Patent ID: 7400928

Claim:
A method of monitoring physiological conditions of an ambulatory patient who is capable of moving to a plurality of non-clinical locations, comprising: associating a predetermined location with a contextual condition for the patient that is relevant when measuring at least one physiological condition of the patient; operating an implanted medical device in the patient to monitor the at least one physical condition of the patient in non-clinical locations, including: using the implanted medical device in the patient to sense for a beacon from an external device that is positioned in the predetermined location and that transmits the beacon from the predetermined position before the patient is within range for the implanted medical device to sense the beacon transmitted from the predetermined location; determining that the implanted medical device is not within range of the beacon if the beacon is not sensed; determining that the implanted medical device is within the range of the beacon and that the contextual condition exists when the beacon is sensed; and automatically measuring the at least one physiological condition of the patient using the implanted medical device in response to determining that the implanted medical device is within the range of the beacon and that the contextual condition exists.