Method for controlled shutdown of an implantable medical device

• US 8,571,681 B2
• Filed: 04/30/2013
• Issued: 10/29/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Boston Scientific Neuromodulation Corporation (Boston Scientific Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Boston Scientific Neuromodulation Corporation (Boston Scientific Corporation)
• Inventors: Marnfeldt, Goran N., Parramon, Jordi
• Primary Examiner(s): Wieland, Robert N
• Application Number:
  US13/873,398
• Publication Number:
  US 20130238055A1
• Time in Patent Office: 182 Days
• Field of Search: 607/63, 607/57, 340/870.3
• US Class Current: 607/63
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/32 alternating or intermittent currents applying electric fields by inductive or capacitive coupling A61N1/40; microwave apparatus A61N5/02
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/37217 characterised by the communication link, e.g. acoustic or tactile
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/37223 Circuits for electromagnetic coupling
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/378 Electrical supply
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/3925 Monitoring; Protecting

Abstract

An improved implantable pulse generator (IPG) containing graceful shutdown circuitry is disclosed. A magnet sensor senses the presence of an emergency shutdown magnet. Output of the magnet sensor is conditioned by a signal conditioning circuit. Output of the signal conditioning circuit is delayed by a delay element before being fed to a power cut-off switch, which cuts-off power to the IPG circuitry. An interrupt signal is routed from before the delay element to the IPG processor as an indicator of imminent shutdown. The processor launches shutdown routine that carries out shutdown operations such as logging the emergency shutdown event, saving and closing open files, saving data from volatile memory to non-volatile memory, etc., before the power cut-off switch is activated upon elapsing of delay provided by the delay element. The magnet sensor, signal conditioning circuit, and delay element are powered separately from the rest of the circuitry of the IPG.

Claims

1. An implantable medical device, comprising:

sensor circuitry configured to produce a sensor output upon wirelessly detecting an external signal;

delay circuitry configured to produce a delayed output a delay time after the sensor output is produced;

implant circuitry configured to perform an action upon receipt of the sensor output, wherein the action is configured to be completed within the delay time; and

a switch configured to disconnect a power supply from the implant circuitry upon receipt of the delayed output.

2. The implantable medical device of claim 1, wherein the external signal comprises a magnetic field produced by a magnet.

3. The implantable medical device of claim 1, wherein the external signal comprises a telemetry signal.

4. The implantable medical device of claim 1, wherein the action comprises stopping therapeutic operation of the implantable medical device.

5. The implantable medical device of claim 1, wherein the action comprises initiating a shutdown routine.

6. The implantable medical device of claim 1, wherein the action comprises closing open or active files in the implant circuitry.

7. The implantable medical device of claim 1, wherein the implant circuitry comprises a counter, and wherein the action comprises resetting the counter.

8. The implantable medical device of claim 1, wherein implant circuitry is further configured to perform operations, and wherein the action comprises stopping at least some of operations being performed in the implant circuitry.

9. The implantable medical device of claim 8, wherein one of the stopped operations comprises receiving commands from an external controller configured to communicating with the implantable medical device.

10. The implantable medical device of claim 1, wherein the implant circuitry comprises a non-volatile memory, and wherein the action comprises writing data to the non-volatile memory.

11. The implantable medical device of claim 10, wherein the data comprises data regarding the status of the implantable medical device.

12. The implantable medical device of claim 10, wherein the data comprises at least one time stamp.

13. The implantable medical device of claim 10, wherein the data comprises an indication of an emergency shutdown.

14. The implantable medical device of claim 1, wherein the sensor circuitry comprises conditioning circuitry configured to condition the sensor output.

15. The implantable medical device of claim 1, wherein the power supply comprises a battery.

16. The implantable medical device of claim 1, wherein the delay time is fixed.

17. The implantable medical device of claim 1, wherein the delay circuitry comprises a capacitor configured to set the delay time.

18. The implantable medical device of claim 1, wherein the implant circuitry comprises a processor.

19. The implantable medical device of claim 1, wherein the implant circuitry comprises a stimulation circuit configured to stimulate a patient'"'"'s tissue.