Implantable medical device bus system and method

• US 7,913,015 B2
• Filed: 02/06/2009
• Issued: 03/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Medtronic Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Medtronic Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Walsh, Kevin K., Evers, Xander, Stockburger, Mark A., Huelskamp, Paul J., Kallmyer, Todd A., Ericksen, James, Masoud, Javaid, Stroebel, John C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Spittle; Matthew D
• Application Number:
  US12/366,946
• Publication Number:
  US 20090204168A1
• Time in Patent Office: 774 Days
• Field of Search: 710/110, 710/117, 710/124, 710/125, 710/116, 710/305, 623/3.1
• US Class Current: 710/117
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/372 Arrangements in connection with the implantation of stimulators
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/14 Handling requests for interconnection or transfer

Abstract

A bus system is provided for implantable medical devices. The bus system provides for flexible and reliable communication between subsystems in an implantable medical device. The bus system facilitates a wide variety of communications between various subsystems. These various subsystems can include one or more sensing devices, processors, data storage devices, patient alert devices, power management devices, signal processing and other devices implemented to perform a variety of different functions.

Claims

1. An implantable medical device bus system, comprising:

a streaming bus delivering periodic data between a plurality of subsystems of an implantable medical device, the streaming bus includes a plurality of streaming data conductors, a data clock conductor, and a configuration clock conductor;

a plurality of bus interface circuits coupled to the streaming bus, each of the plurality of bus interface circuits coupled to one of the plurality of subsystems in the implantable medical device;

a streaming bus controller coupled to the streaming bus, the streaming bus controller multiplexes the streaming bus into a plurality of time slots per frame for transmitting streaming data on the streaming data conductors, the streaming bus controller selectively sending configuration clock signals on the configuration clock conductor with configuration data on the streaming data conductors between the streaming data on the streaming data conductors within a single frame, the configuration data assigning time slots in the plurality of time slots to one or more of the subsystems in the implantable medical device, wherein a streaming data byte is broadcast on the streaming bus in an assigned time slot with no destination address.

2. The implantable medical device bus system of claim 1 wherein the configuration data assigns time slots in the plurality of time slots without disrupting the streaming data on the streaming data conductors being transmitted within the single frame during time slots previously assigned during a previous frame.

3. The implantable medical device bus system of claim 1 wherein the streaming bus controller sends a streaming bus data clock signal in each time slot to indicate the streaming data.

4. The implantable medical device bus system of claim 1 wherein the streaming data comprises sensor data from a sensor on the implantable medical device.

5. The implantable medical device bus system of claim 1 wherein the streaming bus controller selectively sends an external streaming bus data clock to bus interface circuits in the plurality of bus interface circuits on an external integrated circuit, the external streaming bus data clock signaling only time slots assigned on the external integrated circuit.

6. The implantable medical device bus system of claim 1 wherein the implantable medical device comprises an implantable cardiac device, and wherein the streaming data comprises sensor data selected from the group of electrical data, ECG data, accelerometer data and pressure data.

7. The implantable medical device bus system of claim 1 wherein the bus interface circuits receive and recognize streaming data on the streaming data conductors based on time slot location in the plurality of time slots per frame.

8. The implantable medical device bus system of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of bus interface circuits can be selectively assigned more than one time slot per frame to provide an increased data transmission rate.

9. The implantable medical device bus system of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of bus interface circuits can be selectively configured to skip frames to provide a reduced data transmission rate.

10. The implantable medical device bus system of claim 1 wherein the streaming bus provides a precise bus latency by assigning a repeating at least one time slot in the plurality of timeslot to a subsystem in the implantable medical device.

11. An implantable medical device bus system, comprising:

a message bus delivering large messages between a plurality of subsystems included in an implantable medical device, the message bus including a plurality of bidirectional message data conductors and a message data clock conductor;

a plurality of bus interface circuits coupled to the message bus, each of the plurality of bus interface circuits coupled to one of the plurality of subsystems in the implantable medical device;

request line conductors, the request line conductors coupling the bus interface circuits into a series;

a message bus controller coupled to the message bus and the request line conductors, the message bus system arbitrating messages on the message bus according to order of the series of transmitting bus interface circuits, wherein an initiating one of the plurality of bus interface circuits sends a message header on the request line conductors to each of the other of the plurality of bus interface circuits, each of the other of the plurality of subsystems reads the header and determines if a response is required, and a responding one of the plurality of bus interface circuits sends a synchronized transmission of a message body on the plurality of bidirectional message data conductors in response to the message header.

12. The implantable medical device bus system of claim 11 wherein the responding one of the plurality of bus interface circuits waits until an acknowledgement is received from at least one other of the plurality of bus interface circuits in response to the message header before sending the message body.

13. The implantable medical device bus system of claim 12 wherein the initiating one of the plurality of bus interface circuits is the same as the responding one of the plurality of bus interface circuits in a write operation.

14. The implantable medical device bus system of claim 12 wherein the initiating one of the plurality of bus interface circuits is different from the responding one of the plurality of bus interface circuits in a read operation.

15. The implantable medical device bus system of claim 12 wherein the responding bus interface circuit delays the synchronized transmission of the message body in response to a wait acknowledgement received from one of the plurality of bus interface circuits.

16. The implantable medical device bus system of claim 11 wherein the bus system further includes priority line conductors, the priority line conductors coupling to the bus interface circuits, and wherein the bus interface circuits can request precedence for transmitting on the priority line conductors.

17. The implantable medical device bus system of claim 16 wherein priority line conductors includes an external priority line for requesting precedence for transmitting to subsystems on an external integrated circuit and an internal priority line for requesting precedence for transmitting only to subsystems within an integrated circuit.

18. An implantable medical device bus system, comprising:

a streaming bus delivering periodic data between a plurality of subsystems of an implantable medical device, the streaming bus including a plurality of streaming data conductors;

a plurality of streaming bus interface circuits coupled to the streaming bus, each of the plurality of streaming bus interface circuits coupled to one of the plurality of subsystems in an implantable medical device, the streaming bus interface circuits transmitting streaming data on the streaming bus in a plurality of assigned time slots, wherein a streaming data byte is broadcast on the streaming bus in an assigned time slot with no destination address;

a message bus delivering large messages between the plurality of subsystems, the message bus including a plurality of message data conductors;

a plurality of message bus interface circuits coupled to the message bus, each of the plurality of message bus interface circuits coupled to one of the plurality of subsystems in the implantable medical device, the message bus interface circuits sending message data on the message bus;

an event bus sending event data between the plurality of subsystems, the event bus including a plurality of event data conductors; and

a plurality of event bus interface circuits coupled to the event bus, each of the plurality of event bus interface circuits coupled to one of the plurality of subsystems in the implantable medical device, the event bus interface circuits sending event data on the event bus, the event data having a limited data length, wherein each of the streaming data bus, the message bus and the event bus being coupled to each of the plurality of subsystems in the implantable medical device via the respective streaming bus interface circuits, the message bus interface circuits and the event bus interface circuits.

19. The implantable medical device bus system of claim 18 further comprising a streaming bus controller coupled to the streaming bus, the streaming bus controller multiplexing the streaming bus into a plurality of time slots per frame for transmitting streaming data on the streaming data conductors, the streaming bus controller selectively sending configuration clock signals on a configuration clock conductor with configuration data on streaming data conductors between the streaming data on the streaming data conductors within a single frame, the configuration data assigning time slots in the plurality of time slots to one or more of the subsystems in the implantable medical device.

20. The implantable medical device bus system of claim 18 further comprising a message bus request line conductors, the message bus request line conductors coupling the message bus interface circuits into a series, and further comprising a message bus controller coupled to the message bus and the request line controllers, the message bus system arbitrating messages on the message bus according to order of the series of transmitting message bus interface circuits.

21. The implantable medical device bus system of claim 18 further comprising an event bus request line conductors, the event bus request line conductors coupling the event bus interface circuits into a series, and further comprising a event bus controller coupled to the event bus and the request line controllers, the event bus system arbitrating messages on the message bus by according to order of the series of transmitting event bus interface circuits.

22. The implantable medical device bus system of claim 18 wherein the plurality of assigned time slots in the streaming bus repeat by a frame, and wherein the frame coincides with an event bus clock.

23. The implantable medical device bus system of claim 18 wherein the plurality of event bus interface circuits each include a data buffer, the data buffer large enough to store an entire event data.

24. The implantable medical device bus system of claim 18 wherein a time slot begins operating within the single frame according to a new time slot assignment made within the time slot.

25. The implantable medical device bus system of claim 18 wherein an event is broadcast on the event bus by a broadcasting one of the plurality of subsystems to all the other plurality of subsystems.

26. The implantable medical bus system of claim 25 wherein an initiating one of the plurality of subsystems sends a message header on the request line conductors to each of the other of the plurality of subsystems and each of the other of the plurality of subsystems reads the header and determines if a response is required.

27. An implantable medical device bus system, comprising:

a streaming bus delivering periodic data between a plurality of subsystems of an implantable medical device, the streaming bus including a plurality of streaming data conductors;

a plurality of streaming bus interface circuits coupled to the streaming bus, each of the plurality of bus interface circuits coupled to one of a plurality of subsystems in an implantable medical device;

a streaming bus controller coupled to the streaming bus and including a streaming bus clock, the streaming bus controller multiplexes the streaming bus into a plurality of time slots per frame for transmitting streaming data on the streaming data conductors, the streaming bus controller selectively sending configuration clock signals on the configuration clock conductor with configuration data on the streaming data conductors between the streaming data on the streaming data conductors within a single frame, the configuration data assigning time slots in the plurality of time slots to one or more of the subsystems in the implantable medical device wherein an assigned time slot begins operating within the single frame according to a new time slot assignment made within the assigned time slot, wherein a streaming data byte is broadcast on the streaming bus in an assigned time slot with no destination address;

a message bus delivering large messages between a plurality of subsystems included in an implantable medical device, the message bus including a plurality of message data conductors;

a plurality of message bus interface circuits coupled to the message bus, each of the plurality of message bus interface circuits coupled to one of the plurality of subsystems in the implantable medical device, the message bus interface circuits sending message data on the message bus;

an event bus sending event data between the plurality of subsystems, the event bus including a plurality of event data conductors, an event bus clock and an event reference clock coordinated with the event bus clock; and

a plurality of event bus interface circuits coupled to the event bus, each of the plurality of event bus interface circuits coupled to one of the plurality of subsystems in the implantable medical device, the event bus interface circuits sending event data on the event bus, the event data having a limited data length,

the event reference clock synchronized with the streaming bus clock to synchronize streaming bus frames with the event reference clock,

each of the streaming bus, the message bus and the event bus coupled to each of the plurality of subsystems in the implantable medical device via the respective streaming bus interface circuits, message bus interface circuits, and event bus interface circuits.