Patent ID: 8260417

Claim:
A method for using at least two electrodes implanted in or proximate to a heart chamber, wherein the at least two electrodes include a first electrode and a second electrode, the method comprising: using the first electrode operationally positioned proximate to a first site of the heart chamber to pace the first site or to sense a cardiac activation at the first site, wherein the second electrode is not used with the first electrode to pace the first site, wherein using the first electrode to pace the first site includes delivering a programmed pacing therapy to pace the heart chamber at the first site using the first electrode; and using the second electrode operationally positioned proximate to a second site of the heart chamber to provide pacing redundancy for the heart chamber or to provide sensing redundancy for the heart chamber, wherein the programmed pacing therapy to pace the heart chamber using the first electrode does not pace the second site using the second electrode if the heart chamber is paced at the first site using the first electrode, using the second electrode to provide pacing redundancy for the heart chamber includes responding to a failure or an algorithm that inhibits a pace to the first site, and responding includes pacing the heart chamber by delivering a pace to the second site instead of the first site.