IMPLANTABLE MEDICAL DEVICE AND METHOD FOR MANAGING ADVERTISING AND SCANNING SCHEDULES

• US 20180078777A1
• Filed: 09/18/2017
• Published: 03/22/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/19/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pacesetter Incorporated (Abbott Laboratories Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Pacesetter Incorporated (Abbott Laboratories Incorporated)
• Inventors: Wu, Yongjian, Bhayana, Jyoti, Young, Chao-Wen, Singh, Tejpal, Shah, Samir
• Granted Patent: US 10,639,482 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/3708 for power depletion
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/37217 characterised by the communication link, e.g. acoustic or tactile
• 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 1/37276 characterised by means for reducing power consumption during telemetry
• 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: H04B 13/005 Transmission systems in which the medium consists of the human body

Abstract

A method and device for managing establishment of a communications link between an external instrument (EI) and an implantable medical device (IMD) are provided. The method stores, in a memory in at least one of the IMD or the EI, a base scanning schedule that defines a pattern for scanning windows over a scanning state. The method enters the scanning state during which a receiver scans for advertisement notices during the scanning windows. At least a portion of the scanning windows are grouped in a first segment of the scanning state. The method stores, in the memory, a scan reset pattern for restarting the scanning state. Further, the method automatically restarts the scanning state based on the scan reset pattern to form a pseudo-scanning schedule that differs from the base scanning schedule and establishes a communication session between the IMD and the EI.

Claims

1. A method for managing establishment of a communications link between an external instrument (EI) and an implantable medical device (IMD), the method comprising:

storing, in a memory in at least one of the IMD or the EI, a base scanning schedule that defines a pattern for scanning windows over a scanning state;

entering the scanning state during which a receiver scans for advertisement notices during the scanning windows, wherein at least a portion of the scanning windows are grouped in a first segment of the scanning state;

storing, in the memory, a scan reset pattern for restarting the scanning state;

automatically restarting the scanning state based on the scan reset pattern to form a pseudo-scanning schedule that differs from the base scanning schedule; and

establishing a communication session between the IMD and the EI.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein scanning windows occur in the first segment based on a first duty cycle and the scanning windows occur in a second segment based on a second duty cycle that is lower than the first duty cycle.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the scan reset pattern defines the pseudo-scanning schedule to have a pseudo-duty cycle that is higher than at least the second duty cycle associated with the second segment.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the scanning windows in a second segment of the scanning state are spaced apart based on a second scanning interval that is longer than a first scanning interval between the scanning windows in the first segment of the scanning state.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the scan reset pattern defines the pseudo-scanning schedule to have a scanning interval between the scanning windows that is shorter than the second scanning interval associated with the second segment.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the base scanning schedule corresponds to a Bluetooth connection schedule, and wherein the scan reset pattern forms a pseudo-scanning schedule having a higher duty cycle than a duty cycle corresponding to the Bluetooth connection schedule.

7. A device, comprising:

memory to store a base scanning schedule that defines a pattern for scanning windows over a scanning state;

a radio frequency (RF) circuit configured to communicate with an implantable medical device (IMD), the RF circuit configured to enter the scanning state to scan for advertisement notices in accordance with the base scanning schedule;

memory to store a scan reset pattern for restarting the scanning state; and

a processor configured to direct the RF circuit to automatically restart the scanning state based on the scan reset pattern to form a pseudo-scanning schedule that differs from the base scanning schedule,

the processor configured to establish a communication session with the IMD.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the scanning windows are unevenly distributed across the base scanning schedule with at least a portion of the scanning windows grouped in a first segment of the scanning state.

9. The device of claim 7, wherein the scan reset pattern includes a predetermined reset interval, the processor configured to direct the RF circuit to end the scanning state and start a new scanning state at the expiration of the predetermined reset interval.

10. The device of claim 7, wherein the processor is configured to repeatedly end and restart successive new scanning states until the RF circuit detects an advertisement notice from the IMD during one of the scanning windows.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein the scan reset pattern defines the pseudo-scanning schedule to have a pseudo-duty cycle that is higher than the second duty cycle associated with the second segment.

12. The device of claim 7, wherein the scanning windows in a second segment of the scanning state are spaced apart based on a second scanning interval that is longer than a scanning interval between the scanning windows in the first segment of the scanning state.

13. The device of claim 7, wherein the scan reset pattern defines the pseudo-scanning schedule to have a scanning interval between the scanning windows that is shorter than the second scanning interval associated with the second segment.

14. A method for managing establishment of a communications link between an external instrument (EI) and an implantable medical device (IMD), the method comprising:

storing, in a memory in at least one of the IMD or the EI, a base scanning schedule that defines a pattern for scanning windows over a scanning state;

storing, in the memory, an IMD application to communicate with the IMD, and a scan reset pattern to form a pseudo-scanning schedule that differs from the base scanning schedule;

entering the scanning state during which an RF circuit scans for an advertisement notice during the scanning windows;

determining whether the IMD application is running in a foreground state or a background state;

managing the scanning window in accordance with the pseudo-scanning schedule or the base scanning schedule based on the determining operation; and

establishing a communication session between the IMD and the EI.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the managing operation comprises, when in the foreground state, managing the scanning window in accordance with the pseudo-scanning schedule and, when in the background state, managing the scanning window in accordance with the base scanning schedule.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising identifying that a scan timer expires before the advertising notice is detected during one of the scanning windows, and, in response to the identifying operation, when in the background state, automatically restarting the scan timer and continuing the scanning state according to the base scanning schedule.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising identifying that the scan timer expires before the advertising notice is detected during one of the scanning windows, and, in response to the identifying operation, when in the foreground state, automatically restarting the scan timer, cancelling the scanning state and entering a new scanning state defined by the base scanning schedule.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the cancelling and entering operations comprise cancelling a first connection request to the RF circuit and sending a second connection request to the RF circuit.

17-1. The method of claim 14, wherein the scan timer is started when entering the scanning state and the determining operation is performed when the scan timer expires.

18-1. The method of claim 14, wherein the scan timer is associated with a scan reset pattern that defines a pattern for scan start requests and scan end requests that are separated by a predetermined reset interval to form the pseudo-scanning schedule.

19. A device, comprising:

memory to store a base scanning schedule that defines a pattern for scanning windows over a scanning state and to store a scan reset pattern to form a pseudo-scanning schedule that differs from the base scanning schedule;

a radio frequency (RF) circuit configured to communicate with an implantable medical device (IMD), the RF circuit configured to enter the scanning state to scan for advertisement notices in accordance with the base scanning schedule;

one or more processors configured to execute an IMD application to;

determine whether the IMD application is running in a foreground state or a background state;

manage the scanning window in accordance with the pseudo-scanning schedule or the base scanning schedule based on the determine operation; and

establish a communication session with the IMD.

20. The device of claim 19, wherein, when in the foreground state, the one or more processors are configured to manage the scanning window in accordance with the pseudo-scanning schedule and, when in the background state, manage the scanning window in accordance with the base scanning schedule.

21. The device of claim 19, wherein the one or more processors are configured to identify that a scan timer expires before the advertising notice is detected during one of the scanning windows, and, in response to the identify operation, when in the background state, automatically restart the scan timer and continue the scanning state according to the base scanning schedule.

22. The device of claim 19, wherein the one or more processors are configured to identify that the scan timer expires before the advertising notice is detected during one of the scanning windows, and, in response to the identify operation, when in the foreground state, automatically restart the scan timer, cancel the scanning state and enter a new scanning state defined by the base scanning schedule.

23. The device of claim 22, wherein the cancelling and entering operations comprise cancelling a first connection request to the RF circuit and sending a second connection request to the RF circuit.

24. The device of claim 19, wherein the scan timer is started when entering the scanning state and the determine operation is performed when the scan timer expires.

25. The device of claim 19, wherein the scan timer is associated with a scan reset pattern that defines a pattern for scan start requests and scan end requests that are separated by a predetermined reset interval to form the pseudo-scanning schedule.