System and method for sharing a common communication channel between multiple systems of implantable medical devices
First Claim
1. A method of enabling a plurality of systems (300-1, 300-2, 300-3) to communicate over a common communication channel wherein each system (300-1, 300-2, 300-3) is configured to enable communication during periodic and essentially temporally contiguous respective frame periods (409-1, 409-2, 409-3) determined essentially asynchronously by each said respective system (300-1, 300-2, 300-3) and having occupied temporal portions of each said frame period (409-1, 409-2, 409-3) comprised of transmission communication periods dedicated to each said respective system (300-1, 300-2, 300-3) and wherein each said frame period (409-1, 409-2, 409-3) has a start and an end that essentially spans the entire temporal bandwidth of said common communication channel, said method comprising the steps of:
- transmitting during each said frame period (409-1, 409-2, 409-3) from each said respective system (300-1, 300-2, 300-3), at least one type of beacon message (454, 456 or 458) having a respective unique heavily-coded beacon marker code portion (460, 464 or 468),wherein said step of transmitting at least one type of beacon message additionally comprises the step of transmitting at least one wandering beacon message having a moveable temporal offset from the start of its respective frame period;
receiving beacon messages (454, 456, 458) by each of said systems (300-1, 300-2, 300-3) according to said heavily-coded beacon marker code portions (460, 464, 468) from other said systems (300-2, 300-3), (300-1, 300-3), (300-1, 300-2) that are within communication range;
processing two or more of said received heavily-coded beacon marker code portions (460, 464, 468) of said respective beacon messages (454, 456, 458) to thereby determine the start of the frame period of another one of said systems; and
determining which received beacon messages uniquely correspond to other said systems according to uniquely defined temporal displacements between said received wandering beacon messages.
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Abstract
A system and method that facilitates multiple systems of communicating devices, i.e., a master device and one or more implantable slave devices, to coexist on a common, e.g., RF, communication channel having a limited temporal bandwidth while maintaining the required update rate between each master device and its associated slave devices. In embodiments of the present invention, master devices periodically transmit one or more beacon messages that are suitable for identification by other such master devices at a communication range greater than the communication range that may cause interference between systems and thus enabling one or more systems to cause the position of its frame periods to be interleaved with the frame periods of other such systems in anticipation of systems moving in closer proximity and actually interfering with each other.
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Citations
10 Claims
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1. A method of enabling a plurality of systems (300-1, 300-2, 300-3) to communicate over a common communication channel wherein each system (300-1, 300-2, 300-3) is configured to enable communication during periodic and essentially temporally contiguous respective frame periods (409-1, 409-2, 409-3) determined essentially asynchronously by each said respective system (300-1, 300-2, 300-3) and having occupied temporal portions of each said frame period (409-1, 409-2, 409-3) comprised of transmission communication periods dedicated to each said respective system (300-1, 300-2, 300-3) and wherein each said frame period (409-1, 409-2, 409-3) has a start and an end that essentially spans the entire temporal bandwidth of said common communication channel, said method comprising the steps of:
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transmitting during each said frame period (409-1, 409-2, 409-3) from each said respective system (300-1, 300-2, 300-3), at least one type of beacon message (454, 456 or 458) having a respective unique heavily-coded beacon marker code portion (460, 464 or 468), wherein said step of transmitting at least one type of beacon message additionally comprises the step of transmitting at least one wandering beacon message having a moveable temporal offset from the start of its respective frame period; receiving beacon messages (454, 456, 458) by each of said systems (300-1, 300-2, 300-3) according to said heavily-coded beacon marker code portions (460, 464, 468) from other said systems (300-2, 300-3), (300-1, 300-3), (300-1, 300-2) that are within communication range; processing two or more of said received heavily-coded beacon marker code portions (460, 464, 468) of said respective beacon messages (454, 456, 458) to thereby determine the start of the frame period of another one of said systems; and determining which received beacon messages uniquely correspond to other said systems according to uniquely defined temporal displacements between said received wandering beacon messages. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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Specification