Patent ID: 8131360

Claim:
An implantable cardioverter/defibrillator (ICD) configured to be communicatively coupled to an external programmer via a telemetry link, the ICD comprising: a sensing circuit configured to sense a cardiac signal; a pacing circuit configured to deliver anti-tachycardia pacing (ATP) including at least one burst of pacing pulses; a defibrillation circuit configured to deliver shocks, the defibrillation circuit including: a defibrillation capacitor configured to store electrical energy for each of the shocks; and a capacitor charging circuit configured to charge the defibrillation capacitor in response to a charging signal; a ventricular tachycardia (VT) detector to detect VT using at least the cardiac signal; and a controller coupled to the pacing circuit, the defibrillation circuit, and the VT detector, the controller configured to receive an ATP activation command and an ATP deactivation command from the external programmer via the telemetry link, activate an ATP before charge (ATP-BC) mode in response to the ATP activation command, and deactivate the ATP-BC mode in response to the ATP deactivation command, the controller including: a charging controller configured to produce the charging signal; and an ATP controller configured to control a delivery of the ATP before the charging controller produces the charging signal in response to a detection of the VT when the ATP-BC mode is activated.