Programming system having multiple program modules

Claim 2

A programmer for providing control of an implantable medical device, said implantable medical device having a memory and means for controlling operation of the implantable medical device in accordance with a control program stored in the memory, said programmer comprising: means for selecting a subset of program modules from a plurality of distinct program modules; means for creating a control program from the selected subset of program modules; and means for downloading the control program from the programmer into the memory of the implantable medical device.

Claim 3

The programmer defined in claim 1, further comprising: means for displaying the memory requirements of each of the program modules; and means for displaying the memory capacity of the implantable medical device.

Claim 4

The programmer defined in claim 1, wherein the means for creating the control program comprises a linker for linking the subset of program modules to create the control program.

Claim 5

The programmer defined in claim 1, wherein the means for creating the control program comprises: means for merging the program modules; and means for compiling the merged modules to create the control program.

Claim 6

A programmer for providing control of an implantable medical device, as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: means for determining the contents of the memory of the implantable medical device; means for comparing the control program to the contents of the memory of the implantable medical device; and means for downloading only those portions of the control program that differ from the contents of the memory of the implantable medical device.

Claim 7

A programmer for providing control of an implantable medical device, said implantable medical device having a memory and means for controlling operation of the implantable medical device in accordance with program modules stored in the memory, said programmer comprising: means for selecting a subset of program modules from a plurality of distinct program modules; and means for downloading each of the modules in the subset of program modules from the programmer into the memory of the implantable medical device separately.

Claim 8

A programmer for providing control of an implantable medical device, said implantable medical device having a memory and means for controlling operation of the implantable medical device in accordance with program modules stored in the memory, said programmer comprising: means for selecting a subset of program modules from a plurality of distinct program modules; and means for downloading each of the modules in the subset of program modules from the programmer into the memory of the implantable medical device separately.

Claim 9

The programmer defined in claim 7, further comprising means for downloading a root program module into the memory of the implantable medical device.

Claim 10

The programmer defined in claim 6, wherein each of the program modules is downloaded into a separate slot in the memory.

Claim 11

The programmer defined in claim 6, wherein the program modules are downloaded into memory such that only as much memory as is required by each program module is used.

Claim 14

The method defined in claim 10, further comprising the step of displaying the memory requirements of each of the program modules.

Claim 15

The method defined in claim 10, further comprising the step of displaying the memory capacity of the implantable medical device.

Claim 16

The method defined in claim 10, further comprising the step of downloading the control program into the memory of the implantable medical device.

Claim 17

The method defined in claim 10, wherein the step of creating the control program comprises the step of linking the subset of program modules to create the control program.

Claim 18

The method defined in claim 10, wherein the step of creating the control program comprises the steps of: merging the program modules; and compiling the merged modules to create the control program.

Claim 19

The method defined in claim 10, further comprising the step of downloading each of the modules in the subset of program modules into the memory of the implantable medical device separately.

Claim 20

The method defined in claim 16, further comprising the step of downloading each of the program modules into a separate slot in the memory.

Claim 21

The method defined in claim 10, wherein one of the program modules is a root program module.

Claim 22

The method defined in claim 10, further comprising the step of downloading the program modules into memory such that only as much memory as is required by each program module is used.

Claim 23

A medical system comprising: a programmer comprising: a plurality of cardiac program modules, means for selecting a subset of the cardiac program modules, and means for transmitting the selected subset of cardiac program modules to the cardiac stimulating device; and a cardiac stimulating device comprising: a memory, means for receiving the transmitted selected subset of cardiac program modules, means for storing the received subset of cardiac program modules in the memory of the cardiac stimulating device, and control means for controlling the operation of the cardiac stimulating device in accordance with the cardiac program modules stored in the memory of the cardiac stimulating device.

Claim 24

A medical system comprising: a programmer comprising: a plurality of cardiac program modules, means for selecting a subset of the cardiac program modules, and means for transmitting the selected subset of cardiac program modules to the cardiac stimulating device; and a cardiac stimulating device comprising: a memory, means for receiving the transmitted selected subset of cardiac program modules, means for storing the received subset of cardiac program modules in the memory of the cardiac stimulating device, and control means for controlling the operation of the cardiac stimulating device in accordance with the cardiac program modules stored in the memory of the cardiac stimulating device.

Claim 25

The medical system defined in claim 20, wherein the cardiac stimulating device further comprises means for storing the cardiac program modules in the memory of the cardiac stimulating device as a control program.

Claim 26

The medical system defined in claim 20, wherein the cardiac stimulating device further comprises means for storing each of the modules in the subset of cardiac program modules in the memory of the cardiac stimulating device separately.

Claim 27

The medical system defined in claim 20, wherein the cardiac stimulating device further comprises means for storing a root cardiac program module.

Claim 28

The medical system defined in claim 20, wherein each of the cardiac program modules is stored in a separate slot in the memory of the cardiac stimulating device.

Claim 29

The medical system defined in claim 20, wherein the cardiac program modules are stored in the memory of the cardiac stimulating device such that only as much memory as is required by each cardiac program module is used.

Claim 30

A medical system comprising an implantable medical device and a programmer, wherein the implantable medical device comprises: first sensor means for measuring first data signals, second sensor means for measuring second data signals, a memory for storing the first data signals and the second data signals, and a control unit for allocating a portion of the memory to be used for storing the first data signals and a portion of the memory to be used for storing the second data signals; and wherein the programmer comprises: an input interface for receiving commands to allocate the memory within the implantable medical device, means for generating allocation signals in response to the commands, and a telemetry head for transmitting the allocation signals to the implantable medical device, wherein the control unit contains circuitry for receiving the allocation signals and the control unit allocates the memory within the implantable medical device for the first and second data signals in response to the allocation signals.

Claim 31

A medical system comprising an implantable medical device and a programmer, wherein the implantable medical device comprises: first sensor means for measuring first data signals, second sensor means for measuring second data signals, a memory for storing the first data signals and the second data signals, and a control unit for allocating a portion of the memory to be used for storing the first data signals and a portion of the memory to be used for storing the second data signals; and wherein the programmer comprises: an input interface for receiving commands to allocate the memory within the implantable medical device, means for generating allocation signals in response to the commands, and a telemetry head for transmitting the allocation signals to the implantable medical device, wherein the control unit contains circuitry for receiving the allocation signals and the control unit allocates the memory within the implantable medical device for the first and second data signals in response to the allocation signals.

Claim 32

A programmer for providing control of an implantable medical device, said implantable medical device having a memory and means for controlling operation of the implantable medical device in accordance with program modules stored in the memory, said programmer comprising: means for selecting a subset of program modules from a plurality of distinct program modules; and means for downloading the subset of program modules into the memory of the implantable medical device.

Claim 33

A programmer for providing control of an implantable medical device, said implantable medical device having a memory and means for controlling operation of the implantable medical device in accordance with program modules stored in the memory, said programmer comprising: means for selecting a subset of program modules from a plurality of distinct program modules; and means for downloading the subset of program modules into the memory of the implantable medical device.

Claim 34

The programmer defined in claim 27, further comprising: means for displaying the memory requirements of each of the program modules; and means for displaying the memory capacity of the implantable medical device.

Claim 35

The programmer defined in claim 27, further comprising means for creating a control program from the subset of program modules.

Claim 36

The programmer defined in claim 29, wherein the means for downloading comprises means for downloading the control program into the memory of the implantable medical device.

Claim 37

The programmer defined in claim 29, wherein the means for creating the control program comprises a linker for linking the subset of program modules to create the control program.

Claim 38

The programmer defined in claim 29, wherein the means for creating the control program comprises: means for merging the program modules; and means for compiling the merged modules to create the control program.

Claim 39

The programmer defined in claim 27, further comprising means for downloading each of the modules in the subset of program modules into the memory of the implantable medical device separately.

Claim 40

The programmer defined in claim 33, further comprising means for downloading a root program module into the memory of the implantable medical device.

Claim 41

The programmer defined in claim 33, wherein each of the program modules is downloaded into a separate slot in the memory.

Claim 42

The programmer defined in claim 33, wherein the program modules are downloaded into memory such that only as much memory as is required by each program module is used.