Systems and methods for reducing power consumption in an implantable medical device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9744347-B2
Application number	US-201414321234-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 1, 2014
Priority date	Jul 2, 2013
Publication date	Aug 29, 2017
Grant date	Aug 29, 2017

Abstract

A medical device for providing a stimulation therapy includes stimulation circuitry configured to provide a plurality of electrical pulses to be delivered to a patient. The stimulation circuitry contains a microcontroller configured to generate the electrical pulses. Each electrical pulse includes a primary phase, an interphase after the primary phase, and a recovery phase after the primary phase. Consecutive electrical pulses are separated by a standby period. The microcontroller is configured to operate in an active mode during at least one of: the primary phase and the interphase. The microcontroller is configured to operate in a power-conservation mode during a substantial majority of the standby period. The microcontroller consumes substantially less power when operating in the power-conservation mode than in the active mode.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A medical device for providing an electrical stimulation therapy for a patient, the medical device comprising:
telemetry circuitry configured to receive programming instructions via telecommunications conducted with an electronic programmer;
stimulation circuitry configured to provide, in response to the received programming instructions, a plurality of electrical pulses to be delivered to the patient as a part, of the electrical stimulation therapy, wherein the stimulation circuitry contains a microcontroller configured to generate the electrical pulses, wherein each electrical pulse includes a primary phase, an interphase after the primary phase, and a passive recovery phase after the primary phase, and wherein consecutive electrical pulses are separated by a standby period, the microcontroller being further configured to:
operate in an active mode during at least one of: the primary phase and the interphase;
operate in a power-conservation mode during the passive recovery phase and during a substantial majority of the standby period, the microcontroller consuming substantially less power when operating in the power-conservation mode than in the active mode; and

power supply circuitry configured to provide electrical power to the telemetry circuitry and the stimulation circuitry.

2. The medical device of claim 1 , wherein the power-conservation mode is one of a plurality of available power-conservation modes in which the microcontroller can be operated.

3. The medical device of claim 1 , wherein:
the microcontroller contains a microcontroller core and a direct memory access (DMA) unit that is separate from the microcontroller core and consumes substantially less power than the microcontroller core;
the microcontroller core is turned on when the microcontroller operates in the active mode and is turned off when the microcontroller operates in the power-conservation mode; and
the DMA unit remains turned on when the microcontroller operates in the power-conservation mode.

4. The medical device of claim 3 , wherein:
the microcontroller contains a system clock that is running at a first frequency;
the stimulation circuitry further comprises an oscillator that is external to the microcontroller, the oscillator running at a second frequency that is substantially lower than the first frequency;
the microcontroller is driven by the system clock when operating in the active mode; and
the DMA unit is driven by the oscillator when the microcontroller operates in the power-conservation mode.

5. The medical device of claim 4 , wherein when operating in the power-conservation mode, the microcontroller is configured to be woken up by an interrupt signal immediately before a subsequent electrical pulse needs to be generated, such that the microcontroller operates in the active mode after being woken up, wherein the interrupt signal is generated by a timer clocked by the oscillator.

6. The medical device of claim 1 , wherein:
the power supply circuitry comprises:
an inductive charging mechanism configured to receive an inductive energy;
a charging circuit configured to convert the inductive energy into a direct current (DC) signal;
a battery charged by the charging circuit to provide a first DC voltage;
a voltage down-converter that down-converts the first DC voltage to a second DC voltage smaller than the first DC voltage, the second DC voltage being a voltage supply for at least the microcontroller; and
a voltage up-converter that up-converts the first DC voltage to a third DC voltage that is greater than the first DC voltage, the third voltage being a voltage supply for the stimulation circuitry; and

the stimulation circuitry further comprises:
a stimulation driver that amplifies the electrical pulses generated by the microcontroller; and
an array of multiplexers coupled between the stimulation driver and an external lead that includes a plurality of electrodes configured to deliver the electrical stimulation therapy to the patient.

7. The medical device of claim 6 , further comprising a switch coupled between the voltage up-converter and the stimulation driver, wherein the switch is configured to disconnect the stimulation driver from the voltage up-converter during the standby period in between consecutive electrical pulses.

8. The medical device of claim 6 , wherein, for each pulse:
the voltage up-converter and the array of multiplexers are enabled before the primary phase and disabled during the interphase.

9. A medical system for providing an electrical stimulation therapy for a patient, the medical system comprising:
an electronic programmer configured to generate stimulation programming instructions for an implantable pulse generator (IPG); and
the IPG, wherein the IPG comprises:
telemetry circuitry configured to receive the programming instructions via telecommunications conducted with the electronic programmer;

stimulation circuitry configured to provide, in response to the received programming instructions, a plurality of electrical pulses to be delivered to the patient as a part of the electrical stimulation therapy, wherein the stimulation circuitry contains a microcontroller configured to generate the electrical pulses, wherein each electrical pulse includes a primary phase, an interphase after the primary phase, and a passive recovery phase after the primary phase, and wherein consecutive electrical pulses are separated by a standby period, the microcontroller being further configured to:
operate in an active mode during at least one of: the primary phase and the interphase;
operate in a power-conservation mode during the passive recovery phase and during a substantial majority of the standby period, the microcontroller consuming substantially less power when operating in the power-conservation mode than in the active mode; and
power supply circuitry configured to provide electrical power to the telemetry circuitry and the stimulation circuitry.

10. The medical system of claim 9 , further comprising: an implantable lead configured to be attached to the IPG, wherein the implantable lead contains a plurality of electrodes configured to deliver the electrical pulses generated by the IPG to a peripheral nerve of the patient.

11. The medical system of claim 9 , wherein:
the power supply circuitry comprises:
an inductive charging mechanism configured to receive an inductive energy;
a charging circuit configured to convert the inductive energy into a direct current (DC) signal;
a battery charged by the charging circuit to provide a first DC voltage;
a voltage down-converter that down-converts the first DC voltage to a second DC voltage smaller than the first DC voltage, the second DC voltage being a voltage supply for at least the microcontroller; and
a voltage up-converter that up-converts the first DC voltage to a third DC voltage that is greater than the first DC voltage, the third voltage being a voltage supply for the stimulation circuitry; and

the stimulation circuitry further comprises:
a stimulation driver that amplifies the electrical pulses generated by the microcontroller; and
an array of multiplexers coupled between the stimulation driver and an external lead that includes a plurality of electrodes configured to deliver the electrical stimulation therapy to the patient.

12. The medical system of claim 11 , further comprising a switch coupled between the voltage up-converter and the stimulation driver, wherein the switch is configured to disconnect the stimulation driver from the voltage up-converter during the standby period in between consecutive electrical pulses.

13. Th

Assignees

• Greatbatch Ltd
• Greatbatch Ltd

Inventors

• Chen Joey
• Bradley Kerry
• Halberg Leslie

Classifications

• A61N1/36139

  with automatic adjustment · CPC title

• A61N1/36153

  Voltage (A61N1/3616 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A61N1/05

  for implantation or insertion into the body, e.g. heart electrode (A61N1/06 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A61B5/064

  using markers (A61B5/062 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A61B8/0841

  for locating instruments · CPC title