Implanted medical device telemetry using integrated thin film bulk acoustic resonator filtering
First Claim
1. An implantable medical device operating in accordance with programming data received over a downlink communications channel established by a modulated RF transmission sent from an external programming unit, comprising:
- an electrical stimulation therapy delivery circuit disposed within a hermetically sealed housing adapted for implantation in the body of a patient;
a memory having programming data storage locations accessed by the electrical stimulation therapy delivery circuit;
an RF antenna; and
a telemetry circuit coupled to the RF antenna and having a programming data output accessed by the memory;
said telemetry circuit including an out-of-band rejection filter comprising a thin film bulk acoustic resonator filter.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A telemetry receiver for an implantable medical device (IMD) such as a cardiac pacemaker has an RF antenna coupled to a telemetry circuit that includes an out-of-band rejection filter comprising a thin film bulk acoustic resonator filter. The telemetry circuit includes an amplifier coupled to the thin film bulk acoustic resonator filter and a demodulator coupled to the amplifier. The filter, amplifier and demodulator are all fabricated on a common integrated circuit die. A multichannel telemetry receiver for an IMD has a plurality of thin film bulk acoustic resonator bandpass filters defining individual channels. Identification of a preferred data transmission channel for communication of programming data to the IMD is determined by obtaining samples of the signals being passed by each of a plurality of thin film bulk acoustic resonator bandpass filters that define individual channels and evaluating the samples to determine the noise level for each channel.
113 Citations
18 Claims
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1. An implantable medical device operating in accordance with programming data received over a downlink communications channel established by a modulated RF transmission sent from an external programming unit, comprising:
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an electrical stimulation therapy delivery circuit disposed within a hermetically sealed housing adapted for implantation in the body of a patient;
a memory having programming data storage locations accessed by the electrical stimulation therapy delivery circuit;
an RF antenna; and
a telemetry circuit coupled to the RF antenna and having a programming data output accessed by the memory;
said telemetry circuit including an out-of-band rejection filter comprising a thin film bulk acoustic resonator filter. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An external programming unit for an implantable medical device operating in accordance with programming data received over a downlink communications channel established by a modulated RF transmission sent from the external programming unit and providing device information to the programming unit over an uplink communications channel established by a modulated RF transmission sent from the device, comprising:
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a housing carrying a display screen;
a programming head including an RF antenna;
a telemetry circuit disposed within the housing and coupled to the RF antenna, the telemetry circuit including an out-of-band rejection filter comprising a thin film bulk acoustic resonator filter. - View Dependent Claims (9)
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10. A method of downlink telemetry communication from an external programming unit to an implantable medical device, comprising the steps of:
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establishing a telemetry link between the external programming unit and the implantable medical device;
transmitting programming data from the external programming unit to the implantable medical device using a modulated RF transmission;
filtering the modulated RF transmission in the implantable medical device using an out-of-band rejection filter comprising a thin film bulk acoustic resonator filter; and
demodulating the filtered RF transmission to obtain the transmitted programming data. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 14, 16, 17)
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13. A method of downlink telemetry communication from an external programming unit to an implantable medical device, comprising the steps of:
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providing a plurality of out-of-band rejection filters in the implantable medical device, each filter comprising a thin film bulk acoustic resonator filter and each filter being tuned to a one of a plurality of different RF transmission carrier frequency channels;
determining a level of noise on each RF transmission carrier frequency channel;
selecting one of the filters as the preferred data transmission channel for further downlink telemetry communications based upon a determination of the noise level existing on each RF transmission carrier frequency channel;
establishing a telemetry link between the external programming unit and the implantable medical device on the selected RF transmission carrier frequency channel;
transmitting programming data from the external programming unit to the implantable medical device using a modulated RF transmission on the selected RF transmission carrier frequency channels;
applying the modulated RF transmission to the plurality of out-of-band rejection filters in the implantable medical device;
multiplexing signals passed by the out-of-band rejection filters to permit selection of one filter as the preferred data transmission channel; and
demodulating the signals passed by the selected filter to recover the programming data.
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15. A method of identifying a preferred data transmission channel from among a plurality of different RF transmission frequency channels for downlink telemetry communication from an external programming unit to an implantable medical device, comprising the steps of:
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providing a plurality of out-of-band rejection filters in the external programming unit, each filter comprising a thin film bulk acoustic resonator filter and each filter being tuned to a one of a plurality of different RF transmission carrier frequency channels to pass a signal within the passband of the filter;
multiplexing the signals passed by the out-of-band rejection filters;
sequentially accessing each of the multiplexed filter signals;
obtaining a digitized sample of each multiplexed filter signal when accessed;
storing the digitized signal samples;
processing the digitized signal samples to determine the noise level on each channel; and
selecting one of the RF transmission frequency channels as a preferred data transmission channel for downlink telemetry communications sent to the implantable medical device.
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18. A method of identifying a preferred data transmission channel from among a plurality of different RF transmission frequency channels for downlink telemetry communication from an external programming unit to an implantable medical device, comprising the steps of:
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applying ambient signals obtained from an antenna to a broadband amplifier;
applying the amplified broadband ambient signals to a plurality of bandpass filters in the programming unit wherein each filter comprises a thin film bulk acoustic resonator filter tuned to pass signals at one of a plurality of different RF transmission frequency channels;
multiplexing signals passed by the filters to permit selection of a signal being passed by a particular one of the filters;
selecting each filter in the programming unit in sequence;
obtaining a digitized sample of the signal passed by each filter when selected;
storing the digitized signal samples; and
processing the digitized signal samples obtained for each channel to determine the noise level on each channel; and
selecting one of the RF transmission frequency channels for downlink telemetry communications sent to the implantable medical device.
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Specification