External charger with customizable magnetic charging field
First Claim
1. An external charger for charging at least one implantable medical device, comprising:
- a primary charging coil positioned radially symmetrically with respect to a main axis; and
a plurality of first coils that are positioned with radial symmetry with respect to the main axis, wherein each first coil is positioned at a different location about the main axis, andwherein each of the first coils is configured to be differently activated in conjunction with activation of the primary charging coil to produce a combined magnetic field to charge the at least one implantable medical device, wherein the combined magnetic field is radially asymmetric with respect to the main axis.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Improved external chargers for charging an implantable medical device, and particularly useful in charging a plurality of such devices, are disclosed. Each of the various embodiments include a plurality of field customization coils for customizing the magnetic charging field generated by the external charger such that the magnetic charging field is not radially symmetric. For example, one embodiment includes a primary coil with a plurality of field customization coils distributed radially with respect to the coil. The generated magnetic charging field can be rendered radially asymmetric by selectively activating or disabling the field customization coils in response to data quantifying the coupling between the various implants and the field customization coils in the charger. If there is a relatively high coupling between a particular implant and a particular customization coil for example, that customization coil can be activated to counter the magnetic charging field at that location, while still maintaining a relatively high magnetic charging field at the location of other implants that may have lower couplings.
27 Citations
27 Claims
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1. An external charger for charging at least one implantable medical device, comprising:
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a primary charging coil positioned radially symmetrically with respect to a main axis; and a plurality of first coils that are positioned with radial symmetry with respect to the main axis, wherein each first coil is positioned at a different location about the main axis, and wherein each of the first coils is configured to be differently activated in conjunction with activation of the primary charging coil to produce a combined magnetic field to charge the at least one implantable medical device, wherein the combined magnetic field is radially asymmetric with respect to the main axis. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. An external charger for charging at least one implantable medical device, comprising:
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a plurality of coplanar first coils positioned radially symmetrically with respect to a main axis, wherein each first coil is positioned at a different location about the main axis; and test circuitry configured to determine at least one coupling parameter between each first coil and at least one implantable medical device, wherein each of the first coils is configured to be differently activated in accordance with its at least one coupling parameter to produce a magnetic field that is radially asymmetric with respect to the main axis. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification