Touch screen safety controls for clinician programmer

1. A medical system, comprising:

an implantable medical device configurable to deliver a medical therapy to a patient, the medical therapy including a plurality of configurable therapy parameters; and

an electronic programmer communicatively coupled to the medical device, wherein the electronic programmer is programmable to configure the therapy parameters of the medical therapy, and wherein the electronic programmer includes a touch-sensitive user interface configured to perform the following actions:

displaying one or more virtual objects that represent initiating and terminating a delivery of the medical therapy to the patient;

sensing, from a user, an actuation of the one or more virtual objects;

terminating the delivery of the medical therapy immediately when the actuation of the one or more virtual objects corresponds to terminating the delivery of the medical therapy;

initiating the delivery of the medical therapy in a delayed manner when the actuation of the one or more virtual objects corresponds to starting the delivery of the medical therapy;

preventing a prospective upper limit of one of the therapy parameters from being configured to be less than a current value of the therapy parameter;

preventing a prospective lower limit of one of the therapy parameters from being configured to be greater than the current value of the therapy parameter

monitoring a battery level of the electronic programmer; and

performing at least one of the following tasks when the battery level is lower than a target battery level:

disallowing programming of the electronic programmer;

terminating the delivery of an existing medical therapy; and

precluding the delivery of a prospective medical therapy.

2. The medical system of claim 1 , wherein the actions further comprise: configuring one of the therapy parameters so a value of the therapy parameter is adjusted one predefined step at a time, wherein each step corresponds to a separate user input.

3. The medical system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more virtual objects comprise a start/stop virtual button.

4. The medical system of claim 3 , wherein the actuation of the one or more virtual objects comprises a press of the start/stop button.

5. The medical system of claim 4 , wherein the sensing comprises measuring how long the start/stop button is pressed.

6. The medical system of claim 5 , wherein the initiating the delivery of the medical therapy in a delayed manner comprises delaying the delivery of the medical therapy until after the start/stop button has been continuously pressed for a predefined length of time.

7. The medical system of claim 1 , wherein the electronic programmer is coupled to the medical device through a wireless telecommunications protocol.

8. The medical system of claim 1 , wherein:

the electronic device includes a portable handheld clinician programmer;

the user includes a medical professional; and

the medical device includes an implantable pulse generator.

9. The medical system of claim 1 , wherein the performing the at least one of the following tasks comprises:

performing a first subset of the tasks when the battery level is lower than a first target battery level but greater than a second target battery level; and

performing a second subset of the tasks when the battery level is lower than the second target battery level.

10. A method of providing safety controls for an electronic programmer configured to program an implantable medical device, comprising:

receiving a request, from a user via a touch screen interface of the electronic programmer, to start or stop an electrical stimulation program;

determining whether the user intends to start the electrical stimulation program or to stop the electrical stimulation program;

when it has been determined that the user intends to start the electrical stimulation program, starting the electrical stimulation program when the request indicates that the touch screen interface has been engaged by the user for a period of time exceeding a predefined threshold;

when it has been determined that the user intends to stop the electrical stimulation program, stopping the electrical stimulation program immediately;

querying a battery level of the electronic programmer; and

performing at least one of the following actions when the battery level obtained by the querying is less than a predefined battery level: disabling programming of the electronic programmer, stopping an electrical stimulation program in progress, and preventing activation of a prospective electrical stimulation program.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising: incrementing or decrementing a value of a stimulation parameter of the electrical stimulation program one predefined step at a time, wherein each incrementing or decrementing is invoked after a separate user action.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein each separate user action includes a re-engagement of the touch screen interface by the user.

13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

preventing the user from setting an upper limit of a stimulation parameter of the electrical stimulation program to a value less than an existing value of the stimulation parameter; and

preventing the user from setting a lower limit of the stimulation parameter of the electrical stimulation program to a value greater than the existing value of the stimulation parameter.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the receiving includes detecting a user gesture performed on the touch screen interface.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the determining comprises:

deciding that the user intends to start the electrical stimulation program when no electrical stimulation program is in progress; and

determining the user intends to stop the electrical stimulation program when at least one electrical stimulation program is in progress.

16. The method of claim 10 , wherein:

the electronic programmer is a portable handheld clinician programmer; and

the user is a medical professional.

17. The method of claim 10 , further comprising: repeating the querying at periodic time intervals.

18. The method of claim 10 , wherein the performing the at least one of the following actions comprises:

performing a first subset of the actions when the battery level is less than a first predefined battery level but greater than a second predefined battery level; and

performing a second subset of the actions when the battery level is less than the second predefined battery level.

19. An electronic programmer for programming an implantable medical device to provide a medical therapy for a patient, the electronic programmer comprising:

a user interface for communicating with a user;

a memory storage for storing executable instructions; and

a computer processor for executing the instructions to perform operations that include:

displaying one or more virtual objects that represent initiating and terminating a delivery of the medical therapy to the patient, wherein the one or more virtual objects comprise a start/stop virtual button;

sensing, from the user, an actuation of the one or more virtual objects via a press of the start/stop button, wherein the sensing comprises measuring how long the start/stop button is pressed;

terminating the delivery of the medical therapy immediately when the actuation of the one or more virtual objects corresponds to terminating the delivery of the medical therapy;

initiating the delivery of the medical therapy in a delayed manner when the actuation of the one or more virtual objects corresponds to starting the delivery of the medical therapy, wherein the initiating the delivery of the medical therapy in a delayed manner comprises delaying the delivery of the medical therapy until after the start/stop button has been continuously pressed for a predefined length of time;

monitoring a battery level of the electronic programmer; and

performing at least one of the following tasks when the battery level is lower than a target battery level:

disallowing programming of the electronic programmer;

terminating the delivery of an existing medical therapy; and

precluding the delivery of a prospective medical therapy.

20. The electronic programmer of claim 19 , wherein the medical therapy has a plurality of therapy parameters, and wherein the operations further comprise:

configuring one of the therapy parameters so a value of the therapy parameter is adjusted one predefined step at a time, wherein each step corresponds to a separate user input;

preventing a prospective upper limit of one of the therapy parameters from being configured to be less than a current value of the therapy parameter; and

preventing a prospective lower limit of one of the therapy parameters from being configured to be greater than the current value of the therapy parameter.