POWERING OF AN IMPLANTABLE MEDICAL THERAPY DELIVERY DEVICE USING FAR FIELD RADIATIVE POWERING AT MULTIPLE FREQUENCIES

• US 20130018440A1
• Filed: 03/29/2012
• Published: 01/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LivaNova USA, Inc. (LivaNova Plc)
• Original Assignee: Cyberonics, Inc
• Inventors: CHOW, Eric Y., ROWELL, Jonathan D.
• Granted Patent: US 9,402,994 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 607/61
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/0551 Spinal or peripheral nerve electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/0556 Cuff electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/3605 Implantable neurostimulators for stimulating central or peripheral nerve system
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/37211 Means for communicating with stimulators
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/37223 Circuits for electromagnetic coupling
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/3787 from an external energy source

Abstract

A particular implantable device may include one or more antennas configured to receive a first far field radiative signal and a second far field radiative signal. The one or more antennas may be configured to receive the first far field radiative signal in a first frequency band and to receive the second far field radiative signal in a second frequency band. The implantable device may include a voltage rectifier configured to rectify the received first far field radiative signal and the received second far field radiative signal to provide a rectified voltage signal. The implantable device may further include a charge storage element operative to receive the rectified voltage signal and to store charge responsive to the rectified voltage signal. The implantable device may also include a therapy delivery unit powered by the charge storage element. The therapy delivery unit may be operative to deliver a therapy to a patient.

Claims

1. An implantable medical device comprising:

a first antenna configured to receive a first far field radiative signal in a first frequency band;

a second antenna configured to receive a second far field radiative signal in a second frequency band;

a voltage rectifier configured to rectify the received first far field radiative signal and the received second far field radiative signal to provide a rectified voltage signal;

a charge storage element operative to receive the rectified voltage signal and to store charge responsive to the rectified voltage signal; and

a therapy delivery unit powered by the charge storage element, the therapy delivery unit operative to deliver a therapy to a patient.

2. The implantable medical device of claim 1, wherein the voltage rectifier comprises a first voltage rectifier configured to rectify the received first far field radiative signal and a second voltage rectifier configured to rectify the received second far field radiative signal.

3. The implantable medical device of claim 2, wherein the voltage rectifier further comprises a summing network configured to sum a first rectified voltage signal output by the first voltage rectifier with a second rectified voltage signal output by the second voltage rectifier and to provide the rectified voltage signal to the charge storage element.

4. The implantable medical device of claim 1, wherein the charge storage element is one of a capacitor, a capacitor array, a rechargeable battery, and a thin film battery.

5. The implantable medical device of claim 1, wherein the first antenna is one of a dipole antenna, a monopole antenna, a serpentine antenna, a slot antenna, a patch antenna, an inverted-F antenna (IFA), a helical antenna, a fractal antenna, and a loop antenna.

6. The implantable medical device of claim 1, wherein the first far field radiative signal and the second far field radiative signal each have a frequency in a frequency band centered at one of approximately 433 MHz and 900 MHz, respectively, approximately 433 MHz and 2.4 GHz, respectively, approximately 433 MHz and 5.8 GHz, respectively, approximately 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz, respectively, approximately 900 MHz and 5.8 GHz, respectively, and approximately 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz, respectively.

7. The implantable medical device of claim 1, wherein the first and second far field radiative signals each have a frequency within a range of approximately 100 MHz to approximately 5.8 GHz.

8. The implantable medical device of claim 1, wherein the first far field radiative signal is transmitted over a first distance of at least twice a first wavelength of the first far field radiative signal, and wherein the second far field radiative signal is transmitted over a second distance of at least twice a second wavelength of the second far field radiative signal.

9. The implantable medical device of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first far field radiative signal and the second far field radiative signal is a pulsed signal.

10. The implantable medical device of claim 9, wherein the pulsed signal has a duty cycle of 10% or less.

11. A method comprising:

receiving a first far field radiative signal and a second far field radiative signal at an implantable medical device;

rectifying the received first far field radiative signal and the received second far field radiative signal to provide a voltage;

charging a charge storage element of the implantable medical device responsive to the voltage; and

providing a therapy to a patient using a therapy delivery unit of the implantable medical device, wherein the therapy delivery unit receives power from the charge storage element.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein rectifying the received first far field radiative signal and the received second far field radiative signal comprises multiplying a rectified voltage to provide the voltage.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein rectifying the received first far field radiative signal and the received second far field radiative signal further comprises increasing a rectified voltage at a DC-to-DC converter to provide the voltage.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the implantable medical device includes a multiband antenna configured to receive the first far field radiative signal and the second far field radiative signal.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the implantable medical device includes a first antenna configured to receive the first far field radiative signal and a second antenna configured to receive the second far field radiative signal.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the first far field radiative signal and the second far field radiative signal each have a frequency that is within a range of approximately 100 MHz to approximately 5.8 GHz.

17. An implantable medical device comprising:

a multiband antenna configured to receive a first far field radiative signal in a first frequency band and to receive a second far field radiative signal in a second frequency band;

a voltage rectifier configured to rectify the first far field radiative signal and the second far field radiative signal received by the multiband antenna to provide a rectified voltage signal;

a charge storage element operative to receive the rectified voltage signal and to store charge responsive to the rectified voltage signal; and

a therapy delivery unit powered by the charge storage element, the therapy delivery unit operative to deliver a therapy to a patient.

18. The implantable medical device of claim 17, wherein the first far field radiative signal and the second far field radiative signal each have a frequency in a frequency band centered at one of approximately 433 MHz and 900 MHz, respectively, approximately 433 MHz and 2.4 GHz, respectively, approximately 433 MHz and 5.8 GHz, respectively, approximately 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz, respectively, approximately 900 MHz and 5.8 GHz, respectively, and approximately 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz, respectively.

19. The implantable medical device of claim 17, wherein the first far field radiative signal and the second far field radiative signal each have a frequency within a range of approximately 100 MHz to approximately 5.8 GHz.

20. The implantable medical device of claim 17, wherein the first far field radiative signal is a first pulsed signal and the second far field radiative signal is a second pulsed signal, wherein the first pulsed signal and the second pulsed signal are interleaved.

21. A system comprising:

a first external transmitter configured to transmit a first far field radiative signal;

a second external transmitter configured to transmit a second far field radiative signal; and

an implantable medical device configured to receive the first far field radiative signal and the second far field radiative signal, the implantable medical device comprising;

a charge storage element operative to store a charge responsive to the received first far field radiative signal and the received second far field radiative signal; and

a pulse generator powered by the charge storage element, the pulse generator operative to generate an electrical stimulation signal to stimulate a target tissue of a patient.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the first far field radiative signal is a first pulsed signal and the second far field radiative signal is a second pulsed signal, wherein the first pulsed signal and the second pulsed signal are interleaved.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the first pulse signal and the second pulsed signal each have an average transmission power of 1 watt or less and an instantaneous transmission power of 5 watts or less.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein a distance between the implantable medical device and each of the first external transmitter and the second external transmitter is greater than 0.1 meters.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein the first far field radiative signal and the second far field radiative signal each have a free-space path loss that is proportional to a free-space path distance squared.

26. The system of claim 21, wherein the first far field radiative signal and the second far field radiative signal each have a frequency within a range of approximately 100 MHz to approximately 5.8 GHz.

27. The implantable medical device of claim 21, wherein the first far field radiative signal and the second far field radiative signal each have a frequency in a frequency band centered at one of approximately 433 MHz and 900 MHz, respectively, approximately 433 MHz and 2.4 GHz, respectively, approximately 433 MHz and 5.8 GHz, respectively, approximately 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz, respectively, approximately 900 MHz and 5.8 GHz, respectively, and approximately 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz, respectively.