METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING COMMUNICATION BETWEEN EXTERNAL AND IMPLANTABLE DEVICES

• US 20180332653A1
• Filed: 05/04/2018
• Published: 11/15/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pacesetter Incorporated (Abbott Laboratories Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Pacesetter Incorporated (Abbott Laboratories Incorporated)
• Inventors: Oza, Taral, Mouchawar, Gabriel A., Shah, Samir, Singh, Tejpal, Stockton, John
• Granted Patent: US 10,517,134 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/37252 Details of algorithms or data aspects of communication system, e.g. handshaking, transmitting specific data or segmenting data
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/30 relating to physical therapies or activities, e.g. physiotherapy, acupressure or exercising
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/40 for the management of medical equipment or devices, e.g. scheduling maintenance or upgrades
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• 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 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/23 Manipulation of direct-mode connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

Systems and methods for managing bi-directional communication between an external device (ED) and an implantable medical device (IMD) are provided. The method comprises receiving an active ED configuration and a request for communications parameters to be used with the active ED configuration. The method further comprises identifying a pre-existing configuration, from a collection of pre-existing configurations that match the active ED configuration, the collection of pre-existing configurations having an associated collection of predefined parameter sets. The method further determines a resultant parameter set from the collection of predefined parameter sets based on the pre-existing configuration identified and returns the resultant parameter set in connection with the request, the resultant parameter set to be utilized by the ED for bi-directional communication with the IMD.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for managing bi-directional communication between an external device (ED) and an implantable medical device (IMD), the method comprising:

receiving an active ED configuration and a request for communications parameters to be used with the active ED configuration;

identifying a pre-existing configuration, from a collection of pre-existing configurations, that matches the active ED configuration, the collection of pre-existing configurations having an associated collection of predefined parameter sets;

determining a resultant parameter set from the collection of predefined parameter sets based on the pre-existing configuration identified; and

returning the resultant parameter set in connection with the request, the resultant parameter set to be utilized by the ED for bi-directional communication with the IMD.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining operation includes selecting multiple predefined parameter sets associated with the pre-existing configuration identified.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining operation including selecting the resultant parameter set based on a highest of at least one of a success rate or a data transfer rate.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the collection of the predefined parameter sets represent a collection for at least one of connectivity parameters or data transfer parameters.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the connection parameters include at least one of connection retry timeout, inter-connect retry timeout, or supervision timeout, and the data transfer parameters include at least one of maximum interval, minimum interval, latency, supervision timeout.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the collection of predefined parameter sets include at least first and second predefined parameter sets for at least first and second battery conditions of the IMD, respectively, the request including a battery condition indication, the determining operation determining one of the first and second predefined parameter sets based on the battery condition indication.

7. A computer implemented method for managing bi-directional communication between an external device (ED) and an implantable medical device (IMD), the method comprising:

performing a connection operation and a data transfer operation between the ED and the IMD;

determining, at the ED, a connection performance measure in connection with the connection operation;

determining, at the ED, a transfer performance measure in connection with the data transfer operation; and

transferring the connection and transfer performance measures from the ED to at least one of a local base station and a communications management resource.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the connection and data transfer operations are performed in accordance with a self-calibration test.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the connection operation includes detecting, at the ED, an advertisement transmitted from the IMD during a connection window, the transfer performance measure represents an indication of a connection success rate during the connection window.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the data transfer operation includes detecting, at the ED, an amount of data transferred from the IMD during a data transfer interval, the connection performance measure representing an indication of a data transfer rate.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the performing and determining operations are repeated multiple times to obtain cumulative connection and transfer performance measures based on multiple connection operations and multiple data transfer operations.

12. A system for managing bi-directional communication between an external device (ED) and an implantable medical device (IMD), the system comprising:

memory to store a collection of pre-existing configurations having an associated collection of predefined parameter sets, the memory to store program instructions;

one or more processors that, when executing the program instructions, are configured to;

receive an active ED configuration and a request for communications parameters to be used with the active ED configuration;

identify a pre-existing configuration, from the collection of pre-existing configurations, that matches the active ED configuration;

determine a resultant parameter set from the collection of predefined parameter sets based on the pre-existing configuration identified; and

return the resultant parameter set in connection with the request, the resultant parameter set to be utilized by the ED for bi-directional communication with the IMD.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the pre-existing configuration is associated with first and second predefined parameter sets, the first and second resultant parameter sets having first and second performance measures, respectively, the determine operation including to select the first or second predefined parameter set based on which of the first and second performance measures is higher.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the first and second performance measures correspond to at least one of a connection success rate or a data transfer rate.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the active ED configuration includes at least two of geographic region, ED manufacturer, ED model, operating system version, RF chipset, RF stack/driver version, WiFi on/off state, and/or external power source connected to the ED.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the determine operation includes to search a table stored in the memory, the table including the collection of pre-existing configurations for a plurality of ED, the table including the collection of predefined parameter sets and associated performance measures.

17. A computer program product comprising a non-signal computer readable storage medium comprising computer executable code to perform:

performing a connection operation and a data transfer operation between an external device (ED) and an implantable medical device (IMD);

determining, at the ED, a connection performance measure in connection with the connection operation;

determining, at the ED, a transfer performance measure in connection with the data transfer operation; and

transferring the connection and transfer performance measures from the ED to at least one of a local base station and a communications management resource.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the connection and data transfer operations are performed in accordance with a self-calibration test.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the connection operation includes detecting, at the ED, an advertisement transmitted from the IMD during a connection window, the connection performance measure represents an indication of a connection success rate during the connection window.

20. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the data transfer operation includes detecting, at the ED, an amount of data transferred from the IMD during a data transfer interval, the connection performance measure representing an indication of a data transfer rate.