Adaptive stimulator for relief of symptoms of neurological disorders

• US 20040133249A1
• Filed: 12/19/2003
• Published: 07/08/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation (Martin Marietta Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation (Martin Marietta Corporation)
• Inventors: Gesotti, Phillip E.
• Application Number:
  US10/741,685
• Publication Number:
  US 20040133249A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 607/48
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/36003 of motor muscles, e.g. for walking assistance

Abstract

Methods and systems of cueing an individual to facilitate restoration of impaired voluntary movement is provided. The method includes receiving one or more input signals based on human body functions from at least one sensor. When the one or more input signals meet a defined criteria, indicating impaired voluntary movement, generating one or more sensory cues, wherein the one or more sensory cues include tactile cues, aural cues, and visual cues. The method further includes selectively transmitting stimulation signals to produce the one or more sensory cues and selectively adjusting the one or more sensory cues when the impaired voluntary movement is not broken.

Claims

1. A method of cueing an individual to facilitate restoration of impaired voluntary movement, the method comprising:

receiving one or more input signals based on human body functions from at least one sensor;

when the one or more input signals meet a defined criteria, indicating impaired voluntary movement, generating one or more sensory cues, wherein the one or more sensory cues include tactile cues, aural cues, and visual cues;

selectively transmitting stimulation signals to produce the one or more sensory cues; and

selectively adjusting the one or more sensory cues when the impaired voluntary movement is not broken.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the human body functions include tactility, movement and placement.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein selectively adjusting the one or more sensory cues includes altering the cadence of the one or more sensory cues.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein selectively adjusting the one or more sensory cues includes adjusting the perceived intensity of the one or more sensory cues.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing information about the input signals and the stimulation signals.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein storing information includes the number and type of sensory cues.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein generating tactile cues comprises generating tactile cues using one or more of cutaneous electrical stimulation and sonic stimulation.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein selectively adjusting the one or more sensory cues includes adjusting voltage and current levels of the tactile cues.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising preventing exposure of the patient to uncomfortable stimulation levels by monitoring the voltage and current of the tactile cues and feeding the information back to a control unit for further processing.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising producing sequenced stimulation patterns.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising retrieving prior impaired voluntary movement information for the individual.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein generating one or more sensory cues comprises selectively transmitting signals to one or more stimulators to produce the one or more sensory cues.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein selectively adjusting the one or more sensory cues comprises selectively adjusting the one or more sensory cues based on the prior impaired voluntary movement information for the individual.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the sensory cues are based on the one or more input signals and the prior impaired voluntary movement information.