Medical device system having an implanted medical device and an external device
First Claim
1. A medical device system, the system comprising:
- an implanted medical device, andan external device comprising a transceiver, a random access memory, and a processor coupled to the transceiver and the random access memory, wherein the processor is configured to;
periodically activate wireless communication circuitry in an attempt to communicate a plurality of proximity test signals with the implanted medical device;
for each of the plurality of activations, determine whether a proximity signal has been received from the implanted device within a certain time after the activation, thereby generating a plurality of proximity test receipt results;
apply a test to the plurality of proximity test receipt results to determine whether a proximity failure condition exists, thereby generating a plurality of proximity test results;
operative when a proximity failure condition exists, take at least one of the following actions;
store information regarding the proximity failure in the random access memory or send a proximity test failure condition notification; and
when the proximity failures in the random access memory meet a selected first proximity test criterion, the processor is further configured to send notification to the patient.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed is a system having an implanted component and external component which are configured to provide a test of wireless communication in order to assess the success or failure of such communication and to store attributes related to such test in a memory log. To provide the communication test the implantable and external components can attempt wireless communication according to communication test parameters which relate to number of times to retry communication, duration of sending communication test signals, durations of waiting for communication test signals and the schedule of the communication tests. The schedule of tests may be period or may change over time in order to become more or less frequency according to a programmable schedule that may also decrease if the communication tests are successful and indicate patient compliance in keeping the external components close by. The communication tests can assist in determining if the patient is maintaining external components within a suggested proximity (e.g. 6 feet) of the patient and may assist to determine if transmission or reception difficulties are the source of communication failure. A physician programmer can provide for programming, conducting, summarizing and assessing the results of communication tests.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A medical device system, the system comprising:
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an implanted medical device, and an external device comprising a transceiver, a random access memory, and a processor coupled to the transceiver and the random access memory, wherein the processor is configured to; periodically activate wireless communication circuitry in an attempt to communicate a plurality of proximity test signals with the implanted medical device; for each of the plurality of activations, determine whether a proximity signal has been received from the implanted device within a certain time after the activation, thereby generating a plurality of proximity test receipt results; apply a test to the plurality of proximity test receipt results to determine whether a proximity failure condition exists, thereby generating a plurality of proximity test results; operative when a proximity failure condition exists, take at least one of the following actions;
store information regarding the proximity failure in the random access memory or send a proximity test failure condition notification; andwhen the proximity failures in the random access memory meet a selected first proximity test criterion, the processor is further configured to send notification to the patient. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A medical device system, the system comprising:
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an implanted medical device, and an external device comprising a transceiver, a random access memory, and a processor coupled to the transceiver and the random access memory, wherein the processor is configured to; periodically activate wireless communication circuitry in an attempt to communicate a plurality of proximity test signals with the implanted medical device; for each of the plurality of activations, determine whether a proximity signal has been received from the implanted device within a certain time after the activation, thereby generating a plurality of proximity test receipt results; apply a test to the plurality of proximity test receipt results to determine whether a proximity failure condition exists, thereby generating a plurality of proximity test results; operative when a proximity failure condition exists, take at least one of the following actions;
store information regarding the proximity failure in the random access memory or send a proximity test failure condition notification; andwhen the proximity failures in the random access memory meet a selected proximity test criterion, the processor is further configured to send notification to a remote station.
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20. A medical device system, the system comprising:
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an implanted medical device, and an external device comprising a transceiver, a random access memory, and a processor coupled to the transceiver and the random access memory, wherein the processor is configured to; periodically activate wireless communication circuitry to transmit a plurality of proximity test signals with the implanted medical device; when the external device receives an acknowledge signal from said implanted medical device responsive to at least one proximity test signal, the processor stores the acknowledge signal and generates a proximity test receipt result indicating that both the proximity test signal and the acknowledgement signal were received; when the external device does not receive an acknowledge signal from said implanted medical device responsive to at least one proximity test signal, the processor is further configured to store the proximity test signal and generate a proximity test receipt result indicating that there was no acknowledge signal sent from the implanted medical device defining a proximity failure; and
,when a plurality of proximity failures stored in the random access memory meets a selected proximity test criteria, the processor is further configured to document said test receipt results, whereby a patient or caregiver is notified as to compliance or non-compliance of the patient with maintaining the implanted medical device within a predetermined proximity of the external device.
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Specification