Implantable medical devices (IMD), such as but not limited to leadless cardiac pacemakers (LCP), subcutaneous implantable cardioverter defibrillators (SICD), transvenous implantable cardioverter defibrillators, neuro-stimulators (NS), implantable monitors (IM), may be configured to communicate with each other. In some cases, a first IMD may transmit instructions to a second IMD. In order to improve the chances of a successfully received transmission, the first IMD may transmit the instructions several times during a particular time frame, such as during a single heartbeat. If the second IMD receives the message more than once, the second IMD recognizes that the messages were redundant and acts accordingly.

A system and method is provided for transmitting signals ultrasonically among a network of implantable and wearable biological devices. The devices includes one or more implantable nodes, which include a sensing and/or actuating unit, at least one gateway node, and at least one access point node. Ultrasonic signals can be transmitted through the body by the implantable nodes to and from the gateway node, for transmission to and from the access point node. The access point node can be connected to the Internet. In this manner, remote instructions can be transmitted to the implantable nodes and data obtained at the implantable nodes can be transmitted to remote sites.

A method of communicating with an ingestible capsule includes detecting the location of the ingestible capsule, focusing a multi-sensor acoustic array on the ingestible capsule, and communicating an acoustic information exchange with the ingestible capsule via the multi-sensor acoustic array. The ingestible capsule includes a sensor that receives a stimulus inside the gastrointestinal tract of an animal, a bidirectional acoustic information communications module that transmits an acoustic information signal containing information from the sensor, and an acoustically transmissive encapsulation that substantially encloses the sensor and communications module, wherein the acoustically transmissive encapsulation is of ingestible size. The multi-sensor array includes a plurality of acoustic transducers that receive an acoustic signal from a movable device, and a plurality of delays, wherein each delay is coupled to a corresponding acoustic transducer. Each delay may be adjusted according to a phase of a signal received by the corresponding acoustic transducer.

Provided is a capsule endoscope. The capsule endoscope includes: an imaging device configured to perform imaging on a digestive tract in vivo to generate an image; an artificial neural network configured to determine whether there is a lesion area in the image; and a transmitter configured to transmit the image based on a determination result of the artificial neural network.

Wirelessly networked systems of implantable and non-implantable medical devices with networking protocols, software, and hardware that allow for communications and energy transfer between different the medical devices (free standing, implants and wearables) using ultrasonic waves. The networks and methods of use are used to construct cardiac pacing, deep brain stimulation, and neurostimulation networks based on ultrasonic wide band technology.

A system for interfacing an in-body medical device with an external network includes a subdermal wideband on-body network (WON) hub, which in turn includes a hub rechargeable battery, a hub processor coupled to the hub rechargeable battery, a device interface configured to communicate with the in-body medical device, and coupled to the hub processor, and a hub-satellite near field communications wireless interface coupled to the hub processor. The system also includes a wearable WON server that in turn includes a server processor, a server-satellite interface coupled to the server processor, and an external network interface coupled to the server processor. The server processor implements a software controller; and a skin-mountable WON tethered satellite that includes a wired satellite-server interface, coupled to the wearable WON server, and a tethered satellite near-field communications (NFC) wireless interface, configured to communicate with the hub-satellite NFC wireless interface, and coupled to the wired satellite-server interface.

An apparatus that includes a partial power source including a first material and a second material, the partial power source configured to generate, upon contact with a conducting medium, a potential difference between the first material and the second material to provide power to a control device, and generate, using the first material and the second material, a current flow within the conducting medium, the current flow including information encoded based on a variable conductance between the first material and the second material.

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide an interrogation device that is operable to apply one or more source signals to one or more coils surrounding a volume, where a material is disposed within the volume. Each of the one or more source signals may excite one of the one or more coils, and the behavior of each the one or more coils responsive to the exciting may be monitored. One or more parameters may be determined based on the behavior of each the one or more coils, and the one or more parameters may be utilized to generate a signature for the material within the volume. The signature may be compared to one or more signatures of known materials to identify the material within the volume.

A personal monitoring system includes one or more passive biometric sensors and a communication device. A passive biometric sensor is operable to sense a body condition of a body in accordance with a sense signal at a sense frequency to produce sensed data of a body condition. The passive biometric sensor is further operable to transmit an e-field signal via the body regarding the sensed data, wherein the e-field signal is in accordance with an e-field transmit/receive frequency. The communication device is operable to receive the e-field signal via the body. The communication device is further operable to recover the sensed data from the received e-field signal.

A bridge device includes a housing, a plurality of electrodes exposed outside of the housing such that at least two of the plurality of electrodes can be concurrently placed in contact with a patient's skin. A controller is disposed within the housing. A first communications module is operably coupled to the controller and to the at least two of the plurality of electrodes. The first communications module is configured to allow the controller to communicate with an implantable medical device via at least two of the plurality of electrodes using conducted communication. A second communications module is operably coupled to the controller and is configured to allow the controller to communicate with a remote device external to the patient.