Patent ID: 8509911

Claim:
A system, comprising: an external transceiver; a plurality of antennas coupled to the external transceiver and configured to wirelessly transfer information between an implantable medical device and the external transceiver using a frame-based protocol, the protocol including specified timing for receiving incoming data frames from the implantable medical device; and an antenna control circuit configured to select an antenna of the plurality of antennas for use in wireless information transfer, the selecting using information about an assessed quality of frame-based wireless information transfer between the implantable medical device and the external transceiver, wherein the antenna control circuit comprises a timer configured to time a duration during which a response frame is expected to be received by the external transceiver from the implantable medical device, the response frame transmitted from the implantable medical device in response to one or more outgoing frames transmitted to the implantable medical device from the external transceiver; and wherein the antenna control circuit is configured to select a different antenna of the plurality of antennas in response to a failure to detect the response frame during the timed duration.