Implantable medical device and method for managing advertising and scanning schedules

An implantable medical device (IMD) that is configured to communicate with an external instrument (EI) using a wireless communication protocol, comprising:

• a memory that stores a plurality of advertising schedules that each defines a respective plurality of advertising intervals, at least some of which are unequal, wherein the stored advertising schedules are for use in transmitting advertising notices in accordance with a pattern that distributes at least some of the advertisement notices un-evenly by being separated by unequal ones of the advertisement intervals;
• a processor configured to access the advertising schedules stored in the memory;
• a transmitter configured to selectively transmit the advertisement notices under control of the processor;
• a receiver configured to scan one or more channels for a connection request following transmission of one of the advertisement notices by the transmitter;
• the processor also configured to
• cause transmitting of the advertisement notices by the transmitter in accordance with a first one of the advertising schedules during an advertising state;
• determine whether a valid connection request was received by the IMD from the external instrument (EI) within a specified interval following a said advertising notice being transmitted;
• determine whether a number of the advertising states, which have occurred without a successful connection having been established between the IMD and the EI, exceeds a predetermined threshold;
• and
• change from the first one of the advertising schedules to a second one of the advertising schedules in response to the number of the advertising states, which have occurred without a successful connection having been established between the IMD and the EI, exceeding the predetermined threshold;
• wherein the same wireless communication protocol is used when transmitting the advertising notice in accordance with the first and second ones of the advertising schedules.