Cardiac rhythm management system including nonlinear, non-blanking sense amplifier
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- receiving a sensed signal, which includes a heart activity component, from a heart;
nonlinearly amplifying the sensed signal;
delivering pacing pulses to the heart based on the heart activity component of the nonlinearly amplified sensed signal; and
wherein amplifying the sensed signal includes amplifying during time periods in which the pacing pulses are being delivered to the heart.
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Abstract
A cardiac rhythm management system provides a nonlinear gain characteristic. The system operates without blanking switches that decouple its inputs from electrodes during delivery of a pacing or recharge pulse. The nonlinear gain characteristic includes piecewise linear and logarithmic gain characteristics. Signals having amplitudes that are smaller than an input threshold voltage are amplified by less than signals having amplitudes that exceed the input threshold voltage. Intrinsic heart activity signals are amplified. Detected pacing pulses are attenuated. The system is capable of detecting an evoked response to determine whether a pacing pulse resulted in a successful heart contraction. Autocapture techniques allow adjustment of the pacing pulse energy based on the evoked response.
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Citations
45 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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receiving a sensed signal, which includes a heart activity component, from a heart; nonlinearly amplifying the sensed signal; delivering pacing pulses to the heart based on the heart activity component of the nonlinearly amplified sensed signal; and wherein amplifying the sensed signal includes amplifying during time periods in which the pacing pulses are being delivered to the heart. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method comprising:
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receiving a sensed signal, which includes a heart activity component, from a heart; amplfying the sensed signal by a first gain if an amplitude of the sensed signal is approximately less than or equal to an input threshold voltage; amplifying the sensed signal by a second gain, which is less than the first gain, if the amplitude of the sensed signal approximately exceeds the input threshold voltage; and delivering pacing pulses to the heart based on the heart activity component of the amplified sensed signal. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A cardiac rhythm management system comprising:
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first and second electrodes; a therapy module, coupled to the first and second electrodes for delivering pacing pulses to a heart; and a sense amplifier, including an input and an output, the input coupled to the first and second electrodes for receiving a sensed signal including a heart activity component, the sense amplifier having a nonlinear gain characteristic, wherein the input of the sense amplifier is coupled to the first and second electrodes at least during time periods in which the pacing pulses are delivered to the heart. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A cardiac rhythm management system comprising:
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first and second electrodes; a therapy module, coupled to the first and second electrodes for delivering pacing pulses to a heart; and a sense amplifier, including an input and an output, the input coupled to the first and second electrodes for receiving a sensed signal including a heart activity component, the sense amplifier having a nonlinear gain characteristic that includes a first gain at amplitudes of the sensed signal that are less than or equal to an input threshold voltage, and a second gain, which is lower than this first gain, at amplitudes of the sensed signal that exceed the threshold voltage. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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Specification