Patent ID: 8509888

Claim:
An implantable medical device, comprising: a Hall effect sensor including a first pair of electrical contacts and a second pair of electrical contacts, the Hall effect sensor configured to sense a magnetic field and configured to provide a voltage corresponding to a magnitude of the sensed magnetic field; a polling circuit electrically coupled to the Hall effect sensor and configured to provide an excitation signal to the Hall effect sensor; and a processor electrically coupled to the Hall effect sensor, the processor configured to: receive information indicative of the voltage provided by the Hall effect sensor via the second pair of electrical contacts in response to a first excitation signal provided from the polling circuit to the Hall effect sensor via the first pair of electrical contacts; and receive information indicative of the voltage provided by the Hall effect sensor via the first pair of electrical contacts in response to a second excitation signal provided from the polling circuit to the Hall effect sensor via the second pair of electrical contacts.