Multichannel communication for implantable medical device applications

• US 7,742,816 B2
• Filed: 03/31/2006
• Issued: 06/22/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Medtronic Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Medtronic Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Fuller, Christopher C., Masoud, Javaid
• Primary Examiner(s): Getzow; Scott M
• Application Number:
  US11/278,176
• Publication Number:
  US 20070239229A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,544 Days
• Field of Search: 607 30- 32, 607/59, 607/60
• US Class Current: 607/32
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0017 transmitting optical signals transmission by light H04B10/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0024 for multiple sensor units attached to the patient, e.g. using a body or personal area network
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0031 Implanted circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0215 by means inserted into the body catheters A61M25/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/053 Measuring electrical impedance or conductance of a portion of the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/11 Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb for measuring pulse A61B5/02 ;A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/145 Measuring characteristics of blood in vivo, e.g. gas concentration, pH value; Measuring characteristics of body fluids or tissues, e.g. interstitial fluid, cerebral tissuemeasuring of blood pressure or blood flow A61B5/02; non-radiation detecting or locating of foreign bodies in blood A61B5/06
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/3727 characterised by the modulation technique
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/37288 Communication to several implantable medical devices within one patient
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/00 Modulated-carrier systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/10 Small scale networks; Flat hierarchical networks

Abstract

An implantable medical device (“IMD”) as described herein is configured to support concurrent multichannel data communication with one or more other devices within a body area network corresponding to a patient. The IMD, and possibly other devices within the body area network, can support the multichannel communication with any number of additional IMDs implanted within the body of the same patient. Moreover, one or more of the concurrent data communication channels may be a full-duplex channel. Example embodiments can be flexibly configured to support different data communication protocols and/or different modulation schemes as needed to suit the particular application or operating environment.

Claims

1. An implantable medical device (“

IMD”

) configured for operation within the body of a patient, and further configured for operation with a plurality of different medical devices within a body area network corresponding to the patient, the IMD comprising;

a wireless communication module configured to support wireless telemetry communication with the plurality of different medical devices; and

a wireless telemetry antenna arrangement coupled to the wireless communication module, the wireless telemetry antenna arrangement being configured to support wireless telemetry communication with the plurality of different medical devices;

wherein

the wireless communication module and the wireless telemetry antenna arrangement being configured to establish and maintain simultaneous wireless multichannel telemetry communication with the plurality of different medical devices.

2. An IMD according to claim 1, the wireless telemetry antenna arrangement comprising a plurality of wireless telemetry antennas.

3. An IMD according to claim 1, the wireless communication module and the wireless telemetry antenna arrangement being configured to establish and maintain simultaneous wireless multichannel telemetry communication with the at least one medical device using a single carrier frequency.

4. An IMD according to claim 3, wherein the single carrier frequency is between about 401 MHz and 406 MHz.

5. An IMD according to claim 1, the wireless communication module and the wireless telemetry antenna arrangement being configured to establish and maintain simultaneous full-duplex wireless multichannel telemetry communication with the at least one medical device.

6. An IMD according to claim 1, the wireless communication module comprising multiple transceivers.

7. An IMD according to claim 1, the wireless communication module and the wireless telemetry antenna arrangement being configured to establish and maintain simultaneous wireless multichannel telemetry communication with the at least one medical device using a frequency division multiple access protocol.

8. IMD according to claim 1, the wireless communication module and the wireless telemetry antenna arrangement being configured to establish and maintain simultaneous wireless multichannel bidirectional telemetry communication with the at least one medical device.

9. An IMD according to claim 1, the wireless communication module and the wireless telemetry antenna arrangement being configured to maintain a first wireless telemetry communication channel with the at least one medical device using a first wireless data communication protocol, and to simultaneously maintain a second wireless telemetry communication channel with the at least one medical device using a second wireless data communication protocol that is different than the first wireless data communication protocol.

10. An IMD according to claim 1, the wireless communication module and the wireless telemetry antenna arrangement being configured to maintain a first wireless telemetry communication channel with the at least one medical device using a first modulation scheme, and to maintain a second wireless telemetry communication channel with the at least one medical device using a second modulation scheme that is different than the first modulation scheme.

11. A medical device body area network for a patient, the body area network comprising:

a plurality of medical devices located within close proximity of the patient; and

an implantable medical device (“

IMD”

) configured for operation within the body of the patient, and configured to wirelessly communicate with the plurality of medical devices, the IMD comprising;

a wireless communication module configured to support wireless telemetry communication with the plurality of medical devices; and

a wireless telemetry antenna arrangement coupled to the wireless communication module, the wireless telemetry antenna arrangement being configured to support wireless telemetry communication with the plurality of medical devices;

wherein

the wireless communication module and the wireless telemetry antenna arrangement being configured to establish and maintain simultaneous wireless multichannel telemetry communication with the plurality of medical devices; and

the wireless communication module and the wireless telemetry antenna arrangement being configured to maintain a first wireless telemetry communication channel with one of the plurality of medical devices using a first wireless data communication protocol, and to simultaneously maintain a second wireless telemetry communication channel with another one of the plurality of medical devices using a second wireless data communication protocol that is different than the first wireless data communication protocol.

12. A medical device body area network according to claim 11, the plurality of medical devices comprising a second IMD configured for operation within the body of the patient.

13. A medical device body area network according to claim 11, the plurality of medical devices comprising a non-implanted device.

14. A medical device body area network according to claim 11, the wireless communication module and the wireless telemetry antenna arrangement being configured to establish and maintain simultaneous full-duplex wireless multichannel telemetry communication with the plurality of medical devices.

15. A medical device body area network according to claim 11, the wireless communication module and the wireless telemetry antenna arrangement being configured to maintain the first wireless telemetry communication channel with the at least one medical device using a first modulation scheme, and to maintain the second wireless telemetry communication channel with the at least one medical device using a second modulation scheme that is different than the first modulation scheme.

16. A data communication method for an implantable medical device (“

IMD”

) configured for operation within the body of a patient, and configured for operation with a plurality of medical devices within a body area network corresponding to the patient, the method comprising;

storing device identifiers corresponding to the plurality of medical devices, each of the device identifiers being linked to respective modulation schemes and wireless data communication protocols for the plurality of medical devices;

selecting, based on the device identifiers corresponding to the plurality of medical devices, one of the respective modulation schemes and one of the wireless data communication protocols for each of a plurality of wireless telemetry communication channels associated with the plurality of medical devices, the selecting step resulting in selected modulation schemes and selected wireless data communication protocols;

establishing the plurality of wireless telemetry communication channels using the selected modulation schemes and the selected wireless data communication protocols; and

maintaining simultaneous wireless multichannel telemetry communication with the plurality of medical devices using the plurality of wireless telemetry communication channels.