Low power signal transmission

• US 20050283207A1
• Filed: 06/02/2003
• Published: 12/22/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MED-EL Elektromedizinische Gerate GmbH (MED-EL Corporation)
• Original Assignee: MED-EL Elektromedizinische Gerate GmbH (MED-EL Corporation)
• Inventors: Hochmair, Ingeborg, Hochmair, Erwin
• Granted Patent: US 7,657,045 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 607/55
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/0541 Cochlear electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/37217 characterised by the communication link, e.g. acoustic or tactile
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/37276 characterised by means for reducing power consumption during telemetry
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/00 Near-field transmission systems, e.g. inductive or capacitive transmission systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/0093 with one coil at each side, e.g. with primary and secondary coils
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/06 using a portable transmitter associated with a microphone
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/266 One coil at each side, e.g. with primary and secondary coils
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/606 acting directly on the eardrum, the ossicles or the skull, e.g. mastoid, tooth, maxillary or mandibular bone, or mechanically stimulating the cochlea, e.g. at the oval window
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A low-power implant system. The system includes an implant for implantation into a person, such as a cochlear implant or a middle ear implant. The implant is capable of communicating with a device via transmission of ultra wideband pulses. The device may be adapted to be worn external to the person, or may be a second implant. So as to conserve battery power, the transmitted ultra wideband pulses may have a low duty cycle of approximately 1/1000 or less. Power savings may also be realized by using time-gating amplifiers in the implant and/or device receiver.

Claims

1. A low-power implant system comprising:

an implant for implantation into a person, the implant capable of communicating via transmission of ultra wideband pulses; and

a device capable of communicating with the implant via ultra wideband pulse transmission.

2. The low-power implant system according to claim 1, wherein the implant and the device are capable of one of unidirectional and bidirectional communication via ultra wideband pulse transmission.

3. The low-power implant system according to claim 1, wherein the implant is a cochlear implant.

4. The low-power implant system according to claim 1, wherein the implant is a middle ear implant.

5. The low-power implant system according to claim 1, wherein the device is adapted to be worn external to the person, the device including a signal processor for processing an acoustic signal, and a transmitter capable of transmitting the pulses representative of the acoustic signal through the skin of the person to the implant.

6. The low-power implant system according to claim 5, wherein the implant includes at least one electrode and is capable of providing electrical stimulation via the at least one electrode as a function of the acoustic signal received from the transmitter.

7. The low-power implant system according to claim 1, wherein the device is a second implant for implantation into the person.

8. The low-power implant system according to claim 1, wherein the implant and the device communicate via ultra wideband pulses having a duty cycle of approximately 1/1000 or less.

9. The low-power implant system according to claim 1, wherein the implant and the device communicate via ultra wideband pulses that have a time duration of between 0.5 ns and 10 ns.

10. The low-power implant system according to claim 1, wherein the implant and the device communicate via ultra wideband pulses at a pulse repetition time between 5 and 100 μ

s.

11. The low-power implant system according to claim 1, wherein the device includes one of a transmitter capable of transmitting ultra wideband pulses and a receiver capable of receiving ultra wideband pulses, and wherein the implant includes the other of the transmitter and the receiver.

12. The low-power implant system according to claim 11, wherein the receiver includes a time-gated amplifier, the amplifier for amplifying the pulses received from the transmitter.

13. The low-power implant system according to claim 12, wherein the time-gated amplifier is turned on when a probability of receiving a pulse from the transmitter is greater than zero.

14. The low-power implant system according to claim 12, wherein the time-gated amplifier is biased so as not to be completely off when a probability of receiving a pulse from the transmitter is zero.

15. The low-power implant system according to claim 12, wherein the time-gated amplifier turns on periodically for a time duration D, the turning on of the amplifier synchronized with possible receipt of a pulse from the transmitter.

16. The low-power implant system according to claim 12, wherein the time-gated amplifier includes a controller for synchronizing turning on of the amplifier during possible receipt of a pulse from the transmitter.

17. The low-power implant system according to claim 16, wherein the controller synchronizes the gated amplifier with pulses received from the transmitter based on receipt of a pulse with a predefined amplitude.

18. The low-power implant system according to claim 16, wherein the controller synchronizes the gated amplifier with pulses received from the transmitter based on receipt of a pulse of a predefined duration.

19. The low-power implant system according to claim 12, wherein the amplifier is one of a differential amplifer and a pseudo-differential amplifier.

20. The low-power implant system according to claim 11, wherein the receiver is a passive receiver.

21. The low power implant system according to claim 11, wherein the transmitter includes a primary coil of wire and the receiver includes a secondary coil of wire, and wherein transmission between the transmitter and the receiver is via inductive coupling between the primary coil and the secondary coil.

22. The low power implant system according to claim 11, wherein the transmitter includes a primary loop antenna and the receiver includes a secondary loop antenna, and wherein transmission between the transmitter and the receiver is via inductive coupling between the primary loop antenna and the secondary loop antenna.

23. The low-power implant system according to claim 11, wherein the receiver includes a nonlinear electronic component for converting RF components, transmitted via ultra wideband pulses, back to baseband.

24. The low-power implant system according to claim 11, wherein the transmitter directly transmits, via ultrawide band pulses, a baseband signal.

25. The low-power implant system according to claim 11, wherein the transmitter transmits ultra wideband monocycle pulses so as to eliminate low-frequency spectral components.

26. The low-power implant system according to claim 1, wherein the implant and/or the device includes a battery.

27. A low-power hearing system comprising:

a first external signal processor for providing information to one of a hearing aid and an implant; and

a second external signal processor;

the second external signal processor capable of communicating with the first external signal processor via ultra wideband pulses.

28. The low-power hearing system according to claim 27, wherein the ultra wideband pulses have a duty cycle of 1/1000 or less.

29. The low-power hearing system according to claim 27, wherein the ultra wideband pulses have a time duration of between 0.5 ns and 10 ns.

30. The low-power hearing system according to claim 27, wherein the ultra wideband pulses have a pulse repetition time between 5 and 100 μ

s.

31. The low-power hearing system according to claim 27, wherein the first external processor and/or the second external processor have a receiver for receiving the ultra-wideband pulses, the receiver including a time-gated amplifier.

32. The low-power hearing system according to claim 27, wherein the time-gated amplifier includes a controller for synchronizing turning on of the receiver with possible receipt of a ultra wideband pulse.

33. The low-power hearing system according to claim 27, wherein the controller synchronizes the gated amplifier with pulses received based on receipt of a pulse with a predefined amplitude.

34. The low-power hearing system according to claim 27, wherein the controller synchronizes the gated amplifier with pulses received based on receipt of a pulse of a predefined duration.

35. The low-power hearing system according to claim 27 wherein the first external signal processor includes a first microphone, and the second external signal processor includes a second microphone, the first signal processor for processing an acoustic signal present in a first ear of a user and the second signal processor for processing an acoustic signal present in the second ear of the user.

36. A method of transferring information between a device and an implant implanted in a person, the method comprising:

transmitting, from one of the device and the implant, ultra wideband pulses representative of information; and

receiving, at the other of the device and the implant, the ultra wideband pulses.

37. The method according to claim 36, wherein the device is a signal processor external to the person, and wherein transmitting includes transcutaneously transmitting ultra wideband pulses from the signal processor.

38. The method according to claim 37, wherein transmitting includes:

processing at the signal processor an acoustic signal; and

transcutaneously transmitting ultra wideband pulses representative of the acoustic signal from the signal processor to the implant.

39. The method according to claim 38, wherein the implant is a cochlear implant that includes at least one electrode, the method further comprising electrically stimulating the at least one electrode as a function of the acoustic signal.

40. The method according to claim 36, wherein the device is a second implant.

41. The method according to claim 36, wherein transmitting includes transmitting ultra wideband pulses at a duty cycle of approximately 1/1000 or less.

42. The method according to claim 36, wherein transmitting includes transmitting ultra wideband pulses having a time duration of between 0.5 ns and 10 ns.

43. The method according to claim 36, wherein transmitting includes transmitting pulses at a pulse repetition time between 5 and 100 μ

s.

44. The method according to claim 36, wherein receiving includes amplifying the ultra wideband pulses, the amplifying being time-gated.

45. The method according to claim 44, wherein the amplifying is performed prior to rectification of the ultra wideband pulses.

46. The method according to claim 44, wherein the amplifying is performed after rectification of the ultra wideband pulses.

47. The method according to claim 44, wherein the amplifying includes turning on an amplifier when a probability of receiving a pulse from the device is greater than zero.

48. The method according to claim 44, wherein the amplifying includes biasing the amplifier so as not to be completely off when a probability of receiving a pulse from the device is zero.

49. The method according to claim 44, further comprising synchronizing turning on of the amplifier with possible receipt of transmitted pulses based on receipt of a pulse with a predefined amplitude.

50. The method according to claim 44, further comprising synchronizing turning on of the amplifier with possible receipt of transmitted pulses based on receipt of a pulse with a predefined duration.

51. The method according to claim 36, wherein the device includes a primary coil and the implant includes a secondary coil, and wherein transmitting includes inductively coupling the primary coil and the secondary coil.

52. The method according to claim 36, wherein the device includes a primary loop and the implant includes a secondary loop, and wherein transmitting includes inductively coupling the primary loop and the secondary loop.

53. A method of low-power communication for a hearing system, the method comprising:

providing a first external signal processor that communicates with one of a hearing aid and a cochlear implant; and

providing a second external signal processor;

transmitting ultra wideband pulses between the first external signal processor and the second external signal processor.

54. The method according to claim 53, wherein transmitting includes transmitting ultra wideband pulses at a duty cycle of approximately 1/1000 or less.

55. The method according to claim 53, wherein transmitting includes transmitting ultra wideband pulses having a time duration of between 0.5 ns and 10 ns.

56. The method according to claim 53, wherein transmitting includes transmitting pulses at a pulse repetition time between 5 and 100 μ

s.

57. The method according to claim 53, further comprising receiving the pulses at one of the first external signal processor and the second external signal processor, wherein the receiving includes amplifying the ultra wideband pulses, the amplifying being time-gated.

58. The method according to claim 57, wherein the amplifying includes turning on an amplifier when a probability of receiving a pulse from the device is greater than zero.

59. The method according to claim 58, wherein the amplifying includes biasing the amplifier so as not to be completely off when a probability of receiving a pulse from the device is zero.

60. The method according to claim 57, further comprising synchronizing the turning on of the amplifier with possible receipt of transmitted pulses based on receipt of a pulse with a predefined amplitude.

61. The method according to claim 57, further comprising synchronizing the turning on of the amplifier with possible receipt of transmitted pulses based on receipt of a pulse with a predefined duration.

62. The method according to claim 57, wherein the first external signal processor includes a microphone and the second external signal processor includes a second microphone, the method further including:

processing, at the first external signal processor, an acoustic signal present in a first ear of a user;

processing, at the second external signal processor, an acoustic signal present in a second ear of a user; and

transmitting from the second external signal processor, ultra wideband pulses representative of the acoustic signal present in the second ear of the user, to the first external external signal processor.