Systems and methods for selecting, activating, or selecting and activating transducers

• US 10,368,936 B2
• Filed: 11/16/2015
• Issued: 08/06/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kardium Inc.
• Original Assignee: Kardium Inc.
• Inventors: Brewster, Jeffery Charles, Weinkam, Daniel Robert, Weber, Michael Hermann
• Primary Examiner(s): Mahmood, Nadia A
• Application Number:
  US14/942,459
• Publication Number:
  US 20160135690A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,359 Days
• Field of Search: 600508
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 18/1206 Generators therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 18/1492 having a flexible, catheter-like structure, e.g. for heart ablation A61B18/1477 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00267 having a basket shaped structure
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00357 Endocardium
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00577 Ablation
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00642 with feedback, i.e. closed loop control
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00702 Power or energy
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00791 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00839 Bioelectrical parameters, e.g. ECG, EEG
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00875 Resistance or impedance
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/1467 using more than two electrodes on a single probe
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/107 Visualisation of planned trajectories or target regions
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0475 Special features of memory means, e.g. removable memory cards
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/10 Computer-aided planning, simulation or modelling of surgical operations
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/015 By temperature mapping of body part
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/287 Holders for multiple electrodes, e.g. electrode catheters for electrophysiological study [EPS]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6859 with multiple distal splines
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6869 Heart
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/743 Displaying an image simultaneously with additional graphical information, e.g. symbols, charts, function plots
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7435 Displaying user selection data, e.g. icons in a graphical user interface
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/748 : Selection of a region of interest, e.g. using a graphics tablet

Abstract

A graphical path, which may illustrate a proposed transducer-activation path, may be defined in accordance with first user input, which places a first user input element in an activated state, motion-based user input, and second user input, which places the first user input element in a deactivated state. The graphical path may be displayed as including transducer graphical elements, between-transducer graphical elements, or both, and may be displayed among at least one graphical representation of intra-cardiac information. Activation of transducers corresponding to transducer graphical elements included in the graphical path may be initiated during or after completion of the definition of the graphical path. Such activation may include the transmission of energy sufficient for tissue ablation along an ablation path corresponding to the graphical path.

Claims

1. A transducer activation system comprising:

a data processing device system;

an input-output device system communicatively connected to the data processing device system; and

a memory device system communicatively connected to the data processing device system and storing a program executable by the data processing device system, the program comprising;

display instructions configured to cause the input-output device system to display a graphical representation of at least intra-cardiac information;

input-processing instructions configured to;

cause reception of first user input via the input-output device system and, in response to receiving the first user input, place a first user input element in an activated state;

cause reception of second user input via the input-output device system and, in response to receiving the second user input, place the first user input element in a deactivated state; and

cause reception of motion-based user input via the input-output device system;

path definition instructions configured to cause definition of a graphical path including a first location on the graphical path defined according to a first parameter set associated with the first user input, a second location on the graphical path defined according to a second parameter set associated with the second user input, and an elongate path portion of the graphical path defined according to a path traced by the motion-based user input; and

activation instructions configured to cause activation of a transducer-based device system, initiated during or after completion of the definition of the graphical path, to transmit energy sufficient for tissue ablation along an ablation path corresponding to the graphical path,

wherein the display instructions are configured to cause the input-output device system to display the graphical path including each of the first location, the second location, and the elongate path portion among the graphical representation of the intra-cardiac information.

2. The transducer activation system of claim 1 wherein the program further comprises:

sampling instructions configured to cause sampling of data by each of one or more transducers of the transducer-based device system, a portion of the transducer-based device system including the one or more transducers positionable in a cardiac chamber during the sampling; and

generation instructions configured to cause generation of the intra-cardiac information based at least in part on the sampled data, the sampled data sampled from each of a plurality of locations in the cardiac chamber, and wherein

the generation instructions are configured to cause mapping of each of a plurality of parts of the intra-cardiac information to a respective one of the plurality of locations in the cardiac chamber, and the display instructions are configured to cause the input-output device system to display the plurality of parts of the intra-cardiac information with a first spatial relationship that is consistent with a second spatial relationship between the plurality of locations in the cardiac chamber.

3. The transducer activation system of claim 1 wherein a portion of the transducer-based device system includes a plurality of transducers positionable in a cardiac chamber, and the display instructions are configured to cause the input-output device system to display a plurality of transducer graphical elements concurrently with the graphical path and the graphical representation of the intra-cardiac information, each of the transducer graphical elements corresponding to at least part of a respective one of the plurality of transducers, a first spatial relationship between the displayed transducer graphical elements consistent with a second spatial relationship between the transducers.

4. The transducer activation system of claim 3 wherein the first user input indicates a selection of a first transducer graphical element set comprising at least a first transducer graphical element of the plurality of transducer graphical elements, and the motion-based user input indicates a selection of a second transducer graphical element set comprising at least a second transducer graphical element of the plurality of transducer graphical elements other than the first transducer graphical element.

5. The transducer activation system of claim 4 wherein the displayed graphical path is represented at least in part by the first transducer graphical element, the second transducer graphical element, and a third transducer graphical element other than the first and the second transducer graphical elements, the third transducer graphical element part of the first transducer graphical element set or the second transducer graphical element set, and wherein the activation instructions are configured to cause transmission, initiated during or after completion of the definition of the graphical path, of energy sufficient for tissue ablation from at least each respective transducer corresponding to the first transducer graphical element, the second transducer graphical element, and the third transducer graphical element.

6. The transducer activation system of claim 1 wherein the second user input indicates a termination of the definition of the graphical path.

7. The transducer activation system of claim 3 wherein the display instructions are configured to cause the input-output device system to display a plurality of between graphical elements concurrently with the transducer graphical elements, the graphical path, and the graphical representation of the intra-cardiac information, each of the plurality of between graphical element associated with a region of space between transducers of a respective one of a plurality of groups of adjacent ones of the transducers, each region of space not including any transducer, and wherein the first user input indicates a selection of a first between graphical element of the plurality of between graphical elements, and the second user input indicates a selection of a second between graphical element of the plurality of between graphical elements other than the first between graphical element.

8. The transducer activation system of claim 7 wherein the first between graphical element, the second between graphical element, or each of the first and the second between graphical elements is associated with a region of space that is not associated with any physical part of the transducer-based device system.

9. The transducer activation system of claim 3 wherein the display instructions are configured to cause the input-output device system to display a plurality of between graphical elements concurrently with the transducer graphical elements, the graphical path, and the graphical representation of the intra-cardiac information, each of the plurality of between graphical elements associated with a region of space between transducers of a respective one of a plurality of groups of adjacent ones of the transducers, each region of space not including any transducer, and wherein the path traced by the motion-based user input indicates at least a selection of at least one of the between graphical elements.

10. The transducer activation system of claim 9 wherein the selected at least one of the between graphical elements is associated with a region of space that is not associated with any physical part of the transducer-based device system.

11. The transducer activation system of claim 4 wherein the path definition instructions are configured to cause the elongate path portion of the graphical path to include the second transducer graphical element or a portion thereof in response to the path traced by the motion-based user input or a portion thereof passing through a predetermined display region associated with the second transducer graphical element, the predetermined display region including at least a part of the second transducer graphical element, and the second transducer graphical element not occupying all of the predetermined display region.

12. The transducer activation system of claim 9 wherein the path definition instructions are configured to cause the elongate path portion of the graphical path to include a particular between graphical element of the at least one of the between graphical elements or a portion of the particular between graphical element in response to the path traced by the motion-based user input or a portion thereof passing through a predetermined display region associated with the particular between graphical element, the predetermined display region including at least a part of the particular between graphical element, and the particular between graphical element not occupying all of the predetermined display region.

13. The transducer activation system of claim 3 wherein the motion-based user input indicates a selection of a group of the transducer graphical elements, and wherein the program further comprises de-selection instructions configured to deselect at least one transducer graphical element in the group of the transducer graphical elements in response to a user-based retracing of a portion of the path traced by the motion-based user input.

14. The transducer activation system of claim 3 wherein the display instructions are configured to cause the input-output device system to display a plurality of between graphical elements concurrently with the transducer graphical elements, the graphical path, and the graphical representation of the intra-cardiac information, each of the plurality of between graphical elements associated with a region of space between transducers of a respective one of a plurality of groups of adjacent ones of the transducers, each region of space not including any transducer, and wherein the path traced by the motion-based user input indicates at least a selection of a group of the between graphical elements, and wherein the program further comprises de-selection instructions configured deselect at least one between graphical element in the group of the transducer graphical elements in response to a user-based retracing of a portion of the path traced by the motion-based user input.

15. The transducer activation system of claim 1 wherein the graphical path is displayed as including an interrupted form.

16. The transducer activation system of claim 1 wherein the graphical path is displayed as including a circumferential path that surrounds a region of the graphical representation of the intra-cardiac information.

17. The transducer activation system of claim 1 wherein the display instructions are configured to cause the input-output device system to graphically display changes in the intra-cardiac information at least during:

a) reception of the first user input, b) reception of the second user input, c) reception of the motion-based user input, or any combination of a), b) and c).

18. A transducer activation system comprising:

a data processing device system;

an input-output device system communicatively connected to the data processing device system; and

a memory device system communicatively connected to the data processing device system and storing a program executable by the data processing device system, the program comprising;

display instructions configured to cause the input-output device system to display a graphical representation of at least intra-cardiac information;

input-processing instructions configured to;

cause reception of first user input via the input-output device system and, in response to receiving the first user input, place a first user input element in an activated state;

cause reception of second user input via the input-output device system and, in response to receiving the second user input, place the first user input element in a deactivated state; and

cause reception of motion-based user input via the input-output device system;

path definition instructions configured to cause definition of a graphical path including a first location on the graphical path defined according to a first parameter set associated with the first user input, a second location on the graphical path defined according to a second parameter set associated with the second user input, and at least a third location on the graphical path other than the first location and the second location defined according to a path traced by the motion-based user input; and

activation instructions configured to cause activation of a transducer-based device system, initiated during or after completion of the definition of the graphical path, to transmit energy sufficient for tissue ablation along an ablation path corresponding to the graphical path,

wherein the display instructions are configured to cause the input-output device system to display the graphical path including the first location, the second location, and the at least the third location among the graphical representation of the intra-cardiac information.

19. The transducer activation system of claim 18 wherein the program further comprises:

sampling instructions configured to cause sampling of data by each of one or more transducers of the transducer-based device system, a portion of the transducer-based device system including the one or more transducers positionable in a cardiac chamber during the sampling; and

generation instructions configured to cause generation of the intra-cardiac information based at least in part on the sampled data, the sampled data sampled from each of a plurality of locations in the cardiac chamber, and wherein

the generation instructions are configured to cause mapping of each of a plurality of parts of the intra-cardiac information to a respective one of the plurality of locations in the cardiac chamber, and the display instructions are configured to cause the input-output device system to display the plurality of parts of the intra-cardiac information with a first spatial relationship that is consistent with a second spatial relationship between the plurality of locations in the cardiac chamber.

20. The transducer activation system of claim 18 wherein the sampled data comprises intra-cardiac electrogram voltage data and the graphical representation of the intra-cardiac information includes a graphical representation of at least some of the intra-cardiac electrogram voltage data or a derivation thereof.

21. The transducer activation system of claim 18 wherein a portion of the transducer-based device system includes a plurality of transducers positionable in a cardiac chamber, and the display instructions are configured to cause the input-output device system to display a plurality of transducer graphical elements concurrently with the graphical path and the graphical representation of the intra-cardiac information, each of the transducer graphical elements corresponding to at least part of a respective one of the plurality of transducers, a first spatial relationship between the displayed transducer graphical elements consistent with a second spatial relationship between the transducers.

22. The transducer activation system of claim 21 wherein the first user input indicates a selection of a first transducer graphical element set comprising at least a first transducer graphical element of the plurality of transducer graphical elements, and the motion-based user input indicates a selection of a second transducer graphical element set comprising at least a second transducer graphical element of the plurality of transducer graphical elements other than the first transducer graphical element.

23. The transducer activation system of claim 22 wherein the first transducer graphical element set, the second transducer graphical element set, or each of the first and the second transducer graphical element sets comprises a group of transducer graphical elements, each group of transducer graphical elements corresponding to a respective one of a plurality of groups of adjacent ones of the transducers.

24. The transducer activation system of claim 21 wherein the display instructions are configured to cause the input-output device system to display a plurality of between graphical elements concurrently with the transducer graphical elements, the graphical path, and the graphical representation of the intra-cardiac information, each of the plurality of between graphical element associated with a region of space between transducers of a respective one of a plurality of groups of adjacent ones of the transducers, each region of space not including any transducer, and wherein the first user input indicates a selection of a first between graphical element of the plurality of between graphical elements, and the second user input indicates a selection of a second between graphical element of the plurality of between graphical elements other than the first between graphical element.

25. The transducer activation system of claim 24 wherein the first between graphical element, the second between graphical element, or each of the first and the second between graphical elements is associated with a region of space that is not associated with any physical part of the transducer-based device system.

26. The transducer activation system of claim 21 wherein the display instructions are configured to cause the input-output device system to display a plurality of between graphical elements concurrently with the transducer graphical elements, the graphical path, and the graphical representation of the intra-cardiac information, each of the plurality of between graphical elements associated with a region of space between transducers of a respective one of a plurality of groups of adjacent ones of the transducers, each region of space not including any transducer, and wherein the path traced by the motion-based user input indicates at least a selection of at least one of the between graphical elements.

27. The transducer activation system of claim 26 wherein the selected at least one of the between graphical elements is associated with a region of space that is not associated with any physical part of the transducer-based device system.

28. The transducer activation system of claim 22

wherein the path definition instructions are configured to cause the graphical path to include the second transducer graphical element or a portion thereof in response to the path traced by the motion-based user input or a portion thereof passing through a predetermined display region associated with the second transducer graphical element, the predetermined display region including at least a part of the second transducer graphical element, and the second transducer graphical element not occupying all of the predetermined display region, and

wherein the second transducer graphical element includes the third location.

29. The transducer activation system of claim 26

wherein the path definition instructions are configured to cause the graphical path to include a particular between graphical element of the at least one of the between graphical elements or a portion of the particular between graphical element in response to the path traced by the motion-based user input or a portion thereof passing through a predetermined display region associated with the particular between graphical element, the predetermined display region including at least a part of the particular between graphical element, and the particular between graphical element not occupying all of the predetermined display region, and

wherein the particular between graphical element includes the third location.

30. The transducer activation system of claim 21 wherein the motion-based user input indicates a selection of a group of the transducer graphical elements, and wherein the program further comprises de-selection instructions configured deselect at least one transducer graphical element in the group of the transducer graphical elements in response to a user-based retracing of a portion of the path traced by the motion-based user input.

31. The transducer activation system of claim 21 wherein the display instructions are configured to cause the input-output device system to display a plurality of between graphical elements concurrently with the transducer graphical elements, the graphical path, and the graphical representation of the intra-cardiac information, each of the plurality of between graphical elements associated with a region of space between transducers of a respective one of a plurality of groups of adjacent ones of the transducers, each region of space not including any transducer, wherein the path traced by the motion-based user input indicates at least a selection of a group of the between graphical elements, and wherein the program further comprises de-selection instructions configured deselect at least one between graphical element in the group of the between graphical elements in response to a user-based retracing of a portion of the path traced by the motion-based user input.

32. The transducer activation system of claim 18 wherein the graphical path is displayed as including an interrupted form.

33. The transducer activation system of claim 18 wherein the display instructions are configured to cause the input-output device system to graphically display changes in the intra-cardiac information at least during:

a) reception of the first user input, b) reception of the second user input, c) reception of the motion-based user input, or any combination of a), b) and c).

34. The transducer activation system of claim 18 wherein the display instructions are configured to cause the input-output device system to display a plurality of selectable graphical-path-elements concurrently with the graphical representation of the intra-cardiac information, and wherein the path definition instructions are configured to cause the graphical path to include a group of the graphical-path-elements in response to the path traced by the motion-based user input or a portion thereof passing through a respective predetermined display region associated with each of at least one graphical-path-element of the group of graphical-path-elements, the respective predetermined display regions of at least two of the group of the graphical-path-elements having different shapes, and wherein one of the plurality of graphical-path-elements includes the third location.

35. The transducer activation system of claim 34 wherein each of at least one of the group of the graphical-path-elements does not occupy all of the respective one of the predetermined display regions.

36. A graphical path display device system comprising:

a data processing device system;

an input-output device system communicatively connected to the data processing device system; and

a memory device system communicatively connected to the data processing device system and storing a program executable by the data processing device system, the program comprising;

input-processing instructions configured to;

cause reception of first user input via the input-output device system and, in response to receiving the first user input, place a first user input element in an activated state;

cause reception of motion-based user input via the input-output device system; and

cause reception of second user input via the input-output device system and, in response to receiving the second user input, place the first user input element in a deactivated state;

path definition instructions configured to cause definition of a graphical path including a plurality of graphical-path-elements, the path definition instructions configured to cause initiation of the definition of the graphical path in response to receiving the first user input, to cause generation of an interim-definition of the graphical path according to a path traced by the motion-based user input, and to cause conclusion of the definition of the graphical path in response to receiving the second user input, each of the respective graphical-path-elements associated with a respective display region including at least a portion of the respective graphical-path-element, but the respective graphical-path-element not occupying all of the respective display region, and the path definition instructions configured to cause the interim-definition of the graphical path to be generated to identify the plurality of graphical-path-elements as those whose display regions have been passed through by at least some of the path traced by the motion-based user input; and

display instructions configured to cause the input-output device system to display, prior to the conclusion of the definition of the graphical path, a graphical representation of the graphical path including the identified plurality of graphical-path-elements consistent with the interim-definition of the graphical path,

wherein the path definition instructions are configured to cause generation of a modified-interim-definition of the graphical path prior to the conclusion of the definition of the graphical path to exclude at least one of the identified plurality of graphical-path-elements in response to a user-based retracing of a portion of the path traced by the motion-based user input, the excluded at least one of the identified plurality of graphical-path-elements being those whose display regions have been passed through by the retracing of the portion of the path traced by the motion-based user input, and

wherein the display instructions are configured to cause the input-output device system to change the display of the graphical representation of the graphical path to account for the excluded at least one of the identified plurality of graphical-path-elements consistent with the modified-interim-definition of the graphical path prior to the conclusion of the definition of the graphical path.

37. The graphical path display device system of claim 36 wherein the portion of the path traced by the motion-based user input and the portion of the path retraced by the motion-based user input pass through the same ones of the display regions.

38. The graphical path display device system of claim 36 wherein the portion of the path traced by the motion-based user input and the portion of the path retraced by the motion-based user input pass through the same ones of the display regions in a reverse order that the same ones of the display regions were passed through during the interim-definition of the graphical path.