Patent ID: 8086311

Claim:
A method for obtaining a programming history for an implantable medical device (IMD) for a patient, comprising: interrogating the IMD with an interrogating external programmer device (EPD); retrieving a stored signature from memory of the IMD; comparing a unique signature associated with the interrogating EPD to the retrieved signature from the IMD; when the retrieved signature from the IMD is different than the unique signature associated with the EPD, replacing the stored signature in the memory of the IMD with the unique signature of the interrogating EPD and storing the retrieved signature from the IMD into the EPD; wherein the retrieved signature is associated with a particular EPD that most immediately previously established communications with the IMD, said retrieved signature is part of the programming history for the IMD; communicating the retrieved signature from the interrogating EPD to a display device; and displaying, with the display device, the retrieved signature to a user.