Patient programmer for implantable medical device with audio locator signal

• US 6,647,299 B2
• Filed: 09/21/2001
• Issued: 11/11/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Medtronic Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Medtronic Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Bourget, Duane L.
• Primary Examiner(s): LAYNO, CARL HERNANDZ
• Application Number:
  US09/960,095
• Publication Number:
  US 20030060859A1
• Time in Patent Office: 781 Days
• Field of Search: 607/2, 607/4, 607/5, 607/9, 607/32, 607/60, 128/903
• US Class Current: 607/60
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/08 Arrangements or circuits for monitoring, protecting, controlling or indicating for external stimulators A61N1/3603; for implantable neurostimulators A61N1/36128; for heart stimulators A61N1/37; for defibrillators A61N1/3925
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 128/903 Radio telemetry

Abstract

A system and method of locating the desired telemetry location for an implantable medical device includes a programmer having a patient interface to allow activation of the programmer, a bi-directional communications link between the programmer and the implantable device, an automatic gain control for determining the gain setting for a received signal from the implantable device, and an audio transducer for emitting audio signals to the patient. The bi-directional communications link enables the programmer to locate the desired telemetry location for the implantable device, the automatic gain control provides for optimum telemetry communication between the programmer and the implantable device, and the audio transducer generates audio signals indicative of the telemetry communication between the programmer and the implantable device.

Claims

1. A patient programmer for locating an implantable medical device and determining telemetry quality between the programmer and implantable medical device comprising:

a patient interface to allow activation of the programmer,

a transmitter for sending a first signal to the implantable medical device,

a receiver for receiving a second signal from the implantable medical device,

an automatic gain control for determining telemetry signal quality between the programmer and the implantable medical device, and

an audio transducer for generating audio signals indicative of the telemetry signal quality determined by the automatic gain control.

2. The patient programmer of claim 1 wherein the automatic gain control is implemented through software.

3. The patient programmer of claim 1 further comprising a micro-controller for initiating the transmitter and an antenna for transmitting the first signal to the implantable medical device and for receiving the second signal from the implantable medical device.

4. The patient programmer of claim 3 wherein the automatic gain control adjusts the strength of the second signal received from the implantable medical device.

5. The patient programmer of claim 1 wherein the patient interface is a telemetry initiation switch.

6. The patient programmer of claim 1 wherein the audio transducer provides audio signals of varying frequency based on the telemetry quality signal determined by the automatic gain control.

7. The patient programmer of claim 1 wherein the implantable medical device includes an implantable device selected from the group consisting of a cardiac pacemaker, a neurostimulator, a muscle stimulator, a brain stimulator, a cardioverter/defibrillator, a monitoring device, and a drug pump.

8. The patient programmer of claim 1 wherein the automatic gain control determines a minimum gain for the receiver to overcome noise present in the second signal.

9. The patient programmer of claim 1 wherein the automatic gain control determines a signal to noise ratio of the second signal, and wherein a gain for the receiver is adjusted by the automatic gain control based on the signal to noise ratio of the second signal.

10. The patient programmer of claim 9 wherein the audio transducer provides audio signals of varying frequency based on the gain adjustments made by the automatic gain control.

11. A system of locating the desired telemetry location for an implantable medical device comprising:

a programmer having a patient interface to allow activation of the programmer and entry of therapy parameters by a patient,

a bi-directional communications link between the programmer and the implantable medical device to enable the programmer to locate the desired telemetry location for the implantable medical device and to enable the programmer to program the implantable medical device,

an automatic gain control for determining telemetry signal quality between the programmer and the implantable medical device, and

an audio transducer for generating audio signals indicative of the telemetry signal quality determined by the automatic gain control.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the programmer includes a transmitter and antenna for sending a first signal to the implantable medical device.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the programmer includes a receiver for receiving a second signal from the implantable medical device.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the automatic gain control adjusts the strength of the second signal based on the quality of the telemetry signal.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the audio transducer provides audio signals of varying frequency based on the adjustment of the strength of the second signal by the automatic gain control.

16. The system of claim 11 wherein the implantable medical device includes an implantable device selected from the group consisting of a cardiac pacemaker, a neurostimulator, a muscle stimulator, a brain stimulator, a cardioverter/defibrillator, a monitoring device, and a drug pump.

17. The system of claim 12 wherein the programmer includes a micro-controller for initiating the transmitter.

18. The system of claim 11 wherein the patient interface is a telemetry initiation switch.

19. The patient programmer of claim 13 wherein the automatic gain control determines a minimum gain for the receiver to overcome noise present in the second signal.

20. The patient programmer of claim 19 wherein the automatic gain control determines a signal to noise ratio of the second signal, and wherein a gain for the receiver is adjusted by the automatic gain control based on a signal to noise ratio of the second signal.

21. The patient programmer of claim 20 wherein the audio transducer provides audio signals of varying frequency based on the gain adjustments made by the automatic gain control.

22. The patient programmer of claim 11 wherein the automatic gain control is implemented through software.

23. An external device for locating an implantable medical device comprising:

a programmer having an initiation switch, a transmitter, a receiver, an audio transducer, and an automatic gain control, the transmitter sending a first signal to the implantable medical device, the receiver receiving a second signal from the implantable medical device, the automatic gain control adjusting the strength of the second signal based on the quality of the second signal, and the audio transducer generating an audio signal indicative of the strength of the second signal as determined by the automatic gain control.

24. The external device of claim 23 wherein the automatic gain control determines a signal to noise ratio of the second signal.

25. The external device of claim 24 wherein a gain for the receiver is adjusted by the automatic gain control based on the signal to noise ratio of the second signal.

26. The external device of claim 25 wherein the audio signal varies in frequency based on the gain adjustments made by the automatic gain control.

27. The external device of claim 23 wherein the automatic gain control is implemented through software.

28. The external device of claim 23 wherein the implantable medical device includes an implantable device selected from the group consisting of a cardiac pacemaker, a neurostimulator, a muscle stimulator, a brain stimulator, a cardioverter/defibrillator, a monitoring device, and a drug pump.

29. The external device of claim 23 wherein the programmer includes an antenna for receiving the second signal.

30. A method of finding a desired telemetry location for an implantable medical device comprising the steps of:

providing a programmer having a transmitter, a receiver, a micro-controller, an automatic gain control, and an audio transducer,

establishing a bi-directional communications link between the programmer and the implantable medical device,

determining the desired telemetry quality of the bi-directional communications link, and

transmitting an audio signal indicative of the telemetry quality between the programmer and the implantable medical device.

31. The method of claim 30 further comprising the step of programming the implantable medical device using the programmer.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein the step of programming the implantable medical device is performed via telemetry.

33. The method of claim 32 further comprising the step of locating a first signal from the implantable medical device.

34. The method of claim 33 further comprising the step of determining a signal strength of the first signal.

35. The method of claim 34 further comprising the step of transmitting a plurality of audio signals of varying frequencies indicative of the strength of the first signal.

36. The method of claim 33 wherein the step of determining the desired telemetry quality includes the step of determining the telemetry quality of the first signal from the implantable device.

37. The method of claim 33 wherein the step of determining the desired telemetry quality includes the step of determining a signal to noise ratio of the first signal from the implantable device.

38. The method of claim 33 wherein the step of determining the desired telemetry quality includes the step of setting a receiver gain.

39. The method of claim 38 wherein the step of determining the desired telemetry quality includes the step of incrementing the receiver gain until the desired telemetry quality is located.

40. The method of claim 39 wherein the step of determining the desired telemetry quality includes the step of providing audio signals indicative of the incrementation of the receiver gain.

41. A method of finding the desired telemetry location for an implantable medical device comprising the steps of:

providing a programmer having a transmitter, a receiver, an automatic gain control, and an audio transducer,

transmitting a first signal from the transmitter to the implantable medical device,

receiving a second signal from the implantable medical device by the receiver,

determining a receiver gain by the automatic gain control based on the telemetry quality of the second signal, and

transmitting an audio signal from the audio transducer to a patient indicative of the telemetry quality of the second signal.

42. The method of claim 41 further comprising the step of programming the implantable medical device using the programmer.

43. The method of claim 41 wherein the step of programming the implantable medical device is performed via telemetry.

44. The method of claim 41 further comprising the step of transmitting a plurality of audio signals of varying frequencies indicative of the telemetry quality of the second signal.

45. The method of claim 41 wherein the step of determining the receiver gain includes the step of determining a signal to noise ratio of the second signal from the implantable device.

46. The method of claim 41 wherein the step of determining the receiver gain includes the step of incrementing the receiver gain until the desired telemetry quality is located.

47. The method of claim 46 further comprising the step of providing audio signals indicative of the incrementation of the receiver gain.