# US 11,027,133 B2 · Ultra-low power receiver module for wireless communication by an implantable medical device > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,027,133 B2 - Document ID: US11027133B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/434,167 - Filed: 2019-06-06 - Published: 2020-12-10 - Granted: 2021-06-08 - Earliest claimed: 2019-06-06 - Assignees: Cairdac - Applicants: Cairdac - Inventors: Alaa Makdissi; An Nguyen-Dinh - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11027133B2 ## CPC - A61N 1/36542: {controlled by body motion, e.g. acceleration} - A61N 1/37276: {characterised by means for reducing power consumption during telemetry} - A61N 1/37223: {Circuits for electromagnetic coupling} - A61N 1/3785: {generated by biological activity or substance, e.g. body movement} - A61N 1/3756: {Casings with electrodes thereon, e.g. leadless stimulators} - A61N 1/3787: {from an external energy source} - A61N: ELECTROTHERAPY; MAGNETOTHERAPY; RADIATION THERAPY; ULTRASOUND THERAPY (measurement of bioelectric currents A61B; surgical instruments, devices or methods for transferring non-mechanical forms of energy to or from the body A61B18/00; anaesthetic apparatus in general A61M; incandescent lamps H01K; infrared radiators for heating H05B) ## Abstract A receiver module of an autonomous implanted capsule receives a human body communication, HBC, signal sensed by an electrode in contact with body tissues or fluids of a patient. The signal is a pulse-modulated, baseband PPM pulse signal. The receiver module comprises a non-linear LNA amplifier stage comprising a pair of complementary transistors arranged as a voltage inverter circuit with an input coupled to the modulated-input-signal collecting electrode. The amplifier stage input is polarized to an intermediate operating point voltage between a supply voltage of the complementary transistor pair and a ground voltage. The amplifier stage has a gain of at least 40 dB, a gain-bandwidth product of at least 20 MHz, and a consumption lower than or equal to 100 nW. It is followed by a downstream demodulator stage made up of a fast comparator circuit of the Threshold Inverter Quantization, TIQ, type, comprising two inverters with cascade-coupled complementary transistors, one of the inverters operating as a voltage reference and the other inverter operating as a gain booster. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An ultra-low consumption wireless communication receiver module for an implantable medical device, the medical device comprising: at least one electrode for collecting a pulse modulated input communication signal transmitted by human body communication, wherein the receiver module comprises at least one low-noise amplifier (LNA) stage receiving the modulated input communication signal and having a gain of at least 40 db and a gain-bandwidth product of at least 20 MHz, wherein the LNA stage is a non-linear stage comprising a pair of complementary transistors arranged as a voltage inverter circuit having an input coupled to the electrode collecting the modulated input communication signal, wherein the input of the LNA stage is polarized to an intermediate operating point voltage between a supply voltage of the complementary transistor pair and a ground voltage, and wherein the at least one LNA stage has a consumption lower than or equal to 100 nW. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The receiver module of claim 1, wherein the intermediate operating point voltage is half the supply voltage. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The receiver module of claim 1, wherein the LNA stage comprises a feedback resistor mutually coupling to each other the input of the voltage inverter circuit and an output of the voltage inverter circuit, so as to generate a polarization of the LNA stage input to the operating point voltage. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The receiver module of claim 3, wherein the feedback resistor is made up of a MOS transistor, or of a plurality of series MOS transistors, mutually coupling to each other the input and the output of the voltage inverter circuit. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The receiver module of claim 1, wherein the receiver module further comprises, downstream of the LNA stage, a demodulator stage receiving as an input an output signal issued by the LNA stage, which signal varies about the operating point voltage, and wherein the demodulator stage comprises a fast comparator circuit arranged so as to sense the voltage variations about the operating point voltage that result from the modulation of the modulated input communication signal after being amplified by the LNA stage. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The receiver module of claim 5, wherein the fast comparator circuit of the demodulator stage is a comparator circuit of the Threshold Inverter Quantization, TIQ, type, comprising two inverters with cascade-coupled complementary transistors, one of the inverters operating as a virtual voltage reference and the other inverter operating as a gain booster. ### Claim 7 (depends on 5) The receiver module of claim 5, wherein the receiver module further comprises, downstream of the demodulator stage, a discriminator stage comprising a pair of complementary transistors arranged as an inverter circuit adapted to discriminate among rising edges and falling edges of the signal issued by the demodulator circuit. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The receiver module of claim 1, wherein the receiver module comprises a plurality of similar non-linear LNA stages, coupled in cascade, each comprising a pair of complementary transistors arranged as a voltage inverter circuit with a feedback resistor. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The receiver module of claim 1, wherein the pulse-modulated input communication signal transmitted by human body communication is a Pulse Position Modulation, PPM, coded baseband pulse signal. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The receiver module of claim 1, wherein the pulses of the pulse-modulated input signal have an amplitude between 100 .mu.V and 10 mV and a duration lower than 5 .mu.s. ### Claim 11 An implantable medical device comprising an ultra-low consumption unit for wireless human body communication, wherein the medical device comprises: at least one electrode adapted to come into contact with body tissues or fluids of a patient; a transmitter module comprising a modulator stage to generate a pulse-modulated output signal to be applied to the at least one electrode; and a receiver module comprising at least one low-noise amplifier (LNA) stage receiving a pulse-modulated input communication signal collected by the at least one electrode, wherein the LNA stage of the receiver module is a non-linear stage comprising a pair of complementary transistors arranged as a voltage inverter circuit having an input coupled to the modulated-input-signal collecting electrode, wherein the input and an output of the voltage inverter circuitry are mutually coupled, and wherein the input of the LNA stage is polarized to an intermediate operating point voltage between a supply voltage of the complementary transistor pair and a ground voltage. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The medical device of claim 11, wherein the pulse-modulated input communication signal is a Pulse Position Modulation, PPM, coded baseband pulse signal. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The medical device of claim 12, wherein the modulator stage of the transmitter module does not include an oscillator and comprises an XOR logic gate receiving, at a first input, a binary flow at the baseband frequency of the PPM signal and, at a second input, the same binary flow, inverted and delayed, and whose output is coupled to the at least one electrode. ### Claim 14 (depends on 11) The medical device of claim 11, wherein the medical device is an autonomous implantable capsule comprising: an electronic unit including the wireless human body communication transmitter and receiver modules; an energy storage component for powering the electronic unit; and an energy harvesting module for powering the electronic unit and/or for charging the energy storage component.