Power efficient wireless rf communication between a base station and a medical device

A base station (BS), comprising:

• an RF transceiver configured to selectively establish a radio frequency (RF) link with an RF transceiver of a medical device (MD) during a communication session between the BS and the MD;
• a controller configured to selectively turn a drop link mode on and off during the communication session between the BS and the MD;
• wherein, while the drop link mode is turned off during the communication session between the BS and the MD, the controller controls the RF transceiver of the BS to maintain an established RF link between the BS and the MD;
• and
• wherein, while the drop link mode is turned on during the communication session between the BS and the MD, the controller controls the RF transceiver of the BS to establish an RF link between the BS and the MD only when the BS is to send a command to the MD, and the controller controls the RF transceiver of the BS to terminate the RF link between the BS and MD when the BS receives a command response from the MD.

A non-transitory computer readable medium, including instructions stored thereon which when read and executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform the steps comprising:

• (a) selectively turning a drop link mode on and off during a communication session between the BS and the MD;
• (b) while the drop link mode is turned off during the communication session between the BS and the MD, maintaining an established RF link between the BS and the MD;
• and
• (c) while the drop link mode is turned on during the communication session between the BS and the MD, establishing an RF link between the BS and the MD only when the BS is to send a command to the MD, and terminating the RF link between the BS and MD when the BS receives a command response from the MD.

A method for use by a base station (BS) that enables power efficient wireless radio frequency (RF) communication between the BS and a medical device (MD), wherein the method is for use during a communication session between the BS and the MD, the method comprising:

• whenever the BS is to send a command to the MD that requires multiple command responses from the MD, establishing an RF link between the BS and the MD and maintaining the RF link between the BS and the MD while the BS sends the command to the MD and the BS receives the multiple command responses from the MD;
• whenever the BS is to send multiple commands to the MD, establishing an RF link between the BS and the MD and maintaining the RF link between the BS and the MD while the BS sends the multiple commands to the MD and receives command response(s) to the multiple commands from the MD;
• and
• whenever the BS is to wait for a user input via a user interface of the BS, if an RF link exists between the BS and the MD, then terminating the RF link.

A method for use by a base station (BS) that enables power efficient wireless radio frequency (RF) communication between the BS and a medical device (MD), the method comprising:

• establishing a communication session between the BS and the MD;
• selectively turning a drop link mode on during the communication session between the BS and the MD;
• and
• while the drop link mode is turned on during the communication session between the BS and the MD, establishing an RF link between the BS and the MD only when the BS is to send a command to the MD, and terminating the RF link between the BS and MD when the BS receives a command response from the MD.