Communication system and method for communicating between an implanted medical device and another device
First Claim
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1. A medical communication system comprising:
- two units, at least one of said units being adapted for implantation in a subject;
a transmitter/receiver arrangement disposed in said two units, said transmitter/receiver arrangement having a plurality of communication channels, any of which can be active, as an active channel, for establishing a communication link between said two units during a communication time interval, with a remainder of said communication channels being passive channels;
a monitoring unit connected to said transmitter/receiver arrangement in one of said units for monitoring said plurality of communication channels during said communication time interval with regard to respective availability of the communication channels for establishing said communication link, said monitoring unit generating a monitoring result for each of said passive channels and also monitoring said active channel to determine a suitability of said active channel for maintaining said communication link during said communication time interval;
a register table having a plurality of registers in which the monitored results for the respective communication channels are stored; and
a control unit connected to said register table and to said transmitter/receiver arrangement for, if said active channel becomes unsuitable for use for establishing said communication link during said communication time interval, immediately consulting said register table to select and substitute one of said passive channels for use as said active channel.
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Abstract
In a medical communication system and method adapted to perform communication between two units, at least one of said units being adapted to be implanted in a human or animal body, having one active channel among a number of communication channels, all of the communication channels are monitored. All channels not presently used for communication between the units, called passive channels, are continuously monitored by the concurrently with the performed communication and the result of this monitoring is stored in a register table provided with one register for each communication channel, the stored information identifying if a channel is available for communication usage.
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Citations
10 Claims
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1. A medical communication system comprising:
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two units, at least one of said units being adapted for implantation in a subject;
a transmitter/receiver arrangement disposed in said two units, said transmitter/receiver arrangement having a plurality of communication channels, any of which can be active, as an active channel, for establishing a communication link between said two units during a communication time interval, with a remainder of said communication channels being passive channels;
a monitoring unit connected to said transmitter/receiver arrangement in one of said units for monitoring said plurality of communication channels during said communication time interval with regard to respective availability of the communication channels for establishing said communication link, said monitoring unit generating a monitoring result for each of said passive channels and also monitoring said active channel to determine a suitability of said active channel for maintaining said communication link during said communication time interval;
a register table having a plurality of registers in which the monitored results for the respective communication channels are stored; and
a control unit connected to said register table and to said transmitter/receiver arrangement for, if said active channel becomes unsuitable for use for establishing said communication link during said communication time interval, immediately consulting said register table to select and substitute one of said passive channels for use as said active channel. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method for communicating between two units in a medical system, one of said units being adapted for implantation in a subject, comprising the steps of:
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initiating a communication session between said two units, using one active channel among a plurality of communication channels, with a remainder of said communication channels being passive channels;
monitoring said active and passive channels during said communication session to determine a continued suitability of said active channel for establishing a communication link and for determining an availability of said passive channels for use in establishing said communication link, thereby obtaining a plurality of measurement results respectively for said channels;
storing said monitoring results in a register table having a plurality of registers respectively for said channels; and
if said active channel becomes unsuitable during said communication session for establishing said communication link, immediately consulting said register table to select one of said passive channels available for use in establishing said communication link and substituting said one of said passive channels in place of said active channel, so that said one of said channels becomes said active channel. - View Dependent Claims (10)
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Specification