Current Generation Architecture for an Implantable Stimulator Device Having Coarse and Fine Current Control
First Claim
1. An implantable stimulator device, comprising:
- a plurality of electrodes implantable adjacent to tissue to be stimulated;
first current generation circuitry comprising a plurality of first stages, wherein the first stages are distributed among the electrodes such that any first stage can generate a current at any particular electrode; and
second current generation circuitry comprising a plurality of second stages, wherein each of the second stages is directly coupled to a particular one of the electrodes to generate a current at each electrode.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed herein is a current generation architecture for an implantable stimulator device such as an Implantable Pulse Generator (IPG). Current source and sink circuitry are both divided into coarse and fine portions, which respectively can provide a coarse and fine current resolution to a specified electrode on the IPG. The coarse portion is distributed across all of the electrodes and so can source or sink current to any of the electrodes. The coarse portion is divided into a plurality of stages, each of which is capable via an associated switch bank of sourcing or sinking a coarse amount of current to or from any one of the electrodes on the device. The fine portion of the current generation circuit preferably includes source and sink circuitry dedicated to each of the electrode on the device, which can comprise digital-to-analog current converters (DACs). The DACs also receives the above-noted reference current, which is amplified by the DACs in fine increments by appropriate selection of fine current control signals. When the coarse and fine current control circuitry are used in tandem, ample current with a fine current resolution can be achieved at any electrode and in a space- and power-efficient manner.
105 Citations
36 Claims
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1. An implantable stimulator device, comprising:
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a plurality of electrodes implantable adjacent to tissue to be stimulated;
first current generation circuitry comprising a plurality of first stages, wherein the first stages are distributed among the electrodes such that any first stage can generate a current at any particular electrode; and
second current generation circuitry comprising a plurality of second stages, wherein each of the second stages is directly coupled to a particular one of the electrodes to generate a current at each electrode. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. An implantable stimulator device, comprising:
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a plurality of electrodes implantable adjacent to tissue to be stimulated;
coarse current generation circuitry comprising a plurality of coarse current generation stages, wherein the coarse stages are distributed among the electrodes such that any coarse stage can generate a coarse current of a first resolution at any electrode; and
fine current generation circuitry comprising a plurality of fine current generation stages, wherein each of the fine stages is directly coupled to a particular one of the electrodes to produce a fine current of a second resolution at the particular electrode, wherein the second resolution is smaller than the first resolution. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. An implantable stimulator device, comprising:
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a plurality of electrodes implantable adjacent to tissue to be stimulated;
coarse resolution current source circuitry comprising a plurality of first stages, each of which is controllable for selectively supplying a first coarse output current to more than one of the plurality of electrodes;
coarse resolution current sink circuitry comprising a plurality of second stages, each of which is controllable for selectively sinking a second coarse output current from more than one of the plurality of electrodes;
fine resolution current source circuitry comprising a plurality of third stages, each of which is for supplying a third fine output current to a single one of the plurality of electrodes, a magnitude of the third fine output current being less than a magnitude of the first coarse output current; and
fine resolution current sink circuitry comprising a plurality of fourth stages, each of which is for sinking a fourth fine output current from a single one of the plurality of electrodes, a magnitude of fourth fine output current being less than a magnitude of the second coarse output current. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. An implantable stimulator device, comprising:
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a plurality of electrodes implantable adjacent to tissue to be stimulated;
a plurality of first current converters each for converting a reference current into a first output current representing a scaled version of the reference current;
a switch bank associated with each of the plurality of first current converters, wherein each switch bank has a plurality of switches capable of supplying or sinking the first output current converted by its associated current converter to or from any of the plurality of electrodes; and
a plurality of second current converters each for selectively converting the reference current to second output currents, each of the plurality of second current converters capable of supplying or sinking their second output current to only one of the plurality electrodes. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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Specification