POWER EFFICIENT WIRELESS RF COMMUNICATION BETWEEN A BASE STATION AND A MEDICAL DEVICE

• US 20120258756A1
• Filed: 03/21/2012
• Published: 10/11/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/06/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TC1 LLC (Abbott Laboratories)
• Original Assignee: Spinal Modulation, Inc. (Abbott Laboratories)
• Inventors: Pixley, April C., Campbell, Cary WR, Brandon, Steven T.
• Granted Patent: US 9,113,473 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/517
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0216 using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic indication frame
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/28 Discontinuous transmission [DTX]; Discontinuous reception [DRX]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Specific embodiments of the present invention are for use by a base station (BS) that enables power efficient wireless radio frequency (RF) communication between the BS and a medical device (MD), which may or may not be an implantable medical device (IMD). In an embodiment, once a communication session is established between the BS and the MD, the BS selectively turns a drop link mode on and off. The drop link mode is a communication mode that while turned on (i.e., enabled) reduces and preferably minimizes the length of time that an RF link is maintained between the BS and the MD. In accordance with an embodiment, at any given time during a communication session the drop link mode is either turned on (i.e., enabled) or turned off (i.e., disabled).

Claims

1. A method for use by a base station (BS) that enables power efficient wireless radio frequency (RF) communication between the BS and a medical device (MD), the method comprising:

(a) selectively turning a drop link mode on and off during a communication session between the BS and the MD;

(b) while the drop link mode is turned off during the communication session between the BS and the MD, maintaining an established RF link between the BS and the MD; and

(c) while the drop link mode is turned on during the communication session between the BS and the MD, establishing an RF link between the BS and the MD only when the BS is to send a command to the MD, and terminating the RF link between the BS and MD when the BS receives a command response from the MD.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein step (a) includes, when the BS initiates a communication session between the BS and the MD, turning off the drop link mode and establishing an RF link between the BS and the MD.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein step (a) comprises:

(a.1) turning off the drop link mode when

(a.1.i) the BS is to send a command to the MD in response to which the BS will receive multiple command responses from the MD, and/or

(a.1.ii) the BS is to send multiple commands to the MD; and

(a.2) turning on the drop link mode when

(a.2.i) the BS is to send a single command to the MD in response to which the BS will receive a single command response from the MD,

(a.2.ii) the BS will not send another command to the MD until the BS receives an input from a user via a user interface of the BS, or

(a.2.iii) the BS will not send another command to the MD within a predetermined amount of time.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) includes:

(b.1) maintaining the RF link between the BS and the MD by transmitting link maintenance messages to the MD; and

(b.2) terminating the RF link between the BS and the MD in response to any of the following conditions occurring

(i) the BS turns on the drop link mode,

(ii) the BS executes an instruction to terminate the RF link, or

(iii) the BS does not receive a link maintenance message or a command response from the MD for a link time-out period.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein during the communication session between the BS and the MD, steps (a) and (b) include:

while the drop link mode is turned off, sending a command from the BS to the MD which requires multiple command responses from the MD;

while the drop link mode is turned off, receiving, at the BS, the multiple command responses from the MD; and

after receiving, at the BS, the multiple command responses from the MD, turning on the drop link mode and terminating the RF link.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein during the communication session between the BS and the MD, steps (a) and (b) include:

while the drop link mode is turned off, sending multiple commands from the BS to the MD;

while the drop link mode is turned off, receiving, at the BS, command responses from the MD in response to the multiple commands; and

after receiving, at the BS, the command responses from the MD, turning on the drop link mode and terminating the RF link.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein during the communication session between the BS and the MD, step (c) includes:

while the drop link mode is turned on establishing an RF link between the BS and the MD when the BS is to send a single command to the MD which requires a single command response from the MD;

sending the single command from the BS to the MD which requires the single command response from the MD;

receiving, at the BS, the single command response from the MD; and

terminating the RF link, as soon as or within a predetermined amount of time after, receiving at the BS the single command response from the MD.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein during the communication session between the BS and the MD, while the drop link mode is turned on, a total amount of time from establishing an RF link to terminating the RF link is less than a specified duration.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the MD is implanted in a patient and the BS is not implanted.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the MD and the BS are not implanted.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the BS comprises a clinical programmer, a patient programmer or a remote monitoring device; and

the MD comprises a neurostimulator.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein:

an RF link can be established using any one of a plurality of different RF channels; and

when establishing an RF link, transmitting from the BS to the MD

a device identifier that enables the MD to determine whether a transmission from the BS is intended for the MD, and

a channel identifier that informs the MD of the specific one of the RF channels over which the BS is transmitting to thereby enable the MD to tune to the specific RF channel over which the BS is transmitting if the MD is tuned to a different RF channel.

13. A base station (BS), comprising:

an RF transceiver configured to selectively establish a radio frequency (RF) link with an RF transceiver of a medical device (MD) during a communication session between the BS and the MD;

a controller configured to selectively turn a drop link mode on and off during the communication session between the BS and the MD;

wherein, while the drop link mode is turned off during the communication session between the BS and the MD, the controller controls the RF transceiver of the BS to maintain an established RF link between the BS and the MD; and

wherein, while the drop link mode is turned on during the communication session between the BS and the MD, the controller controls the RF transceiver of the BS to establish an RF link between the BS and the MD only when the BS is to send a command to the MD, and the controller controls the RF transceiver of the BS to terminate the RF link between the BS and MD when the BS receives a command response from the MD.

14. The BS of claim 13, wherein the controller includes at least one processor.

15. The BS of claim 13, wherein:

the controller is configured to turn off the drop link mode when

the BS is to send a command to the MD in response to which the BS will receive multiple command responses from the MD, and/or

the BS is to send multiple commands to the MD; and

the controller is configured to turn on the drop link mode when

the BS is to send a single command to the MD in response to which the BS will receive a single command response from the MD,

the BS will not send another command to the MD until the BS receives an input from a user via a user interface of the BS, or

the BS will not send another command to the MD within a predetermined amount of time.

16. The BS of claim 13, wherein:

the controller is configured to terminate the RF link between the BS and the MD in response to any of the following conditions occurring

(i) the BS turns on the drop link mode,

(ii) the BS executes an instruction to terminate the RF link, or

(iii) the BS does not receive a link maintenance message or a command response from the MD for a link time-out period.

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium, including instructions stored thereon which when read and executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform the steps comprising:

(a) selectively turning a drop link mode on and off during a communication session between the BS and the MD;

(b) while the drop link mode is turned off during the communication session between the BS and the MD, maintaining an established RF link between the BS and the MD; and

(c) while the drop link mode is turned on during the communication session between the BS and the MD, establishing an RF link between the BS and the MD only when the BS is to send a command to the MD, and terminating the RF link between the BS and MD when the BS receives a command response from the MD.

18. A method for use by a base station (BS) that enables power efficient wireless radio frequency (RF) communication between the BS and a medical device (MD), wherein the method is for use during a communication session between the BS and the MD, the method comprising:

whenever the BS is to send a command to the MD that requires multiple command responses from the MD, establishing an RF link between the BS and the MD and maintaining the RF link between the BS and the MD while the BS sends the command to the MD and the BS receives the multiple command responses from the MD;

whenever the BS is to send multiple commands to the MD, establishing an RF link between the BS and the MD and maintaining the RF link between the BS and the MD while the BS sends the multiple commands to the MD and receives command response(s) to the multiple commands from the MD; and

whenever the BS is to wait for a user input via a user interface of the BS, if an RF link exists between the BS and the MD, then terminating the RF link.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

whenever the BS is to send a single command to the MD in response to which the BS will receive a single command response from the MD, establishing an RF link between the BS and the MD, using the RF link to send the single command to the MD and to receive the single command response from the MD, and terminating the RF link as soon as or within a predetermined amount of time after receiving the single command response from the MD.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

whenever the BS is not going to send a command to the MD for at least a predetermined amount of time, if an RF link exists between the BS and the MD, then terminating the RF link.

21. A method for use by a base station (BS) that enables power efficient wireless radio frequency (RF) communication between the BS and a medical device (MD), the method comprising:

establishing a communication session between the BS and the MD;

selectively turning a drop link mode on during the communication session between the BS and the MD; and

while the drop link mode is turned on during the communication session between the BS and the MD, establishing an RF link between the BS and the MD only when the BS is to send a command to the MD, and terminating the RF link between the BS and MD when the BS receives a command response from the MD.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

selectively turning the drop link mode off during the communication session between the BS and the MD; and

while the drop link mode is turned off during the communication session between the BS and the MD, maintaining an established RF link between the BS and the MD.