Systems configured to power at least one device disposed in a living subject, and related apparatuses and methods

• US 9,248,282 B2
• Filed: 09/26/2012
• Issued: 02/02/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Gearbox LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Hyde, Roderick A., Ishikawa, Muriel Y., Rivet, Dennis J., Wood, Lowell L. Jr., Wood, Victoria Y. H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bertram, Eric D.
• Application Number:
  US13/627,331
• Publication Number:
  US 20130019928A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,224 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/37211 Means for communicating with stimulators
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/37217 characterised by the communication link, e.g. acoustic or tactile
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/3787 from an external energy source
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/23 The load being a medical device, a medical implant, or a life supporting device
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/30 using light, e.g. lasers
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/807 Optical power feeding, i.e. transmitting power using an optical signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 13/005 Transmission systems in which the medium consists of the human body

Abstract

Embodiments disclosed herein are directed to systems configured to power at least one device disposed in a living subject, apparatuses configured to be disposed in a living subject and export power stored in an energy-storage device, and related methods of powering at least one device disposed in the living subject.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

transmitting one or more optical power signals transdermally into a living subject and to an optical-electrical converter disposed therein; and

transmitting one or more conditioning signals transdermally to a signal converter or a power conditioning unit disposed within the living subject, the one or more conditioning signals including information encoded therein indicating a manner in which one or more electrical signals converted by the optical-electrical converter from the one or more optical power signals are to be conditioned by the power conditioning unit.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting one or more conditioning signals transdermally to a signal converter or a power conditioning unit disposed within a living subject includes optically transmitting the one or more conditioning signals transdermally to an optical-electrical converter.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting one or more conditioning signals to a signal converter or a power conditioning unit disposed within a living subject includes transmitting the one or more conditioning signals from a device disposed in the living subject.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting the one or more conditioning signals occurs substantially simultaneously with the transmitting the one or more optical power signals.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting the one or more conditioning signals occurs at a different time than the transmitting the one or more optical power signals.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more conditioning signals are one or more optical conditioning signals.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the one or more optical conditioning signals exhibit at least one of a wavelength, polarization, or time-profile that is different from the one or more optical power signals.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the one or more optical conditioning signals exhibit at least one infrared or visible peak wavelength.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more optical power signals exhibit at least one infrared or visible peak wavelength.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more conditioning signals are at least one of one or more radio-frequency conditioning signals, one or more ultrasound conditioning signals, one or more electrical signals, or one or more optical signals.

11. A method comprising:

transmitting one or more conditioning signals transdermally to a signal converter or a power conditioning unit disposed within a living subject, the one or more conditioning signals encoding information including a manner in which one or more optical power signals are converted into electrical energy;

transmitting the one or more optical power signals transdermally into the living subject and to an optical-electrical converter disposed therein; and

converting the one or more optical power signals into electrical energy in the optical-electrical converter according to the information encoded in the one or more conditioning signals;

wherein one or more of the signal converter, power converter, or optical-electrical converter are enclosed within a biocompatible packaging.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising storing the electrical energy prior to transmission to the power conditioning unit.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein storing the electrical energy prior to transmission to the power conditioning unit includes storing at least a portion of the electrical energy with an energy-storage device operably coupled to the optical-electrical energy converter.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising powering at least one device disposed within the living subject using at least a portion of the electrical energy.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the at least one device is enclosed within biocompatible packaging.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the biocompatible packaging encloses each of the signal converter, the power converter, and the optical-electrical converter.

17. A method comprising:

transmitting one or more conditioning signals transdermally to a signal converter or a power conditioning unit disposed within a living subject;

converting the one or more conditioning signals into electrical conditioning signals encoding instructions for conditioning one or more optical power signals into electrical energy; and

transmitting the one or more optical power signals transdermally into the living subject and to an optical-electrical converter disposed therein;

wherein one or more of the signal converter, power converter, or optical-electrical converter are enclosed within a biocompatible packaging.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the signal converter includes an optical-electrical transducer, and wherein converting the one or more conditioning signals into electrical conditioning signals includes converting the one or more conditioning signals into electrical conditioning signals using the optical-electrical signal converter.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the optical-electrical signal converter and the optical-electrical converter are the same device.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the signal converter includes an ultrasound transducer, and wherein converting the one or more conditioning signals into electrical conditioning signals includes converting the one or more conditioning signals into electrical conditioning signals using the ultrasound transducer.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the one or more conditioning signals include one or more optical conditioning signals exhibiting at least one of a wavelength, polarization, or time-profile that is different from the one or more optical power signals.