Method and Apparatus for the Phased Detection of a Signal Including a Frequency Deviation Detection Phase

• US 20090291656A1
• Filed: 09/30/2008
• Published: 11/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Medtronic Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Medtronic Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Bradley, Peter, Le Reverend, Remi, Delight, Guy A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,170,515 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/227
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/37276 characterised by means for reducing power consumption during telemetry
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0229 where the received signal is a wanted signal
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A plurality of phases of sniff operations are performed for detecting wake-up signals being received by an implantable medical device (IMD), including a phase that performs a staged detection of whether the integrated frequency deviation of a received signal is outside of an expected frequency deviation range, where sniff operations are aborted if the integrated frequency deviation of the received signal falls outside of corresponding high and low thresholds in any stage, wherein the difference between the high and low thresholds tightens with each subsequent stage and an average frequency deviation over all completed stages are used in the calculations. One phase of sniff operations includes a dual frequency modulation (FM) detector including a first FM detector that introduces a small delay in a received signal providing an average frequency estimate and a second FM detector having a larger delay that is adjusted based on the estimated average frequency.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

operating a device capable of receiving wireless communication signals; and

monitoring a selected communication channel with an integrated frequency deviation signal detector to detect whether a wireless communication signal being received over the selected communication channel is a desired communication signal;

wherein the integrated frequency deviation signal detector monitors the selected communication channel by;

calculating the integrated frequency deviation of a received signal;

comparing the integrated frequency deviation against corresponding high and low threshold values; and

determining that the received signal is not a desired communication signal if the integrated frequency deviation fails to fall between the corresponding high and low threshold values.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein integrated frequency deviation signal detector monitors the selected communication channel by repeatedly performing the integrated frequency deviation calculation and threshold comparison steps in a plurality of stages with the difference between the corresponding high and low threshold values becoming smaller with each subsequent stage.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the integrated frequency deviation calculation calculates an average frequency deviation from all completed stages.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the device is an implantable medical device, the method further comprising determining whether the received signal is a wake-up signal for the implantable medical device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the device is an implantable medical device, the method further comprising:

performing a plurality of different phases of sniff operations in an implantable medical device for detecting whether a wake-up communication signal is being received by the implantable medical device over a selected communication channel,

wherein one of the phases of sniff operations comprises the monitoring the selected communication channel performed by the integrated frequency deviation signal detector, the method further aborting all of the different phases of sniff operations on the selected communication channel if the integrated frequency deviation fails to fall between the corresponding high and low threshold values.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein one of the phases of sniff operations comprises a Manchester decoding phase that uses a dual frequency modulation (FM) detector configuration to detect whether a decoded Manchester encoded bit stream possesses a density of Manchester errors below a certain threshold indicating the detection of a wake-up communication signal.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the Manchester decoding phase further comprises:

introducing a delay into the received signal using a first FM detector;

low pass filtering the output of the first FM detector to provide an estimate of the average center frequency of the received signal;

introducing a second delay into the received signal using a second FM detector, wherein the second delay introduced by the second FM detector is larger than the delay introduced by the first FM detector and wherein the second delay is dependent upon the estimated average center frequency.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein a total delay introduced into the received signal is equal to a phase shift of n180°

+90°

, wherein the first FM detector introduces a delay of 90° and

the second FM detector introduces a delay of n180°

for a selected delay (n) that is selected based upon the estimated average center frequency.

9. A frequency discriminator for discriminating a desired signal from unwanted signals on a communication channel, comprising:

an integrated frequency deviation signal detector for monitoring a selected communication channel to detect whether a signal being received over the selected communication channel is a desired signal, wherein the integrated frequency deviation signal detector is configured to;

calculate the integrated frequency deviation of a received signal;

compare the integrated frequency deviation against corresponding high and low threshold values; and

determine that the received signal is not a desired signal if the integrated frequency deviation fails to fall between the corresponding high and low threshold values.

10. The frequency discriminator of claim 9, wherein the integrated frequency deviation signal detector is further configured to repeatedly perform the integrated frequency deviation calculation and threshold comparison steps in a plurality of stages with the difference between the corresponding high and low threshold values becoming smaller with each subsequent stage.

11. The frequency discriminator of claim 10, wherein the integrated frequency deviation signal detector is further configured to calculate the integrated frequency deviation calculation using an average frequency deviation from all completed stages.

12. The frequency discriminator of claim 9, wherein the frequency discriminator is contained within an implantable medical device and wherein the frequency discriminator determines whether the received signal is a wake-up signal for the implantable medical device.

13. The frequency discriminator of claim 9, wherein the frequency discriminator is contained within a wake-up receiver of an implantable medical device, the wake-up receiver including a plurality of signal detectors configured to perform a plurality of different phases of sniff operations in the implantable medical device for detecting whether a wake-up communication signal is being received by the implantable medical device over a selected communication channel,

wherein one of the phases of sniff operations is performed by the integrated frequency deviation signal detector that is further configured to abort all of the different phases of sniff operations on the selected communication channel if the integrated frequency deviation fails to fall between the corresponding high and low threshold values.

14. The frequency discriminator of claim 13, wherein the wake-up receiver includes a dual frequency modulation (FM) detector configuration configured to perform one of the phases of sniff operations comprising a Manchester decoding phase that detects whether a decoded Manchester encoded bit stream possesses a density of Manchester errors below a certain threshold indicating the detection of a wake-up communication signal.

15. The frequency discriminator of claim 14, wherein the dual frequency modulation (FM) detector configuration comprises:

a first FM detector configured to introduce a delay into the received signal;

a low pass filter connected to the output of the first FM detector to provide an estimate of the average center frequency of the received signal;

a second FM detector configured to introduce a second delay into the received signal, wherein the second delay introduced by the second FM detector is larger than the delay introduced by the first FM detector and wherein the second delay is dependent upon the estimated average center frequency.

16. The frequency discriminator of claim 15, wherein the dual frequency modulation (FM) detector configuration introduces a total delay into the received signal equal to a phase shift of n180°

+90°

, wherein the first FM detector introduces a delay of 90° and

the second FM detector introduces a delay of n180°

for a certain delay (n) that is selected based upon the estimated average center frequency.

17. The frequency discriminator of claim 14, wherein the wake-up receiver includes a signal strength detector configured to perform a signal strength detecting phase during one of the phases of sniff operations,

wherein the signal strength detector is further configured to abort all of the different phases of sniff operations on the selected communication channel if a measured signal strength in the signal strength detecting phase fails to meet a threshold value determination.