Patent ID: 8175716

Claim:
An external device for communicating with or providing power to an implantable medical device, comprising: a plurality of coils each wound around an axis, wherein none of the axes are parallel to each other; transceiver circuitry coupled to the plurality of coils; and controller circuitry for controlling the transceiver circuitry by executing an algorithm, the algorithm comprising: transmitting a test signal from a first of the plurality of coils; receiving at the first coil a response to the test signal from the implantable medical device; assessing the response at the controller circuitry; repeating the above steps for subsequent of the plurality of coils until all coils have been assessed; choosing at least one of the coils based on the assessed responses; and activating the chosen at least one coil to telemeter data or power to be received by at least one device coil in the implantable medical device.