Patent ID: 8423149

Claim:
A system for the remote programming of a programmable personal medical device, in particular an implantable medical device such as a cardiac pacemaker, defibrillator, or the like, including: i. a programming device ( 20 ), ii. a patient intermediary device ( 30 ), iii. a programmable personal medical device ( 10 , 10 ′), the programming device ( 20 ), patient intermediary device ( 30 ), and programmable personal medical device ( 10 , 10 ′) being spaced from each other, wherein: a. the programming device ( 20 ) includes: (1) a programming unit ( 23 ) accepting input of programming instructions for the programmable personal medical device ( 10 , 10 ′); (2) a programming device first interface ( 21 ) in communication with the patient intermediary device ( 30 ) and transmitting the programming instructions thereto; b. the patient intermediary device ( 30 ) includes: (1) an intermediary device second interface ( 33 ) receiving the programming instructions from the programming device ( 20 ), (2) an intermediary device first interface ( 31 ) transmitting the programming instructions to the personal medical device ( 10 , 10 ′), c. the personal medical device ( 10 , 10 ′) includes: (1) a personal device first interface ( 11 ) receiving the programming instructions from the intermediary device first interface ( 31 ), (2) a programmable controller ( 13 ) controlling functions of the personal medical device ( 10 , 10 ′) in accordance with the programming instructions received by the personal device first interface ( 11 ), and wherein: I. the programming device ( 20 ) is configured to append an identification ( 53 ) of a prior program to the programming instructions, II. the personal medical device ( 10 , 10 ′) includes a comparison unit ( 15 ) configured to compare the identification appended to the programming instructions to the current program of the programmable controller ( 13 ), and III. the programmable controller ( 13 ) is configured to reject the programming instructions if comparison results are negative.