Electrical nerve stimulation device

• US 8,019,426 B2
• Filed: 07/16/2007
• Issued: 09/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DJO LLC (Enovis Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Encore Medical Asset Corporation (Enovis Corp.)
• Inventors: Karas, Michael, Woldegiorges, Bisrat, Czech, John, Moore, Gary L.
• Primary Examiner(s): MANUEL, GEORGE C
• Application Number:
  US11/879,221
• Publication Number:
  US 20080114414A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,520 Days
• Field of Search: 607/13, 607/46, 320/127
• US Class Current: 607/46
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/025 Digital circuitry features of electrotherapy devices, e.g. memory, clocks, processors
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/0456 Specially adapted for transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation [TENS]
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/36021 for treatment of pain
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/3752 Details of casing-lead connections
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 90/10 Information and communication technologies [ICT] supporting adaptation to climate change, e.g. for weather forecasting or climate simulation

Abstract

The electrical nerve stimulation unit in accordance with the present invention generally includes a housing, an input panel, a display panel, a controller, a first channel output, a second channel output, and a power system. While the device is generally described in terms of use as a TENS unit, it must be noted that other nerve stimulation applications for the device are envisioned as well. The myriad of intelligent and proactive programmable software functions and features of the present invention are executed on the controller'"'"'s microprocessor. For instance, open lead monitoring, soft recovery implementation, compliance monitoring, and enhanced power management are all controlled and monitored through the interfacing of the processor with the various devices and hardware on the unit'"'"'s hardware platform.

Claims

1. A nerve stimulation device comprising:

at least one output channel for communicating an electrical pulse signal to a user, the at least one output channel having at least one lead wire operably connectable to the at least one output channel for communicating the electrical pulse signal;

a high voltage level power system having at least one battery source at a first voltage to provide power to the nerve stimulation device; and

a processor in operable communication with at least the high voltage level power system to calculate a second voltage lower than the first voltage and corresponding to a voltage level required to generate the electrical pulse signal, the processor further periodically monitoring a voltage capacity of the high voltage level power system and substantially maintaining the second voltage during stimulation;

wherein the second voltage is calculated from at least one treatment parameter associated with a treatment mode selected by the user.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the processor maintains the second voltage capacity during operation by charging a capacitor in the high voltage level power system with pulses to replace pulses used to generate the electrical pulse signal.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the processor calculates the second voltage based on an electrical treatment output that is based at the least one treatment parameter.

4. The device of claim 3, wherein the at least one inputted treatment parameter includes at least one of pulse rate, pulse duration, pulse intensity, mode data, and compliance data.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the second voltage is less than the first voltage.

6. A nerve stimulation device comprising:

at least one output means for communicating a generated electrical pulse signal;

power means for providing power to the nerve stimulation device, the power means having a voltage source at a first voltage and a circuit means for generating a second voltage for the generated electrical pulse signal; and

control means in operable communication with at least the power means to calculate the second voltage lower than the first voltage and corresponding to a voltage level required to generate the electrical pulse signal, the control means further periodically monitoring a voltage capacity of the circuit means and substantially maintaining the second voltage during stimulation;

wherein the second voltage is calculated from at least one treatment parameter associated with a treatment mode selected by the user.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein the processor calculates the second voltage based on an electrical treatment output that is based at the least one treatment parameter.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the at least one inputted treatment parameter includes at least one of pulse rate, pulse duration, pulse intensity, mode data, and compliance data.

9. The device of claim 6, wherein the second voltage is less than the first voltage.