Patent ID: 8160704

Claim:
A telemetry system for enabling radio-frequency (RF) communications between implantable medical devices (IMD's) and an external device (ED), comprising: a plurality of IMD's, each IMD including an RF transmitter/receiver and a programmable controller; an ED including an RF transmitter/receiver and a programmable controller; wherein the ED is programmed to communicate with a first IMD by: 1) first attempting to establish a direct communications session with the first IMD using a handshaking protocol, 2) if the attempt at establishing a direct communications session with the first IMD is unsuccessful, querying one or more other IMD's that are within communications range as to whether the one or more other IMD's are within communications range of the first IMD, and 3) if a second IMD among the one or more other IMD's is found to be within communications range of the first IMD, transmit a request to the second IMD that the second IMD relay communications from the ED to the first IMD, referred to as a relay request; and, wherein the second IMD is programmed to relay communications between the ED and first IMD upon receiving the relay request.