Patent ID: 9158890
Filing Date: 2015-10-13
Classification: A61B,A61N,G16H,G16Z

Abstract:
1. A method comprising: applying, by a system comprising a cardiac pacemaker and an externally wearable monitor, a standard interval clock of the cardiac pacemaker to stimulate a heartbeat; receiving, by the system, a signal from an internal device separate from the cardiac pacemaker, the cardiac pacemaker and the internal device both disposed within a patient's body, the internal device electrically coupled to the cardiac pacemaker, the signal representing information regarding a measurable aspect of the patient's body; modifying, by the system, a standard interval of the standard interval clock by adding or subtracting a subinterval to generate a modified interval to represent a binary digit, thereby encoding the information as an encoded binary message; stimulating, by the system, a heart muscle according to the modified interval to cause a pulse at the modified interval including the encoded binary message; and monitoring, by the system, the pulse to measure timing of the pulse to distinguish modified and unmodified pulse intervals and thereby receive the encoded binary message; and displaying, by the system, a decoded message including the information, wherein the monitor comprises a decoder for generating the decoded message or a memory for storing the encoded binary message for subsequent transmission to a decoding device remote from the monitor, wherein the monitoring is performed according to a predetermined schedule using a systolic blood pressure sensor of the externally wearable monitor, wherein the monitoring comprises performing an error checking procedure whereby an information content of the binary message is reduced, and wherein an error is characterized by contraction of the heart muscle at a rate other than that provided by the pacemaker, wherein the measurable aspect comprises a level of sugar, cholesterol, insulin, iron, or any combination thereof, wherein a lengthened modified interval generated by adding the subinterval to the standard interval represents a first binary value, and a shortened modified interval generated by subtracting the subinterval from the standard interval represents a second binary value that is opposite of the first binary value.