US-12616841-B2 - Implantable medical device for detecting acoustic communication signals and acoustic biometric signals

US12616841B2US 12616841 B2US12616841 B2US 12616841B2US-12616841-B2

Abstract

In some examples, a medical device system includes an implantable medical device (IMD) configured to be implanted underneath a skin of a patient, the IMD comprising: acoustic receiving circuitry configured to: receive one or more acoustic communication signals; and receive one or more acoustic biometric signals from the patient. The medical device system includes communication circuitry configured for wireless communication according to a communication protocol. Additionally, the medical device system includes processing circuitry configured to: receive, via the acoustic receiving circuitry, a sequence of acoustic communication signals that are separate from the one or more acoustic biometric signals; decode the sequence of acoustic communication signals to identify one or more requested actions; and control the IMD to perform the one or more requested actions.

Inventors

Eric A. SCHILLING
Xusheng Zhang

Assignees

MEDTRONIC, INC.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20231115

Claims (20)

1 . A medical device system comprising: an implantable medical device (IMD) configured to be implanted underneath a skin of a patient, the IMD comprising: acoustic receiving circuitry configured to: receive one or more acoustic communication signals; and receive one or more acoustic biometric signals from the patient, the one or more acoustic biometric signals representing sounds caused by physiological functions of the patient; and communication circuitry configured for wireless communication according to a communication protocol; and processing circuitry configured to: receive, via the acoustic receiving circuitry, a sequence of acoustic communication signals of the one or more acoustic communication signals that are separate from the one or more acoustic biometric signals; decode the sequence of acoustic communication signals to identify one or more requested actions; and control the IMD to perform the one or more requested actions.
2 . The medical device system of claim 1 , wherein to decode the sequence of acoustic communication signals, the processing circuitry is configured to determine that the sequence of acoustic communication signals comprise a request to establish a communication link between the IMD and one or more other devices, and wherein the processing circuitry is configured to: transition the communication circuitry from operating at a low-power mode to operating at a high-power mode to enable communication according to the communication protocol; and establish the communication link between the IMD and the one or more other devices according to the communication protocol.
3 . The medical device system of claim 2 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: receive, via the communication link, a request to terminate the communication link; and transition the communication circuitry from operating at the high-power mode to operating at the low-power mode.
4 . The medical device system of claim 1 , wherein the sequence of acoustic communication signals comprises a first sequence of acoustic communication signals, and wherein the IMD further comprises acoustic transmission circuitry configured to generate one or more acoustic signals for output that are separate from the first sequence of acoustic communication signals.
5 . The medical device system of claim 4 , wherein to decode the first sequence of acoustic communication signals, the processing circuitry is further configured to: determine that the first sequence of acoustic communication signals comprises a request to provide status information corresponding to the IMD, and wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to control the acoustic transmission circuitry to generate a second sequence of acoustic communication signals for output, wherein the second sequence of acoustic communication signals comprises the status information corresponding to the IMD.
6 . The medical device system of claim 1 , wherein to decode the sequence of acoustic communication signals, the processing circuitry is further configured to: determine that the sequence of acoustic communication signals comprises a request to update one or more parameters of the IMD, and wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to update, based on the request to update one or more parameters of the IMD, the one or more parameters of the IMD.
7 . The medical device system of claim 6 , wherein the request to update the one or more parameters of the IMD comprises a request to implement a therapy mode, and wherein the processing circuitry is configured to implement the therapy mode based on the request to implement the therapy mode.
8 . The medical device system of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: receive, via the acoustic receiving circuitry, a set of acoustic biometric signals that are separate from the one or more acoustic communication signals; and process the set of acoustic biometric signals in order to monitor one or more patient conditions.
9 . The medical device system of claim 8 , wherein the set of acoustic biometric signals comprise heart sounds from a heart of the patient, and wherein the processing circuitry is configured to process the heart sounds of the patient in order to determine whether a heart failure condition of the patient is worsening.
10 . The medical device system of claim 1 , wherein the IMD further comprises stimulation generation circuitry configured to generate one or more stimulation pulses for delivery to the patient via one or more electrodes, and wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: determine, based on the one or more acoustic biometric signals from the patient, one or more stimulation parameters; and control the stimulation generation circuitry to deliver one or more stimulation pulses to the patient via the one or more electrodes according to the one or more stimulation parameters.
11 . The medical device system of claim 1 , wherein the IMD comprises an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD).
12 . The medical device system of claim 1 , further comprising an external device configured to send the sequence of acoustic communication signals to the IMD.
13 . A method comprising: receiving, by processing circuitry via acoustic receiving circuitry, a sequence of acoustic communication signals of one or more acoustic communication signals that are separate from one or more acoustic biometric signals, wherein the one or more acoustic biometric signals represent sounds caused by physiological functions of a patient, wherein an implantable medical device (IMD) configured to be implanted underneath a skin of a patient comprises the acoustic receiving circuitry configured to receive the one or more acoustic communication signals and receive the one or more acoustic biometric signals from the patient, and wherein the IMD comprises communication circuitry configured for wireless communication according to a communication protocol; decoding, by the processing circuitry, the sequence of acoustic communication signals to identify one or more requested actions; and controlling, by the processing circuitry, the IMD to perform the one or more requested actions.
14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein decoding the sequence of acoustic communication signals comprises determining that the sequence of acoustic communication signals comprise a request to establish a communication link between the IMD and one or more other devices, and wherein the method further comprises: transitioning, by the processing circuitry, the communication circuitry from operating at a low-power mode to operating at a high-power mode to enable communication according to the communication protocol; and establishing, by the communication circuitry, the communication link between the IMD and the one or more other devices according to the communication protocol.
15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the method further comprises: receiving, by the processing circuitry via the communication link, a request to terminate the communication link; and transitioning, by the processing circuitry, the communication circuitry from operating at the high-power mode to operating at the low-power mode.
16 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the sequence of acoustic communication signals comprises a first sequence of acoustic communication signals, and wherein the IMD further comprises acoustic transmission circuitry configured to generate one or more acoustic signals for output that are separate from the first sequence of acoustic communication signals.
17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein decoding the first sequence of acoustic communication signals comprises: determining that the first sequence of acoustic communication signals comprises a request to provide status information corresponding to the IMD, and wherein the method further comprises controlling, by the processing circuitry, the acoustic transmission circuitry to generate a second sequence of acoustic communication signals, wherein the second sequence of acoustic communication signals comprises the status information corresponding to the IMD.
18 . The method of claim 13 , wherein decoding the sequence of acoustic communication signals comprises: determining that the sequence of acoustic communication signals comprises a request to update one or more parameters of the IMD, and wherein the method further comprises updating, by the processing circuitry based on the request to update one or more parameters of the IMD, the one or more parameters of the IMD.
19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the request to update the one or more parameters of the IMD comprises a request to implement a therapy mode, and wherein the method further comprises implementing, by the processing circuitry, the therapy mode based on the request to implement the therapy mode.
20 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions for causing one or more processors to: receive, via acoustic receiving circuitry, a sequence of acoustic communication signals of one or more acoustic communication signals that are separate from one or more acoustic biometric signals, wherein the one or more acoustic biometric signals represent sounds caused by physiological functions of a patient wherein an implantable medical device (IMD) configured to be implanted underneath a skin of a patient comprises the acoustic receiving circuitry configured to receive the one or more acoustic communication signals and receive the one or more acoustic biometric signals from the patient, and wherein the IMD comprises communication circuitry configured for wireless communication according to a communication protocol; decode the sequence of acoustic communication signals to identify one or more requested actions; and control the IMD to perform the one or more requested actions.

Description

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/481,079, filed on Jan. 23, 2023, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD The present application relates to implantable medical devices and, more particularly, implantable medical devices configured to communicate wirelessly with one or more other devices. BACKGROUND Implantable medical devices (IMDs) may be surgically implanted in a patient to monitor one or more physiological parameters of the patient and/or deliver therapy to suppress one or more symptoms of the patient. For example, an IMD may include a cardiac monitor, be configured to deliver cardiac pacing or another electrical therapy to the patient, and/or be configured to terminate tachyarrhythmia by delivery of high energy shocks. A clinician or patient may use an external device to retrieve information collected by the IMD and/or to configure or adjust one or more parameters of the monitoring and/or therapy provided by the IMD. Typically, the external device connects to the IMD via a wireless connection. In some examples, a wireless connection is established between the external device and the IMD using a Bluetooth® wireless protocol. In such an example, the external device may be treated as a central device, and one or more IMDs are treated as peripheral devices. In some examples, IMDs may include acoustic circuitry configured to sense one or more physiological acoustic signals. Processing circuitry may analyze the one or more physiological acoustic signals to monitor one or more patient conditions and/or determine one or more therapy parameters. For example, physiological acoustic signals may include heart sounds that indicate one or more parameters of the patient's cardiac function. SUMMARY In general, the disclosure is directed to devices, systems, and techniques for communicating with an implantable medical device (IMD) via acoustic circuitry when communication circuitry of the IMD is disabled, offline, powered down, or otherwise unable to send and receive communications. For example, the IMD may be configured to communicate with one or more other devices via the communication circuitry according to a communication protocol (e.g., a Bluetooth® wireless protocol). Since communication circuitry may draw a considerable amount of energy, it may be beneficial to transition communication circuitry to an offline mode or a low-power mode when the communication circuitry is not in use. But when the communication circuitry is offline or in a low-power mode, other devices might not be able to communicate with the IMD via the communication circuitry according to the communication protocol. One or more techniques described herein may include transmitting and/or receiving one or more acoustic messages via acoustic circuitry of the IMD, thus enabling communication even when the communication circuitry is not in use. In some examples, it may be beneficial for an IMD to be small in size. Smaller IMDs may require less invasive implant procedures and cause less discomfort to the patient as compared with larger IMDs, but smaller IMDs have less room for communication circuitry as compared with larger IMDs. This means that while a larger IMD may include separate communication circuitry configured for “waking up” main communication circuitry according to a proprietary communication protocol and/or communicating with the device while the main communication circuitry is offline, a smaller IMD might not include separate communication circuitry. An IMD may include one or more sensors (e.g., electrodes, accelerometers, optical sensors, acoustic sensors) configured to collect patient data for analysis. One or more of these sensors may be configured to sense signals from sources that are separate from patient physiological signals. For example, the one or more sensors may detect communication signals from another device. Additionally, or alternatively, the one or more other sensors may detect signals from other sources, such as a human voice (e.g., the patient's voice). The techniques of this disclosure may provide one or more advantages. For example, an IMD may include communication circuitry configured to communicate with one or more other devices according to a communication protocol, but the IMD may transition the communication circuitry to an offline mode or a low-power mode in some cases to preserve energy and extend a longevity of a power source of the IMD. This means that it might not be possible for the IMD to communicate according to the communication protocol while the communication circuitry is offline. The IMD may include acoustic receiving circuitry that is configured to detect one or more acoustic biometric signals of the patient (e.g., heart sounds). The acoustic receiving circuitry is also configured to receive acoustic communication signals, meaning that the IMD may receive communications from external sources even when the communi