Implant access in the medical implant communications service band
A system and method for providing communications between a hub (medical controller) and a node (an implant) are disclosed. The hub selects an operating channel within a channel group in accordance with applicable regulations, and transmits signals to facilitate communications with nodes. A node sequentially tunes to individual channels within the group, monitoring each channel for a hub transmission during a monitoring period. If a hub transmission is detected, the node stays on the current channel. Otherwise, the node tunes to a next channel in the channel group. The hub transmission may be directed to unconnected nodes, to a single connected node, or to a group of connected nodes. The node transmits a first frame to the hub at a designated transmission time and receives a response. The node reports an emergency by sequentially transmitting emergency frames on each of the channels until receiving an acknowledgment from the hub.
1. A method, comprising:
selecting, by a hub, an operating channel from channel group;
sequentially transmitting, by the hub, poll frames on the operating channel at a poll interval including a poll frame transmission time (pMICSUnconnectedPollTxTime) plus twice an inter frame space (pSIFS) plus a frame preamble time (pMICSPreambleTxTime); and
transmitting, by the hub, an acknowledgment frame (Ack) upon receiving a node transmission, from a node responding to at least one of the poll frames.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the poll frames includes unconnected timed poll frames addressed to unconnected nodes, and the node transmission includes a management frame (M-frame) of one of the unconnected nodes.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the poll frames includes unicast poll frames addressed to a connected node, the unicast poll frames providing an immediate polled allocation for the connected node to transmit a frame.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: transmitting a timed poll frame to provide an allocation to the node for transmissions.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the sequentially transmitting includes sequentially transmitting, by the hub, a predetermined number (pMICSUnconnectedPolls) of the poll frames within a period (pMICSUnconnectedPollPeriod); and
the pMICSUnconnectedPolls is associated with a predetermined number of channels (pMICSChannelTotal) within the channel group, a predetermined listen period (pMICSUnconnectedPollRxTime) of an unconnected node, and a predetermined channel switch time (pMICSChannelSwitchTime) of the unconnected node.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the pMICSUnconnectedPollPeriod is greater than a multiplication of the poll interval and the the pMICSUnconnectedPolls.
7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the pMICSUnconnectedPollPeriod is based on a connection latency between the hub and the unconnected node, a power consumption, and a channel utilization efficiency.
8. A network hub, comprising:
a transceiver for transmitting and receiving signals;
a memory maintaining a channel group; and
a processor coupled to the transceiver and the memory, and adapted to:
selecting an operating channel from the channel group;
sequentially transmitting poll frames on the operating channel at a poll interval including a poll frame transmission time (pMICSUnconnectedPollTxTime) plus twice an inter frame space (pSIFS) plus a frame preamble time (pMICSPreambleTxTime); and
transmitting an acknowledgment frame (Ack) upon receiving a node transmission from a node responding to at least one of the poll frames.
9. The network hub of claim 8 , wherein the poll frames includes unconnected timed poll frames addressed to unconnected nodes, and the node transmission includes a management frame (M-frame) of one of the unconnected nodes.
10. The network hub of claim 8 , wherein the poll frames includes unicast poll frames addressed to a connected node, the unicast poll frames providing an immediate polled allocation for the connected node to transmit a frame.
11. The network hub of claim 8 , wherein the process is adapted to transmit a timed poll frame to provide an allocation to the node for transmissions.
12. The network hub of claim 8 , wherein:
the sequentially transmitting includes sequentially transmitting, by the hub, a predetermined number (pMICSUnconnectedPolls) of the poll frames within a period (pMICSUnconnectedPollPeriod); and
the pMICSUnconnectedPolls is associated with a predetermined number of channels (pMICSChannelTotal) within the channel group, a predetermined listen period (pMICSUnconnectedPollRxTime) of an unconnected node, and a predetermined channel switch time (pMICSChannelSwitchTime) of the unconnected node.
13. The network hub of claim 8 , wherein the pMICSUnconnectedPollPeriod is greater than a multiplication of the poll interval and the the pMICSUnconnectedPolls.
14. The network hub of claim 8 , wherein the pMICSUnconnectedPollPeriod is based on a connection latency between the hub and the unconnected node, a power consumption, and a channel utilization efficiency.