Bluetooth signal interruption.

Bluetooth

by AgentX86 - 2023-08-31 16:20:44

There is no reason a properly designed and functioning Bluetooth should ever interferre with another Bluetooth device.  That's a key feature/function of the Bluetooth architecture.

Good question

by Theknotguy - 2023-08-31 16:31:18

My first pacemaker was passive and waited for an activation signal.  Upon receiving the activation signal it went into an acknowledgement mode.  Under the old RS-232 signal sequence it was an X-ack sequence.  Then the pacemaker went into a handshake sequence.  Who are you?  Am I supposed to be talking to you?  Etc. The pacemaker reader in the doctor's office used a magnet to activate the sequence.  Upon receiving the proper responses the pacemaker would go into the read mode and would give the equipment the data it requested. How that was actually done was proprietary to the pacemaker manufacturer.  And the manufacturers were very closed mouthed about how that was done.  However, even though my description may not exactly follow what was done I'm fairly certain the sequence followed is similar to what we did with our network servers.  

Reason for the acknowledgement mode was to eliminate activation by a stray EMF signal that may have looked like someone or something trying to activate the pacemaker for outside requests.  We had some people on the forum a few years back who were trying to convince everyone that if you went to a large football stadium someone with a "death ray" could jump up and wipe out everyone with a pacemaker.  If you knew anything at all about EMF and communication you knew how ridiculous they sounded.  It just isn't going to happen people.

My newer pacemaker does give a reading to a bedside monitor.  Once again, I'm fairly certain the pacemaker is passive until it receives the EMF request.  Then it goes into the acknowledgement mode followed by the  handshake mode, and finally the transmit mode.  The bedside unit isn't good for more that about (I think) ten feet and it is tuned to the unique chip mode of your pacemaker. That way your pacemaker can't be activated by any other bedside reader.  People who work with IC chips know that each chip will have a unique identifier. Once the bedside monitor was activated and had gone through the initial identification sequence it wouldn't "talk" with a different pacemaker.  Since the bedside unit's transmission was only good for about ten feet, someone passing by your living area wouldn't have their pacemaker accidentally activated.  And, even if it was, not having the unique identifier would stop the attempt at transmission.  

In answer to your question, the pacemaker isn't putting out any transmission until it's activated by a specific sequence and I highly doubt your Bluetooth unit is sending out a sequence that will activate your pacemaker.  The communication devices that are used are tuned to a specific frequency and that frequency isn't anywhere near what the pacemaker uses.  Like trying to listen to an FM station using an AM radio, it just isn't going to work. Wrong set of frequencies.  

And as agentX86 said, Bluetooth devices don't interfere with other Bluetooth devices.  I'm not sure if a pacemaker is actually identified as a Bluetooth device.

Hope this helps clarify your question.  

XACK

by AgentX86 - 2023-08-31 17:16:17

No, actually modern (at least Medtronic) pacemakers transmit without a request. More precisely, will power on their transmitter and look for a device to connect to.  I can occaisionally see mine pop up on my phone's Bluetooth settings available devices screen. To save power, it doesn't show itself often.

Of course now that I have the MyCareLink app on the phone, the PM actually has something to communicate with.  I can see by the app's log that it communicated with the PM about an hour ago.

Thank you all

by tkw - 2023-11-10 11:14:35

Thank you for replying. I have learned a lot from you all and I am grateful you took the time to explain this instead of just saying I am silly.  I am getting much more comfortable with my device.