Patent ID: 7139613

Claim:
An implantable medical device communication system, comprising: an implantable medical device comprising a power supply, a controller, and a communication unit, wherein the communication unit combines data from the controller and power from the power supply to produce a communication signal that is selectively changeable between at least a first and a second voltage, produces a reference voltage, and generates voltage power pulses from the power supply; a two-wire bus to receive the communication signal and the voltage power pulses on a first wire, and to receive the reference voltage on a second wire; and a slave device comprising a recovery unit to recover power from the voltage power pulses and a transceiver unit to decode data from the selectively changeable communication signal transmitted across the first wire, wherein one bit time of data to be communicated across the first wire is defined as a predetermined number of clock cycles, a logic “0” is communicated by holding the first wire at the first voltage for a first fraction of the predetermined number of clock cycles, and a logic “1” is communicated by holding the first wire at the first voltage for a second fraction of the predetermined number of clock cycles, and wherein the second voltage is substantially equal to the reference voltage.