Defibrillator
First Claim
1. A defibrillator comprising:
- a capacitor unit configured to store and discharge sufficient energy to deliver a defibrillation shock to a patient;
voltage boosting circuitry configured to boost the voltage of received current to charge the capacitor unit to a voltage suitable for delivery of the defibrillation shock, wherein during charging the voltage boosting circuit cyclically draws current during periodic current draw intervals and does not draw current during intervening current shut-off intervals; and
current regulating circuitry configured to maintain a continuous current draw from a power source for the voltage boosting circuitry throughout the charging of the capacitor unit, the current regulating circuitry including a transitory electrical energy store that serves as a temporary store for electrical energy drawn from a power source during the voltage boosting circuitry'"'"'s current shut-off intervals and as a supply of supplemental current to the voltage boosting circuitry during at least portions of the periodic current draw intervals.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Several defibrillators, defibrillator architectures, defibrillator components and methods of operating defibrillators are described. In one aspect, a defibrillator (as for example an automated external defibrillator) that can be powered by a mobile communication device such as a smart cellular phone or a tablet computer is described. Utilizing a phone (or other mobile communication device) as the power supply for an external defibrillator allows the external defibrillator to be smaller and, in some circumstance, removes the need for a battery that stores sufficient energy for shock delivery—which would need to be checked and/or replaced on a regular basis. Additionally, when desired, certain control functionality, computation, data processing, and user instructions can be handled/presented by the mobile communications device thereby further simplifying the defibrillator design and improving the user experience. This architecture takes advantage of the nearly ubiquitous availability of smart phones, tablet computers and other mobile communication devices.
119 Citations
28 Claims
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1. A defibrillator comprising:
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a capacitor unit configured to store and discharge sufficient energy to deliver a defibrillation shock to a patient; voltage boosting circuitry configured to boost the voltage of received current to charge the capacitor unit to a voltage suitable for delivery of the defibrillation shock, wherein during charging the voltage boosting circuit cyclically draws current during periodic current draw intervals and does not draw current during intervening current shut-off intervals; and current regulating circuitry configured to maintain a continuous current draw from a power source for the voltage boosting circuitry throughout the charging of the capacitor unit, the current regulating circuitry including a transitory electrical energy store that serves as a temporary store for electrical energy drawn from a power source during the voltage boosting circuitry'"'"'s current shut-off intervals and as a supply of supplemental current to the voltage boosting circuitry during at least portions of the periodic current draw intervals. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A defibrillator comprising:
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a capacitor unit configured to store and discharge sufficient energy to deliver a defibrillation shock to a patient; voltage boosting circuitry configured to boost the voltage of received current to charge the capacitor unit to a voltage suitable for delivery of the defibrillation shock wherein the voltage boosting circuitry includes a transformer having a primary coil; and current regulating circuitry configured to regulate a current draw from a power source for the voltage boosting circuitry throughout the charging of the capacitor unit, the current regulating circuitry being configured such that a maximum current through the primary coil may be programmably set during charging of the capacitor unit. - View Dependent Claims (16)
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17. A defibrillator comprising:
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a capacitor unit configured to store and discharge sufficient energy to deliver a defibrillation shock to a patient; voltage boosting circuitry configured to boost the voltage of received current to charge the capacitor unit to a voltage suitable for delivery of the defibrillation shock; current regulating circuitry configured to regulate a current draw from a power source for the voltage boosting circuitry throughout the charging of the capacitor unit; and a defibrillator controller wherein at least one of the current regulating circuitry and the voltage boosting circuitry is programmable by the defibrillator controller to control the level of current drawn from the power source. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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21. A method of charging a defibrillator discharge capacitor, the method comprising:
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charging the defibrillator discharge capacitor using a voltage boosting circuit that, during charging, cyclically draws current during periodic current draw intervals and does not draw current during intervening current shut-off intervals; and maintaining a continuous current draw from a power source for the voltage boosting circuit using a transitory electrical energy store that serves as a temporary store for electrical energy drawn from a power source during the voltage boosting circuitry'"'"'s current shut-off intervals and as a supply of supplemental current to the voltage boosting circuitry during at least portions of the periodic current draw intervals. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A method of charging a defibrillator discharge capacitor, the method comprising:
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charging the defibrillator discharge capacitor using a voltage boosting circuitry that draws current during periodic current draw intervals and does not draw current during intervening current shut-off intervals wherein the voltage boosting circuitry includes a transformer having a primary coil; and setting a maximum current through the primary coil at the time of charging based at least in part on a current delivery capability of the power supply. - View Dependent Claims (27)
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28. A method of charging a defibrillator discharge capacitor of a defibrillator using a mobile communication device as the power source, the defibrillator further including a defibrillator controller, a voltage boosting circuit and a current regulating circuit that regulates current supplied to the voltage boosting circuit from the mobile communication device, the method comprising:
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determining a current delivery capability of the mobile communication device; setting a maximum input draw current for the current regulating circuit based at least in part on the determined current delivery capability of the mobile communication device; and charging the defibrillator discharge capacitor without exceeding the maximum input draw current for the current regulating circuit.
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Specification