Electrode Weighting Unit

A method comprising:

• a stimulation module receiving stimulation data that specifies (i) a channel and (ii) an amplitude;
• based on the specified channel and amplitude, the stimulation module calculating a set of magnitudes, wherein calculating a set of magnitudes includes, based on the specified channel, determining a vector of electrode-weight values, each individual electrode-weight value of the vector of electrode-weight values corresponding to one of the individual electrodes in the array of electrodes, and multiplying the specified amplitude by the vector of electrode-weight values;
• and
• based on the calculated set of magnitudes, the stimulation module applying current to a subset of an array of electrodes, the subset being defined by the specified channel,
• wherein the stimulation module includes a multiplier accumulator (MAC) vector unit that includes an amplitude-shift register and a plurality of shift-accumulator units, each shift-accumulator unit including a weight-shift register, an adder, and a magnitude register.

A stimulation device comprising:

• a command module configured for transmitting data across a data link;
• and
• a stimulation module coupled to an array of electrodes, the stimulation module configured for:
• receiving stimulation data transmitted by the command module, the stimulation data defining a channel and an amplitude,
• calculating, on a per electrode basis and based on the channel and amplitude value, a set of magnitudes of current to apply to individual electrodes associated with the channel, and
• applying current to the array of electrodes based on the calculated set of magnitudes.

A stimulation module comprising:

• memory storage;
• at least one processor;
• and
• program code stored in the memory storage, wherein the program code is executable by the processor to carry out functions comprising:
• receiving stimulation data indicating a channel and an amplitude,
• based on the indicated channel and amplitude and on a per electrode basis, calculating a set of magnitudes of current to apply to individual electrodes associated with the channel, and
• applying a set of currents to an array of electrodes based on the calculated set of magnitudes.