Intelligent implants and associated antenna and data sampling methods

A stem tibial component of a knee prosthesis, the tibial component comprising:

• a tibial stem;
• and
• a tibial extension mechanically coupled to and partially extending from the tibial stem, the tibial stem extension comprising:
• a housing having a casing and a cover coupled to the casing,
• an electronics assembly within the housing, and
• an antenna within the housing and coupled to the electronics assembly, the antenna comprising a flat ribbon configured in a loop and having major surfaces, the antenna oriented within the cover of the housing with major surfaces of the antenna generally parallel with an inner surface of the cover.

A tibial component of a knee prosthesis, the tibial component comprising:

• a tibial stem having a receptacle;
• and
• an implantable reporting processor partially within the receptacle and partially extending from the tibial stem, the implantable reporting processor comprising:
• a battery within the receptacle,
• an electronics assembly coupled to the battery and within the receptacle,
• an antenna coupled to the electronics assembly and outside the receptacle, the antenna comprising a flat ribbon configured in a loop and having major surfaces, and
• a cover outside the receptacle and enclosing the antenna, wherein the antenna is oriented within the cover with major surfaces of the antenna generally parallel with an inner surface of the cover.

A humeral component of a shoulder prosthesis, the humeral component comprising:

• a humeral stem having a receptacle;
• and
• an implantable reporting processor partially within the receptacle and partially extending from the humeral stem, the implantable reporting processor comprising:
• a battery within the receptacle,
• an electronics assembly coupled to the battery and within the receptacle,
• an antenna coupled to the electronics assembly and outside the receptacle, the antenna comprising a flat ribbon configured in a loop and having major surfaces, and
• a cover outside the receptacle and enclosing the antenna, wherein the antenna is oriented within the cover with major surfaces of the antenna generally parallel with an inner surface of the cover.

A femoral component of a hip prosthesis, the femoral component comprising:

• a femoral body having a receptacle;
• and
• an implantable reporting processor partially within the receptacle and partially extending from the femoral body, the implantable reporting processor comprising:
• a battery within the receptacle,
• an electronics assembly coupled to the battery and within the receptacle,
• an antenna coupled to the electronics assembly and outside the receptacle, the antenna comprising a flat ribbon configured in a loop and having major surfaces, and
• a cover outside the receptacle and enclosing the antenna, wherein the antenna is oriented within the cover of with major surfaces of the antenna generally parallel with an inner surface of the cover.

An implantable reporting processor configured for integration with a humeral stem of a shoulder prosthesis, the implantable reporting processor comprising:

• a battery configured to fit within a receptacle of the humeral stem,
• an electronics assembly coupled to the battery and configured to fit within the receptacle,
• an antenna coupled to the electronics assembly and configured for placement outside the receptacle, the antenna comprising a flat ribbon configured in a loop and having major surfaces, and
• a cover configured for placement outside the receptacle and enclosing the antenna, wherein the antenna is oriented within the cover with major surfaces of the antenna generally parallel with an inner surface of the cover.

An implantable reporting processor configured for integration with a femoral body of a hip prosthesis, the implantable reporting processor comprising:

• a battery configured to fit within a receptacle of the femoral body,
• an electronics assembly coupled to the battery and configured to fit within the receptacle,
• an antenna coupled to the electronics assembly and configured for placement outside the receptacle, the antenna comprising a flat ribbon configured in a loop and having major surfaces, and
• a cover configured for placement outside the receptacle and enclosing the antenna, wherein the antenna is oriented within the cover with major surfaces of the antenna generally parallel with an inner surface of the cover.

An intelligent implant comprising:

• a component of an implantable prosthesis configured to be implanted in a patient;
• and
• an implantable reporting processor associated with the component and comprising a plurality of sensors, and a controller configured to:
• conduct a low-resolution sampling through a first set of the plurality of sensors during a low-resolution window;
• and
• conduct at least one of a medium-resolution sampling and a high-resolution sampling through one or more of the plurality of sensors during at least one medium-resolution window by being further configured to:
• detecting a significant motion event,
• determine whether high resolution data needs to be collected,
• responsive to determining high resolution data needs to be collected, conduct a high-resolution sampling, and
• responsive to determining high resolution data does not need to be collected, conduct a medium-resolution sampling.

A method of sampling data from an implantable reporting processor (IRP) of an intelligent implant implanted in a patient, the IRP configured to sample data in each of a low-resolution mode, a medium-resolution mode, and a high-resolution mode, the method comprising:

• conducting a low-resolution sampling during a low-resolution window;
• and
• conducting one of a medium-resolution sampling and a high-resolution sampling during at least one medium-resolution window by:
• detecting a significant motion event,
• determining whether high resolution data needs to be collected,
• responsive to determining high resolution data needs to be collected, conducting a high-resolution sampling, and
• responsive to determining high resolution data does not need to be collected, conducting a medium-resolution sampling.

An electronics assembly coupled to a battery of an implantable reporting processor associated with a component of an implantable prosthesis, the electronics assembly comprising:

• an inertial measurement unit (IMU) having a plurality of accelerometers and a plurality of gyroscopes, the IMU having a first measurement axis for which measurements are obtained by a first accelerometer and a first gyroscope, a second measurement axis for which measurements are obtained by a second accelerometer and a second gyroscope, and a third measurement axis for which measurements are obtained by a third accelerometer and a third gyroscope;
• a discrete accelerometer independent of the IMU;
• and
• a controller coupled to the IMU and the discrete accelerometer, the controller configured:
• during a low-resolution window, couple the discrete accelerometer to the battery and conduct a low-resolution sampling through the discrete accelerometer,
• during a medium-resolution window:
• couple the discrete accelerometer to the battery and detect for a significant event,
• responsive to a determination that high resolution data needs to be collected, coupled the IMU to the battery and conduct a high-resolution sampling through the plurality of accelerometers and the plurality of gyroscopes, and
• responsive to a determination that high resolution data does not need to be collected, couple the IMU to the battery and conduct a medium-resolution sampling through the plurality of accelerometers and the plurality of gyroscopes.

A humeral component of a shoulder prosthesis, the humeral component comprising:

• a humeral body;
• a humeral stem extending from the humeral body;
• and
• an electronics assembly associated with one of the humeral body and the humeral stem, the electronics assembly comprising one or more sensors and a memory to store data collected by the one or more sensors, characterized in that the one or more sensors comprises one or more accelerometers and/or one or more gyroscopes.

A shoulder replacement prosthesis comprising:

• a humeral stem;
• and
• a plurality of sensors coupled to the humeral stem, where the plurality of sensors comprise a plurality of accelerometers that obtain data that can be used to determine a range of motion of a shoulder joint when the shoulder replacement prosthesis is located in-situ in a subject,
• where the shoulder replacement prosthesis further comprises a memory to store the data, and an antenna to transmit the data to a location outside of the shoulder replacement prosthesis.