SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR COMMUNICATING INFORMATION BETWEEN IMPLANTABLE DEVICES

• US 20110184492A1
• Filed: 07/22/2009
• Published: 07/28/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Budzelaar, Franciscus Paulus Maria, Tol, Jeroen Jacob Arnold, Martens, Hubert Cécile François
• Granted Patent: US 9,248,301 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 607/60
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/362 Heart stimulators heart defibrillators A61N1/39
• 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

Abstract

A system for communicating information between at least two medical devices implanted within the body of a subject using volume conduction of electrical signals as a means of communication and wherein one of the implanted medical devices is configured to provide electrical stimulation to the tissue is disclosed. The system comprises a first implant device having at least two transmit electrodes configured to transmit electrical stimulation pulses, wherein one of the electrodes may be a common return electrode, an encoding means configured to employ a channel as a transmitter transmission medium for stimulation pulses and encoding the information into the stimulation pulses, a second implant device having at least two receive electrodes configured to receive the transmitted stimulation pulses with encoded information, and a decoding means configured to decode the information encoded into the stimulation pulses. The disclosed system provides reliable and efficient communication between implantable receiver devices.

Claims

1. A system for communicating information between at least two medical devices implanted within the body of a subject using volume conduction of electrical signals as a means of communication, the system comprising:

a first implant device having at least two transmit electrodes configured to transmit stimulation pulses, wherein one of the electrodes may be a common return electrode;

an encoding means configured to employ a channel as a transmission medium for stimulation pulses and encode the information into the stimulation pulses;

a second implant device having at least two receive electrodes configured to receive the transmitted stimulation pulses with encoded information; and

a decoding means configured to decode the information encoded into the stimulation pulses.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the encoding means is configured to use the timing and/or the shape of the therapeutic stimulation pulses as a means to encode the information.

3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the encoding means is configured to interlace data signals in between the stimulation pulses as a means to encode the information and wherein the interlaced data signals are smaller in amplitude than the stimulation pulses.

4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first implant device and the second implant device is an electro stimulator device and the encoding means and the decoding means is configured to use a pulse time coding scheme.

5. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first implant device and the second implant device is an electro stimulator device implanted in the skull and the encoding means is configured to employ a channel for stimulation pulses and encode the information into the stimulation pulses.

6. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first implant device comprises at least three electrodes, a first transmit electrode configured to transmit stimulation pulses, a second electrode and a third electrode configured as return electrodes that can be switched to produce one or more electric field distributions and the second implant device is configured to detect these different electric field distributions.

7. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first implant device is further configured to communicate with an external device using volume conduction of electrical signals as a means of communication.

8. A method for communicating information between at least two medical devices implanted within the body of a subject using volume conduction of electrical signals as a means of communication, the method comprising:

employing a channel as a transmission medium for stimulation pulses and encoding the information into the stimulation pulses;

transmitting the encoded stimulation pulses using at least two transmit electrodes provided in a first implant device;

receiving the transmitted encoded stimulation pulses using at least two receive electrodes provided in a second implant device; and

decoding the information encoded into the stimulation pulses.