Methods and systems for improved communication between medical devices

Abstract

At least one of a first medical device and a second medical device may be implanted within a patient while the second medical device may optionally be proximate but external to the patient. At least one of the medical devices has an antenna having at least two electrodes and at least one of the medical devices has an antenna having at least three electrodes. The medical devices can communicate via conducted communication through the patient's tissue between a first pair of electrodes and a second pair of electrodes. At least one of the pairs of electrodes can be selected in accordance with the signal strength of the communication vector between the first and second pairs of electrodes.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of communicating between a first medical device having a first antenna and a second medical device having a second antenna, wherein the first medical device is implanted within a patient and the second medical device is proximate to the patient, and wherein the first antenna and/or the second antenna has at least three electrodes and the other antenna has at least two electrodes, the method comprising:
 selecting a first electrode pair of the antenna that has at least three electrodes;   at least one of sending and receiving a conducted communication signal through tissue of the patient between the first electrode pair of the antenna that has at least three electrodes and two of the electrodes of the other antenna;   selecting a second electrode pair of the antenna that has at least three electrodes, wherein the second electrode pair is different from the first electrode pair; and   sending a conducted communication signal through tissue of the patient between the second electrode pair of the antenna that has at least three electrodes and two electrodes of the other antenna.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 monitoring a measure related to a signal to noise ratio of the conducted communication signal using the first electrode pair;   if the measure related to a signal to noise ratio of the conducted communication signal using the first electrode pair falls below a threshold, then:
 selecting the second electrode pair of the antenna that has at least three electrodes; and 
 sending the conducted communication signal through tissue of the patient between the second electrode pair of the antenna that has at least three electrodes and the two electrodes of the other antenna. 
   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining a first measure related to a signal to noise ratio of the conducted communication signal using the first electrode pair;   determining a second measure related to a signal to noise ratio of the conducted communication signal using the second electrode pair; and   selecting the first electrode pair or the second electrode pair for subsequent communication based on the first measure and the second measure.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second medical device is implanted within the patient but spaced from the first medical device. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second medical device is disposed outside of the patient and the second antenna is positioned on a skin surface of the patient. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the antenna that has at least three electrodes comprises three electrodes that are arranged in a triangular configuration. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the antenna that has at least three electrodes comprises four electrodes that are arranged in a rectangular configuration. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the antenna that has at least three electrodes comprises four electrodes that are arranged in a kite configuration. 
     
     
         9 . A method of communicating between a first medical device having a first antenna with at least two electrodes and a second medical device having a second antenna with at least three electrodes, the method comprising:
 testing communication vectors between the at least two electrodes of the first antenna and each of a plurality of pairs of electrodes of the at least three electrodes of the second antenna;   selecting a communication vector based on signal strengths of each of the communication vectors; and   at least one of sending and receiving a conducted communication between the first medical device and the second medical device using the selected communication vector.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the first medical device comprises an implanted medical device and the second medical device comprises an external device. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the first medical device comprises an external device and the second medical device comprises an implanted medical device. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the first medical device comprises a first implanted medical device and the second medical device comprises a second implanted medical device. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein selecting a communication vector comprises selecting the communication vector with the strongest signal strength. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein selecting a communication vector comprises not selecting the communication vector with the weakest signal strength. 
     
     
         15 . A communication system, comprising:
 a first medical device in communication with a first antenna having at least two electrodes; and   a second medical device in communication with a second antenna having at least three electrodes;   wherein at least one of the first medical device and the second medical device is configured to:
 test communication vectors between the at least two electrodes of the first antenna and at least two pairs of the at least three electrodes of the second antenna; 
 select a communication vector from the tested communication vectors; and 
 at least one of send and receive a conducted communication along the selected communication vector. 
   
     
     
         16 . The communication system of  claim 15 , wherein the at least three electrodes comprise three electrodes that are arranged in a triangular configuration. 
     
     
         17 . The communication system of  claim 15 , wherein the at least three electrodes comprise four electrodes that are arranged in a rectangular configuration. 
     
     
         18 . The communication system of  claim 15 , wherein the at least three electrodes comprise four electrodes that are arranged in a kite configuration. 
     
     
         19 . The communication system of  claim 15 , wherein at least one of the first medical device and the second medical device are implanted within a patient. 
     
     
         20 . The communication system of  claim 15 , wherein the first medical device is a leadless cardiac pacemaker (LCP).