Dynamic announcing for creation of wireless communication connections

• US 9,907,486 B2
• Filed: 06/15/2016
• Issued: 03/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pacesetter Incorporated (Abbott Laboratories Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Pacesetter Incorporated (Abbott Laboratories Incorporated)
• Inventors: Pflugh, Timothy, Qu, Fujian, Coppola, Benjamin, Karst, Edward, Weinberg, Lisa P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bolourchi, Nader
• Application Number:
  US15/182,784
• Publication Number:
  US 20170332942A1
• Time in Patent Office: 629 Days
• Field of Search: 34087007
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2503/12 Healthy persons not otherwise provided for, e.g. subjects of a marketing survey
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02416 using photoplethysmograph signals, e.g. generated by infrared radiation A61B5/14552 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02438 with portable devices, e.g. worn by the patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0255 Recording instruments specially adapted therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/076 Permanent implantations telemetry using implanted circuitry A61B5/0031; implanted stimulators for therapy A61N1/3605, A61N1/362, A61N1/372
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1116 Determining posture transitions
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1118 Determining activity level
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/318 Heart-related electrical modalities, e.g. electrocardiography [ECG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/363 Detecting tachycardia or bradycardia
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/686 Permanently implanted devices, e.g. pacemakers, other stimulators, biochips A61B5/6861 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7275 Determining trends in physiological measurement data; Predicting development of a medical condition based on physiological measurements, e.g. determining a risk factor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7282 Event detection, e.g. detecting unique waveforms indicative of a medical condition A61B5/4094, A61B5/4818, A61B5/349, A61B5/0823 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/743 Displaying an image simultaneously with additional graphical information, e.g. symbols, charts, function plots
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/30 relating to physical therapies or activities, e.g. physiotherapy, acupressure or exercising
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup

Abstract

Example electronic devices, including but not limited to implantable medical devices, and methods employing dynamic announcing for creation of wireless communication connections are disclosed herein. In an example, an electronic device includes a wireless communication interface to transmit announcement signals for creating a wireless communication connection with the external device. The electronic device also includes a sensor to detect a characteristic of an environment external to the electronic device, and a control circuit including an announcement timing control module to dynamically control timing of the announcement signals based on the detected characteristic.

Claims

1. An electronic device configured to communicate wirelessly with an external device separate from the electronic device, the electronic device comprising:

a wireless communication interface configured to transmit announcement signals for creating a wireless communication connection with the external device, the announcement signals comprising announcement messages configured to dynamically vary the discovery opportunities of the electronic device by the external device in a manner that will reduce current drain;

a sensor configured to detect a characteristic of an environment external to the electronic device; and

a control circuit comprising an announcement timing control module configured to dynamically control timing of the announcement signals based on the detected characteristic by dynamically setting a frequency at which the announcement messages are repeatedly transmitted based on at least the detected characteristic, the announcement timing control module further configured to dynamically transition the frequency from a first frequency to a second frequency slower than the first frequency.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, the electronic device comprising at least one of an automatic implantable cardioverter defibrillator, an artificial cardiac pacemaker, or an implantable loop recorder, and the detected characteristic comprising an electrical signal produced by a heart of a patient.

3. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the detected characteristic comprises a signal indicative of a patient'"'"'s heart activity.

4. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising a real-time clock configured to provide a current time of day, the announcement timing control module further configured to dynamically set the frequency at which announcement messages are repeatedly transmitted based on both the detected characteristic and the current time of day.

5. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein the sensor is at least one of an accelerometer or a gyroscope.

6. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein the detected characteristic is a signal indicative of an activity level of a human.

7. The electronic device of claim 6, wherein the announcement timing control module is further configured to lower the frequency at which the announcement messages are repeatedly transmitted when the current time of day is an expected time of sleep and the activity level is indicative of a supine posture.

8. An implantable medical device for monitoring physiology of a person, the implantable medical device capable of wirelessly communicating with an external device located external to the person, the implantable medical device comprising:

a wireless communication interface configured to transmit announcement signals for creating a wireless communication connection with the external device;

at least one sensor configured to detect a characteristic of an environment external to the implantable medical device; and

a control circuit comprising an announcement timing control module configured to dynamically control timing of the announcement signals based on at least the detected characteristic, the announcement signals comprising announcement messages configured to dynamically vary the discovery opportunities of the implantable medical device by the external device in a manner that will reduce current drain, the announcement timing control module further configured to dynamically control the timing of the announcement messages by dynamically setting a frequency at which the announcement messages are repeatedly transmitted based on at least the detected characteristic, the announcement timing control module further configured to dynamically set the frequency to at least one of a first frequency, or a second frequency slower than the first frequency.

9. The implantable medical device of claim 8, further comprising a heart activity detector configured to determine a heart activity of the person based on the detected characteristic, wherein the announcement timing control module is configured to dynamically increase or decrease the frequency of the announcement messages based on the heart activity.

10. The implantable medical device of claim 8, the Implantable medical device configured to determine a heart rate of the person based on the detected characteristic, wherein the announcement timing control module is configured to increase the frequency of the announcement messages in response to the determined heart rate exceeding a first threshold or falling below a second threshold.

11. The implantable medical device of claim 8, the implantable medical device configured to determine, at least one of:

a body position, or

a physical activity level of the person and whether the physical activity level of the person exceeds a threshold, wherein the announcement timing control module is configured to increase the frequency of the announcement messages in response to, at least one;

the determined body position being an upright position, or

the determined physical activity level of the person exceeding a threshold.

12. The implantable medical device of claim 8, the implantable medical device configured to determine, at least one of:

a body position, or

a physical activity level of the person, wherein the announcement timing control module is configured to cease transmission of the announcement messages in response to, at least one;

the determined body position, or

the determined physical activity level of the person indicating that the person is sleeping.

13. The implantable medical device of claim 8, wherein:

the heart activity detector is further configured to detect an arrhythmia,

the implantable device is configured to determine at least one of a body position or a physical activity level of the person, and

the announcement timing control module is further configured to determine whether the arrhythmia and the, at least one body position or physical activity level of the person indicate an exercise-induced arrhythmia and increase the frequency of the announcement messages when the exercise-induced arrhythmia is determined.

14. The implantable medical device of claim 8, further comprising:

a real-time clock configured to provide a current time of day, the announcement timing control module further configured to dynamically set the frequency of the announcement messages based on the current time of day.

15. The implantable medical device of claim 8, further comprising:

a heart activity detector configured to determine a heart activity of the person based on the detected characteristic;

a memory configured to store the heart activity together with the time of day at which the heart activity was detected; and

a microcontroller configured to determine a trend in the time of day at which a pathological heart activity is detected, wherein the announcement timing control module is further configured to dynamically set the frequency of the announcement messages based the trend.

16. The implantable medical device of claim 8, further comprising:

a heart activity detector configured to determine a heart activity of the person and determine whether the heart activity is a pathological heart activity based on the detected characteristic;

an event detector configured to detect a cardiac event;

a memory configured to store at least one of the pathological heart activity or the cardiac event together with the time of day at which at least one of the pathological heart activity or the cardiac event was detected; and

a microcontroller configured to determine a trend in the time of day at which at least one of the pathological heart activity or the cardiac event is detected, wherein the announcement timing control module is further configured to dynamically set the frequency of the announcement messages based on the trend.

17. The implantable medical device of claim 8, further comprising:

a heart activity detector configured to determine a heart activity of the person based on the detected characteristic;

an event detector configured to detect cardiac events;

a memory configured to store at least one of the heart activity or cardiac events when the person triggers the implantable medical device to connect with the external device;

a microcontroller configured to determine a trend in at least one of the heart activity or the cardiac events occurring when the person triggers the implantable medical device to connect with the external device, wherein the announcement timing control module is further configured to increase the frequency of the announcement messages when at least one of a current detected heart activity or a current detected cardiac event satisfies the trend.

18. The implantable medical device of claim 8, further comprising:

a sensor configured to detect a level of acceleration imparted upon the implantable medical device, the announcement timing control module further configured to increase the frequency of the announcement messages based on the detected level of acceleration exceeding a threshold.

19. A method for dynamically controlling a frequency of advertising messages transmitted by an electronic device to dynamically vary the discovery opportunities of the electronic device by the external device in a manner that will reduce current drain, the method comprising:

detecting a characteristic of an environment external to the electronic device;

accessing an advertising frequency factor employable to set the frequency of advertising messages, wherein the advertising frequency factor is based on the detected characteristic;

dynamically transitioning the frequency of the advertising messages from a first frequency to a second frequency slower than the first frequency based at least in part on the advertising frequency factor; and

transmitting the advertising messages using at least one of the first or second frequencies.

20. The method of claim 19, the announcement frequency factor comprising a heart rate of a patient.

21. The method of claim 19, the announcement frequency factor comprising at least one of a cardiac or a neurogenic event of a patient.

22. The method of claim 19, the announcement frequency factor comprising at least one of a body position or a physical activity level of a patient.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising providing a current time of day using a real-time clock, wherein dynamically transitioning the frequency of the advertising messages from the first frequency to the second frequency slower than the first frequency based at least in part on the advertising frequency factor comprises transitioning the frequency of the advertising messages based on the current time of day and the at least one of the body position or the physical activity level of the patient.