Antenna systems for implantable medical device telemetry
First Claim
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1. A system for communicating with an implantable medical device, the system comprising:
- an external device adapted to be communicatively coupled to the implantable medical device via radio-frequency (RF) telemetry and adapted to control operation of the implantable medical device and receive data from the implantable medical device, the external device comprising;
a transceiver;
an antenna system comprising at least two antennas each being directional on at least one plane and having a predetermined half-power beamwidth of less than about 180 degrees;
an antenna interface circuit coupled between the transceiver and the antenna system; and
a directionality controller coupled to the antenna interface circuit, the directionality controller adapted to control a directionality of the antenna system.
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Abstract
An implantable medical device system includes an implanted device communicating with an external device via telemetry. The implanted device and the external device each have a telemetry module connected to an antenna system to support a radio-frequency (RF) telemetry link. The antenna system of the external device has a manually or automatically controllable directionality. The controllable directionality is achieved, for example, by using two or more directional antennas, one non-directional antenna and one or more directional antennas, or an electronically steerable phased-array directional antenna.
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Citations
48 Claims
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1. A system for communicating with an implantable medical device, the system comprising:
an external device adapted to be communicatively coupled to the implantable medical device via radio-frequency (RF) telemetry and adapted to control operation of the implantable medical device and receive data from the implantable medical device, the external device comprising; a transceiver; an antenna system comprising at least two antennas each being directional on at least one plane and having a predetermined half-power beamwidth of less than about 180 degrees; an antenna interface circuit coupled between the transceiver and the antenna system; and a directionality controller coupled to the antenna interface circuit, the directionality controller adapted to control a directionality of the antenna system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A system for communicating with an implantable medical device, the system comprising:
an external device adapted to be communicatively coupled to the implantable medical device via radio-frequency (RF) telemetry and adapted to control operation of the implantable medical device and receive data from the implantable medical device, the external device comprising; a transceiver; an antenna system comprising a first antenna being approximately non-directional on at least one plane and a second antenna being directional on the at least one plane; an antenna interface circuit coupled between the transceiver and the antenna system; and a directionality controller coupled to the antenna interface circuit, the directionality controller adapted to control a directionality of the antenna system. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A system for communicating with an implantable medical device, the system comprising:
an external device adapted to be communicatively coupled to the implantable medical device via radio-frequency (RF) telemetry and adapted to control operation of the implantable medical device and receive data from the implantable medical device, the external device comprising; a transceiver; an antenna system comprising at least two antennas each having a predetermined beamwidth; an antenna interface circuit coupled between the transceiver and the antenna system, the antenna interface circuit comprising an antenna orientation circuit adapted to allow effective orientation of the antenna system; a signal analyzer coupled to the transceiver, the signal analyzer adapted to analyze a quality of each of one or more RF signals received by one or more of the at least two antennas; and a directionality controller coupled to the antenna interface circuit and the signal analyzer, the directionality controller comprising an electronic antenna steerer adapted to effectively orient the antenna system based on the quality of the each of the one or more RF signals. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A method for communicating with an implantable medical device via radio-frequency (RF) telemetry, the method comprising:
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receiving one or more RF signals from the implantable medical device using an antenna system comprising a plurality of directional antennas each having a predetermined half-power beamwidth of less than about 180 degrees; analyzing a quality of each of the one or more RF signals; and controlling a directionality of the antenna system based on an outcome of the analyzing. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A method for communicating with an implantable medical device via radio-frequency (RF) telemetry, the method comprising:
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receiving a first RF signal from the implantable medical device using an approximately non-directional antenna of an antenna system; receiving a further RF signal from the implantable medical device using a directional antenna of the antenna system; analyzing a quality of each of the first and further RF signals; and selecting one of the approximately non-directional antenna and the directional antenna based on an outcome of the analyzing. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38)
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39. A method for communicating with an implantable medical device via radio-frequency (RF) telemetry, the method comprising:
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steering electronically an effective orientation of an antenna system comprising a plurality of antennas forming a phased-array antenna, receiving a first RF signal from the implantable medical device using the phased-array antenna oriented at each of a plurality of effective orientations; analyzing a quality of the first RF signal associated with the each of the plurality of effective orientations; and selecting one of the plurality of effective orientations based on an outcome of the analyzing the quality. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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46. A method for communicating with an implantable medical device via radio-frequency (RF) telemetry, the method comprising:
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receiving a first RF signal using an antenna having a directionality characteristic; analyzing a quality of the first RF signal and determining whether the quality satisfies a predetermined signal quality standard; and receiving at least one further RF signal from the implantable medical device using at least one further antenna having a further directional characteristic if the quality of the first RF signal does not satisfy the predetermined signal quality standard, the further antenna having the further directional characteristic is more directional on at least one plane than the antenna having the directionality characteristic. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48)
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Specification