data transmission, and

b. authentication protocols for verifying the identity of a recipient of a data transmission.

5. The system (10) of claim 4 wherein the plurality of data transmission protocols (15, 15′

, 15″

) include;

a. first encryption, decryption, and authentication protocols for use in the data transmission interface (35) of a personal medical device (20), and

b. second encryption, decryption, and authentication protocols for use in the data transmission interface (35) of a personal medical device (20) upon provision by the management unit (25).

6. The system (10) of claim 1 wherein the data transmission interface (35) includes:

a. a first protocol for encryption of a data transmission, and

b. a second protocol for decryption of a data transmission.

7. The system (10) of claim 1 wherein the designation (30) includes at least one of a version number, a creation date, an identification sign, and/or a classification of the data transmission protocol.

8. The system (10) of claim 1 wherein the query unit (55) queries the designation (30):

a. from a databank (70) of the system (10) on the basis of the identification (45) of the personal medical device (20), and/or

b. by querying the personal medical device (20), the personal medical device (20) being implemented to respond to a query of the query unit (55) by transmitting the designation (30).

9. The system (10) of claim 1 wherein the storage unit (50) stores all data transmission protocols (15, 15′

, 15″

) of the plurality of data transmission protocols (15, 15′

, 15″

).

10. The system (10) of claim 1 wherein the management unit (25) also has a programmable data transmission interface (60) for data transmission from and to a personal medical device (20).

11. The system (10) of claim 10 wherein the programmable data transmission interface (60) is provided with a data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) compatible with the data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) of the personal medical device (20).

12. The system (10) of claim 1 wherein the data transmission interfaces (35, 60) of the management unit (25) and personal medical device (20) use:

a. the data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) of the personal medical device,

b. a data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) compatible therewith, and/or

c. another predetermined data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

),

during a transmission of a data transmission protocol to the control unit (40) of the personal medical device.

13. The system (10) of claim 1 wherein the management unit (25):

a. transmits a compatible data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) to an external device (55), and/or

b. relays at least one data transmission between the external device (55) and the personal medical device (20) according to the compatible data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

).

14. The system (10) of claim 1 further including at least one patient intermediary device (65) for the acceptance and relay of data transmissions to and from at least one personal medical device (20).

15. The system (10) of claim 1 wherein the management unit (25), upon provision of a new data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) in the storage unit (50), transmits the new data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) to all control units (40).

16. The system (10) of claim 1 wherein the management unit (25), upon provision of a new data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) in the storage unit (50), transmits the new data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) to control units (40) selected on the basis of one or more predetermined criteria to change the data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) of the data transmission interfaces (35) of the personal medical devices (20), the criteria including one or more of;

a. identification (45) of the personal medical device (20),

b. type of the personal medical device (20),

c. communication pathway to the personal medical device (20),

d. designation (30) of the data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) of the personal medical device (20), and

e. location of the personal medical device (20).

17. The system (10) of claim 1 wherein the personal medical device (20) transmits a message to the management unit (25) upon change of the data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

), the management unit (25) causing a corresponding databank entry.

18. The system (10) of claim 1 wherein the personal medical device (20) is equipped with a further data transmission protocol (15, 15, 15″

) of the plurality of data transmission protocols (15, 15′

, 15″

), which replaces the data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) of the personal medical device (20) in the event of its breakdown.

19. A system (10) for managing data transmission for a programmable personal medical device (20), in particular an implantable personal medical device such as a cardiac pacemaker, defibrillator, or the like, the system including a management unit (25) having:

a. a query unit (55) querying the designation (30) of a data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) of a programmable data transmission interface (35) of a personal medical device (20) from a plurality of personal medical devices (20) on the basis of an identification (45) of the personal medical device (20), the designation (30) differentiating the data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) from at least one other data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) of a plurality of data transmission protocols (15, 15′

, 15″

), and

b. a storage unit (50) storing at least one data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) of the plurality of data transmission protocols (15, 15′

, 15″

),

wherein the management unit (25);

(1) transmits a data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) determined on the basis of the designation query from the storage unit (50) to a control unit (40) of the personal medical device (20) to change the data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) of the data transmission interface (35), and/or

(2) provides, on the basis of the designation query of an external device (55), a data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) from the storage unit (50) compatible with the data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) of the personal medical device (20).

20. A method for managing data transmission for a programmable personal medical device (20), in particular an implantable medical device such as a cardiac pacemaker, defibrillator, or the like, the method including the steps of:

a. querying (100) a designation (30) of the data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) of a personal medical device (20) from a plurality of personal medical devices (20), wherein;

(1) the designation (30) is queried on the basis of an identification (45) of the personal medical device (20),

(2) the data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) belongs to a plurality of data transmission protocols (15, 15′

, 15″

).

(3) each data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) of the plurality of data transmission protocols (15, 15′

, 15″

) is provided with a designation (30) which differentiates the data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) from at least one other data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) of the plurality of data transmission protocols (15, 15′

, 15″

),

b. providing (105) at least one data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) of the plurality of data transmission protocols (15, 15′

, 15″

) which;

(1) is compatible, on the basis of the designation query (100) for an external device (55), with the data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) of the personal medical device (20), or

(2) is provided to a control unit (40) of the personal medical device (20) for changing a data transmission protocol (15, 15′

, 15″

) of the personal medical device (20).