Systems and methods for wireless pairing and communication for electro-stimulation

• US 9,144,688 B2
• Filed: 11/12/2013
• Issued: 09/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/12/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DJO LLC (Enovis Corp.)
• Original Assignee: EMPI Incorporated (Enovis Corp.)
• Inventors: Baumgartner, Flavien, Perroud, Stphane, Vuadens, Philippe, Fontaine, Nicolas
• Primary Examiner(s): Lavert, Nicole F
• Application Number:
  US14/077,325
• Publication Number:
  US 20140135880A1
• Time in Patent Office: 686 Days
• Field of Search: 607/30, 607/60
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/3603 Control systems
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/37217 characterised by the communication link, e.g. acoustic or tactile
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/37247 User interfaces, e.g. input or presentation means
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/37288 Communication to several implantable medical devices within one patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/3787 from an external energy source
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/445 by mutual authentication, e.g. between devices or programs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2115 Third party
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/622 Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/04 Key management, e.g. using generic bootstrapping architecture [GBA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/50 Secure pairing of devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/71 Hardware identity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/20 Master-slave selection or change arrangements

Abstract

The disclosure herein is directed toward systems and methods for pairing two or more devices into a wireless network and transferring data between two or more electro-stimulation devices. Specifically, the systems and methods disclosed herein may include pairing two or more devices into a network configuration using, in part, a pairing device to distinctly identify the devices to be paired and to pair the identified devices into a network. Moreover, the systems and methods disclosed herein may include transferring data between two or more devices using, in part, one or more electro-stimulation contacts for electro-stimulation therapy and using, in part, the same one or more electro-stimulation contacts for transferring data between two or more devices.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

at least two electronic devices, each of the at least two electronic devices having a unique ID, and at least one of the electronic devices being configured to communicate wirelessly with at least one of the other electronic devices only when the at least two electronic devices have been grouped into a wireless network; and

an additional device configured to wirelessly detect the presence of, communicate with, and distinctly identify each of the at least two electronic devices, the additional device being further configured to communicate the unique ID from each one of the at least two electronic devices to the other electronic devices of the at least two electronic devices to group the at least two devices into a wireless network when the at least two electronic devices are detected by the additional device to be located within a proximity threshold of the additional device,

the at least two electronic devices further configured to wirelessly communicate directly with each other only after being grouped into a wireless network by the additional device, direct wireless communications between the at least two electronic devices not going through the additional device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the additional device is a charging station.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless network is composed of one master and a slave.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication between the additional device and the at least two devices is made though wireless communication.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the wireless communication is a magnetic coupling.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the wireless communication is Radio Frequency.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the additional device recognizes the presence of the other devices within the proximity threshold with an additional action from a user.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the user action is an action on an actuator.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the actuator is a button.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the grouping of the at least two devices into a wireless network is not initiated by a user action other than placing the at least two electronic devices within the proximity threshold of the additional device.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein one of the at least two devices is an electro-stimulator device.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein one of the at least two devices is a therapeutic ultrasound device.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein one of the at least two devices is an imaging ultrasound device.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein one of the at least two devices is a laser device.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein a user interface is embedded in another device.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the grouping the at least two devices into a wireless network remains permanent until another grouping process is initiated by a user.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the additional device is configured to detect the presence of the at least two electronic devices without any action from a user other than placing the at least two electronic devices within the proximity threshold of the additional device.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the proximity threshold of the additional device requires that the at least two electronic devices be placed in physical contact with the additional device.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the additional determines which of the at least two electronic devices to group into a wireless network according to the unique IDs of the at least two electronic devices.

20. A system comprising:

at least two electronic devices configured to wirelessly communicate directly with each other only if grouped into a wireless network,

an additional device configured to recognize the at least two electronic devices and group the at least two electronic devices into a wireless network when the at least two electronic devices are brought within a proximity threshold of the additional device, wherein the at least two electronic devices are further configured to wirelessly communicate directly with each other, after they are grouped by the additional device, such that direct wireless communications between the at least two electronic devices do not go through the additional device.