Methods of determining battery life in an implantable medical device
AssigneeAdvanced Neuromodulation Systems, Inc.
InventorDaran DeShazo
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An implantable medical device (IMD), includes a processor for controlling the IMD; circuitry for providing therapeutic or diagnostic medical operations for a patient; wireless communication circuitry for conducting wireless communications; a non-rechargeable battery; and device power control circuitry. The device power control circuitry includes at least one capacitor; charging control circuitry for switching between charging the at least one capacitor using the non-rechargeable battery and discharging the at least one capacitor to provide power for device operations. The IMD is configured to maintain a count related to a number of times of discharge of the at least one capacitor to provide an end-of-life estimation for the non-rechargeable battery.
Claims20
An implantable medical device (IMD), comprising:
- a processor for controlling the IMD;
- circuitry for providing therapeutic or diagnostic medical operations for a patient;
- wireless communication circuitry for conducting wireless communications;
- a non-rechargeable battery;
- and
- device power control circuitry comprising:
- a first capacitor configured to be coupled to the non-rechargeable battery, by charging control circuitry, in a first operating state, and configured to be coupled to one or more components of the IMD, by the charging control circuitry, in a second operating state;
- a second capacitor configured to be coupled to the non-rechargeable battery, by the charging control circuitry, in the second operating state, and configured to be coupled to the one or more components of the IMD, by the charging control circuitry, in the first operating state, wherein:
- during the first operating state, the first capacitor is configured to be charged by the non-rechargeable battery while the second capacitor is configured to provide a supply voltage to the one or more components of the IMD to provide power to the IMD for therapeutic operations and non-therapeutic operations, and
- during the second operating state the second capacitor is configured to be charged by the non-rechargeable battery while the first capacitor is configured to provide the supply voltage to the one or more components of the IMD to provide the power to the IMD for the therapeutic operations and the non-therapeutic operations;
- and
- a comparator configured to:
- receive the supply voltage from the first capacitor during the second operating state or from the second capacitor during the first operating state,
- compare the supply voltage against a reference voltage value,
- in response to the supply voltage failing to satisfy the reference voltage value, generate an output signal configured to cause a transition from the first operating state to the second operating state or from the second operating state to the first operating state, and
- increment a count value of a counter coupled to the comparator, wherein the count value corresponds to a number of times of discharge of the first capacitor, the second capacitor, or both, and an amount of charge remaining in the non-rechargeable battery is determined based on the count value.
A method of operating an implantable medical device (IMD), the method comprising:
- operating power control circuitry of the IMD to power therapeutic and non-therapeutic operations of the IMD, wherein operating the power control circuitry comprises:
- (1) in a first operating state occurring during a first time interval, switchably coupling a non-rechargeable battery of the IMD to at least a first capacitor to charge the at least the first capacitor while switchably coupling at least a second capacitor to one or more components of the IMD to provide a supply voltage to the one or more components via discharge of the at least the second capacitor, wherein the supply voltage is configured to provide power to perform therapeutic operations and non-therapeutic operations, and
- (2) in a second operating state occurring during a second time interval distinct from the first time interval, switchably coupling the at least the first capacitor to the one or more components of the IMD to provide the supply voltage to the one or more components via discharge of the at least the first capacitor while switchably coupling the at least the second capacitor to the rechargeable battery to charge the at least the second capacitor;
- incrementing a counter to record count data related to a number of times that the at least the first capacitor and the at least the second capacitor have been discharged;
- conducting a communication session with a device external to a patient using wireless communication circuitry of the IMD;
- and
- communicating the count data to the device external to the patient, wherein the device external to the patient is configured to determine a remaining life of the non-rechargeable battery based on the count data.
An implantable medical device (IMD), comprising:
- a processor for controlling the IMD;
- circuitry for providing therapeutic or diagnostic medical operations for a patient;
- wireless communication circuitry for conducting wireless communications;
- a non-rechargeable battery;
- and
- device power control circuitry comprising:
- a plurality of capacitors;
- charging control circuitry for switching between charging two or more capacitors of the plurality of capacitors using the non-rechargeable battery and discharging the two or more of the plurality of capacitors to provide power for device operations that include therapeutic operations and non-therapeutic operations, wherein switching between charging the two or more capacitors comprises:
- charging a first capacitor of the two or more capacitors by the non-rechargeable battery while a second capacitor of the two or more capacitors is configured to provide a supply voltage to one or more components of the IMD to provide power to the IMD for the therapeutic operations and the non-therapeutic operations, and
- charging the second capacitor of the two or more capacitors by the non-rechargeable battery while the first capacitor of the two or more capacitors is configured to provide the supply voltage to the one or more components of the IMD to provide power to the IMD for the therapeutic operations and the non-therapeutic operations;
- wherein the IMD is configured to maintain a count related to a number of times of discharge of the plurality of capacitors to provide an end-of-life estimation for the non-rechargeable battery.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.