Apparatus and method for remote troubleshooting, maintenance and upgrade of implantable device systems

• US 6,442,433 B1
• Filed: 10/26/1999
• Issued: 08/27/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Medtronic Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Medtronic Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Linberg, Kurt R.
• Primary Examiner(s): EVANISKO, GEORGE ROBERT
• Application Number:
  US09/426,741
• Publication Number:
  US 20020032470A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,036 Days
• Field of Search: 607/30-32, 607/59-60, 128/903-904, 128/920
• US Class Current: 607/60
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/37282 characterised by communication with experts in remote locations using a network
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/40 for the management of medical equipment or devices, e.g. scheduling maintenance or upgrades
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 90/10 Information and communication technologies [ICT] supporting adaptation to climate change, e.g. for weather forecasting or climate simulation

Abstract

A programmer operating in association with a diverse number of implantable medical devices (IMDs) is in a bi-directional operable data, voice and video communications with a remote web-based expert data center. The programmer is in telemetric wireless communications with the IMDs. The data center is equipped to manage the operational and functional aspects of the programmer remotely thus importing expertise to the patient environment. Specifically the communications scheme is scalable and adaptable to enable high-speed interactions between the programmer and the remote center across various communications media. The remote center is able to remotely assess, monitor, evaluate for failure or conduct other performance checks on the programmer to implement a remote solution to those problems. Specifically, by utilizing the robust communication scheme integrated with the remote web-based expert data center, the system enables a real-time deployment of executable software commands to manage the programmer by remotely monitoring, updating software, performing remote repairs or replacement of components and alerting operators to significant problems before they become critical to the optimal performance and reliability of the programmer.

Claims

1. A bi-directional communication system for remotely monitoring the operational condition of a medical device programmer, comprising:

a medical device programmer;

data processing software embedded in the medical device programmer, said data processing software compiling a log of medical device programmer status data comprising usage statistics, error information, and component status information;

a data communications network;

a remote expert data center connectable to the medical device programmer over said data communications network to access the log of medical device programmer status data, wherein said remote expert data center downloads the log of medical device programmer status data from the medical device programmer; and

data processing software resident in the expert data center to analyze the log of medical device programmer status data downloaded from the programmer.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the communications network is an Internet connection and wherein the remote expert data center is connectable to the programmer over said Internet connection.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein log of component status information downloaded from the programmer comprises time of operation of programmer components;

said data processing software resident in the remote expert data center comprises estimated mean time to failure statistics and makes a comparison of the time of operation of programmer components with estimated mean time to failure statistics.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein log of error information downloaded from the programmer is analyzed by said data processing software resident in the remote expert data center to identify a potential problem.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the expert data center data processing software initiates a remote software deployment to the programmer upon identification of a potential problem.