IMPLANTABLE MEDICAL DEVICE ADAPTED FOR RADIO FREQUENCY TELEMETRY WITH FREQUENCY HOPPING

• US 20130234861A1
• Filed: 11/24/2010
• Published: 09/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: St. Jude Medical AB (Abbott Laboratories)
• Original Assignee: St. Jude Medical AB (Abbott Laboratories)
• Inventors: Abrahamson, Hans
• Granted Patent: US 9,704,385 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/870.02
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/37223 Circuits for electromagnetic coupling
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/37252 Details of algorithms or data aspects of communication system, e.g. handshaking, transmitting specific data or segmenting data
• 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: G08C 17/02 using a radio link
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/713 using frequency hopping

Abstract

An implantable medical device has a broadband RF receiver operating within an RF band and having stored information of a characteristic receiver frequency representing the RF within the RF band at which the broadband RF receiver has sufficient receiver sensitivity. The stored information is retrieved in response to a message from an external communication device and is included in a response generated by the implantable medical device and transmitted to the communication device. The information enables the communication device to select its transmission frequency at a subsequent transmission instance to the relevant implantable medical device. The chances of successful reception at the subsequent transmission instance are thereby increased.

Claims

1. An implantable medical device comprising:

a broadband radio frequency receiver configured to operate within a band of radio frequencies;

a memory configured to store information of at least one characteristic receiver frequency representing a radio frequency within the band of radio frequencies at which the broadband radio frequency receiver has sufficient receiver sensitivity;

a memory controller configured to, in response to reception of a message from a non-implantable communication device, retrieve the information from the memory;

a response processor configured to generate, based on the information retrieved by the memory controller, a response comprising a notification of the at least one characteristic receiver frequency; and

a transmitter configured to transmit the response to the non-implantable communication device.

2. The implantable medical device according to claim 1, wherein the implantable medical device comprises another receiver configured to receive, from a non-implantable programming device, a programming command comprising the information, wherein the memory controller is configured to store the information received by the another receiver in the memory.

3. The implantable medical device according to claim 1, wherein the memory is configured to store information of at least one characteristic receiver frequency representing a radio frequency within the band of radio frequencies at which the broadband radio frequency receiver has maximum receiver sensitivity.

4. The implantable medical device according to claim 1, wherein the response processor is configured to generate the response based on the information retrieved by the memory controller and in response to reception of the message from the non-implantable communication device.

5. The implantable medical device according to claim 1, wherein the memory controller is configured to, in response to the broadband radio frequency receiver receiving the message from the non-implantable communication device, retrieve the information from the memory.

6. The implantable medical device according to claim 1, wherein the implantable medical device further comprises another receiver, and the memory controller is configured to, in response to the another receiver receiving an information request from the non-implantable communication device, retrieve the information from the memory.

7. The implantable medical device according to claim 1, wherein

the band of radio frequencies is the Industrial, Scientific and Medical, ISM, radio band at 2.4000 to 2.4835 GHz,

the memory controller is configured to, in response to the broadband radio frequency receiver receiving a wakeup call from the non-implantable communication device, retrieve the information from the memory,

the response processor is configured to generate, in response to the broadband radio frequency receiver receiving the wakeup call and based on the information retrieved by the memory controller, a wakeup response comprising the notification, and

the transmitter is configured to transmit the wakeup response to the non-implantable communication device.

8. The implantable medical device according to claim 7, wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit the wakeup response at a radio frequency within the Medical Implant Communication Service, MICS, radio band at 402 to 405 MHz.

9. A non-implantable communication device configured to conduct wireless communication with an implantable medical device, IMD, the non-implantable communication device comprising:

a transmitter configured to transmit a first message to the implantable medical device at a radio frequency selected within a band of radio frequencies;

a receiver configured to receive a response from the implantable medical device, the response comprises an IMD identifier of the implantable medical device and a notification of at least one characteristic receiver frequency representing a radio frequency within the band of radio frequencies at which a broadband radio frequency receiver of the implantable medical device has sufficient receiver sensitivity;

a memory;

a memory controller configured to store the IMD identifier and information of the at least one characteristic receiver frequency in the memory and configured to retrieve the information from the memory based on the IMD identifier and in response to a need to transmit a second message to the implantable medical device; and

a transmitter controller configured to select a transmission frequency of the transmitter based on the information retrieved from the memory by the memory controller, wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit the second message to the implantable medical device at the transmission frequency selected by the transmitter controller.

10. The non-implantable communication device according to claim 9, wherein the transmitter controller is configured to randomly select a transmission frequency of the transmitter within the band of radio frequencies in response to a need to transmit the first message to the implantable medical device.

11. The non-implantable communication device according to claim 10, wherein the transmitter is configured to i) transmit a first wakeup message to the implantable medical device at the radio frequency selected within the band of radio frequencies in connection with setting up a first communication session and ii) transmit a second wakeup message to the implantable medical device at the transmission frequency selected by the transmitter controller based on the information retrieved by the memory controller in connection with setting up a second, subsequent communication session.

12. The non-implantable communication device according to claim 9, wherein the transmitter controller is configured to control the transmitter to apply frequency hopping within the band of frequencies and control, based on the information retrieved by the memory controller, the transmitter to select a first transmission frequency in a frequency hopping sequence to be equal to the characteristic receiver frequency.

13. A method of enabling communication control, the method comprising:

receiving, by an implantable medical device, a message from a non-implantable communication device;

retrieving, in response to receiving the message and from a memory in the implantable medical device, information of at least one characteristic receiver frequency representing a radio frequency within a band of radio frequencies at which a broadband radio frequency receiver of the implantable medical device has sufficient receiver sensitivity;

generating, based on the information retrieved from the memory, a response comprising a notification of the at least one characteristic receiver frequency; and

transmitting the response to the non-implantable communication device (400).

14. A communication control method comprising:

transmitting a first message to an implantable medical device, IMD, at a radio frequency selected within a band of radio frequencies;

receiving a response from the implantable medical device, the response comprises an IMD identifier of the implantable medical device and a notification of at least one characteristic receiver frequency representing a radio frequency within the band of radio frequencies at which a broadband radio frequency receiver of the implantable medical device has sufficient receiver sensitivity;

storing the IMD identifier and information of the at least one characteristic receiver frequency in a memory;

retrieving the information from the memory based on the IMD identifier in response to a need to transmit a second message to the implantable medical device;

selecting a transmission frequency based on the information retrieved from the memory; and

transmitting the second message to the implantable medical device at the selected transmission frequency.

15. A method of programming an implantable medical device comprising a broadband radio frequency receiver configured to operate within a band of radio frequencies, the method comprising:

transmitting multiple test messages at different radio frequencies within the band of radio frequencies to the broadband radio frequency receiver;

determining receiver sensitivity of the broadband radio frequency receiver for each test message of the multiple test messages;

identifying a characteristic receiver frequency of the broadband radio frequency receiver corresponding to a radio frequency of the different radio frequencies at which the broadband radio frequency receiver has sufficient receiver sensitivity; and

transmitting, to the implantable medical device, a programming command comprising information of the characteristic receiver frequency to trigger the implantable medical device to store the information in a memory of the implantable medical device.