Abstract:
A device for optimizing transmitting energy and transmitting position for an implantable electrical stimulator is provided. The device utilizes a design of a wireless energy transmitting and positioning device with an external energy-feedback control, which can automatically detect an optimum energy-transmitting position through an external antenna performing an adjustable energy transmission method, and through a wireless-feedback control method to provide the optimum energy. As such, the implantable electrical stimulator can exactly and effectively stimulate the nervous muscle.

Description:
[0001]     This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/210,819 filed Aug. 25, 2005, which is incorporated by reference herein. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0003]     The present invention relates to a device for transmitting energy and transmitting position for an implantable electrical stimulator, and more particularly to a device for transmitting energy and transmitting position, the device uses a wireless energy-feedback control to determine the optimum transmission energy and the optimum energy-transmitting position of the implantable electrical stimulator.  
         [0004]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0005]     Electrical stimulator combines the principles of Chinese traditional Point Percussion Therapy and western TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation). The stimulator uses micro electric current to stimulate specific acupuncture points to achieve the health care effect. That is it can stimulate the self-cure mechanism of the body with an electric current having suitable intensity and frequency continuously, gently stimulating the nerve, the muscle and the cell. On clinical uses, the method of treatment is divided into the Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) and the Electrical Muscle Stimulation(EMS).  
         [0006]     The electrical stimulation has been widely utilized for the function of recovery. Recently, as a result of the breakthrough of the micro electron technology, the micro mechanical and electrical technology, the biological material and the biological compatible seal technology, the electrical stimulator tends to have a small and implantable form.  
         [0007]      FIG. 1  is a conventional implantable electrical stimulator comprising an in vivo electrical stimulating module  10  and an in vitro energy-transmitting module  12 . The in vivo electrical stimulating module  10  includes a circuit board  100 ; an in vivo energy-transmitting coil  102  and a pair of positive/negative electrode  104  provided on the circuit board  100 ; and a biological compatible polymer layer  106  covering the whole in vivo electrical stimulating module  10 . The in vitro energy-transmitting module  12  includes an in vitro control module  120  and an in vitro energy-transmitting coil  122 . The in vitro control module  120  will drive the in vitro energy-transmitting coil  122  to emit wireless energy. The wireless energy will be received by the in vivo energy-transmitting coil  102  and converted by the circuit board  100  into a voltage source. The converted voltage source will be applied on the positive/negative electrode  104  to generate an electrical stimulating current.  
         [0008]     As mentioned above, the conventional implantable electrical stimulator transmits the energy from an external antenna module to an in vivo implantable electrical stimulating element via radio frequency (RF) and receive the energy by an internal electronic component to automatically generate an electrical stimulation, rather than stimulating the nervous muscle with an electrical line penetrating through the skin, thus can reduce the probability of wound infection. At present, however, the energy needed by conventional implantable electrical stimulating devices is unidirectionally transmitted into these conventional implantable electrical stimulating devices via an antenna. That is, the energy is transmitted to the in vivo electrical stimulating module via an external energy-transmitting antenna to stimulate the nervous muscle. In operation, this energy-transmitting method may suffer from the displacement of the implanted electrical stimulating element or the electromagnetic interference from surrounding environment and thus change the properties of the energy-transmitting circuit, thereby causing to transmit excessive energy to result in heat-generating from the implantable electrical stimulating element, or causing to transmit too few energy to result in abnormal operation or even malfunction, thereby further causing unnecessary damage to the human body. In addition, effective detection of the position of the implantable electrical stimulating element and provision of effective energy-transmission are also general issues encountered by domestic and foreign implantable electrical stimulators.  
         [0009]     In brief, the energy-transmitting process of conventional implantable electrical stimulators has the following disadvantages: 
        1. The correct position of the implantable electrical stimulator is not easy to detect.     2. Control of the power-transmitting does not come easy.     3. Properties of the energy-transmitting circuit easily suffer from electromagnetic interference from surrounding environment.        
 
         [0013]     Accordingly, there is a need for providing a device for optimizing transmitting energy and transmitting position for an implantable electrical stimulator in order to solve those problems mentioned above.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0014]     The primary object of the present invention is to provide a device for optimizing transmitting energy and transmitting position for an implantable electrical stimulator, which uses a wireless-feedback control method to provide the optimum wirelessly transmitting energy and detect the position for optimizing transmitting energy, such that the implantable electrical stimulator can exactly and effectively stimulate the nervous muscle.  
         [0015]     Another object of the present invention is to provide a device for optimizing transmitting energy and transmitting position for an implantable electricai stimulator, which utilizes a design of optimizing transmitting energy and transmitting position such that the implantable electrical stimulator can be used more comfortable, safer, and higher reliability.  
         [0016]     Further object of the present invention is to provide a device for optimizing transmitting energy and transmitting position for an implantable element, which provides a solution for optimizing transmitting energy for all implantable elements.  
         [0017]     According to those objects of the present invention mentioned above, there is provided a device for optimizing transmitting energy and transmitting position for an implantable electrical stimulator, which device comprises an external energy-transmitting module and an internal implantable module. The external energy-transmitting module is located outside an organism and comprises a first energy-transmitting antenna, a first wireless radio frequency interface circuit, an adjustable power control circuit, and an output control circuit. The first energy-transmitting antenna is used to perform wireless energy transmission. The first wireless radio frequency interface circuit is used to drive the first energy-transmitting antenna to emit energy and convert a sense signal received by the first energy-transmitting antenna into a first electronic signal. The adjustable power control circuit determines the optimum power control mode for transmitting energy based on the first electronic signal. The output control circuit outputs a corresponding output signal to the first wireless radio frequency interface circuit based on the optimum power control mode for transmitting energy, in order to drive the first energy-transmitting antenna to perform wireless energy transmission. The internal implantable module is implanted into the organism and comprises a second energy-transmitting antenna, a second wireless radio frequency interface circuit, a feedback modulation control circuit, and an electrical stimulating control circuit. The second energy-transmitting antenna receives the energy emitted by the first energy-transmitting antenna. The second wireless radio frequency interface circuit converts the received energy into a second electronic signal and then sends the second electronic signal to the feedback modulation control circuit. The feedback modulation control circuit determines based on the second electronic signal whether the electrical stimulating control circuit can be driven. If the determination result is yes, then the electrical stimulating control circuit is driven; or otherwise, a feedback signal is generated and sent out via the second energy-transmitting antenna and received by the first energy-transmitting antenna to form the sense signal.  
         [0018]     As mentioned above, the device for optimizing transmitting energy and transmitting position for an implantable electrical stimulator according to the present invention utilizes a design of a wireless energy transmitting and positioning device with an external energy-feedback control, which can automatically detect an optimum energy-transmitting position through an external antenna performing an adjustable energy transmission method, and through a wireless-feedback control method to provide the optimum energy. As such, the purpose for treating sore nervous muscle and accelerating to recover injured organism is achieved. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0019]      FIG. 1  is a schematic view of assembly of a conventional implantable electrical stimulating device;  
         [0020]      FIG. 2  is a functional block diagram of a device for optimizing transmitting energy and transmitting position for an implantable electrical stimulator according to the present invention; and  
         [0021]      FIG. 3  is a flow chart of a device for optimizing transmitting energy and transmitting position for an implantable electrical stimulator according to the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS  
       [0022]     Several objects and advantages of the present invention will become clearer understood by the following detailed description of the embodiment with reference to accompanying drawings.  
         [0023]      FIG. 2  is a functional block diagram of an embodiment of a device for optimizing transmitting energy and transmitting position for an implantable electrical stimulator according to the present invention.  FIG. 3  is a flow chart of the device for optimizing transmitting energy and transmitting position for an implantable electrical stimulator shown in  FIG. 2 . In this embodiment, the device for optimizing transmitting energy and transmitting position  2  for an implantable electrical stimulator comprises an external energy-transmitting module  20  and an internal implantable module  22 . The external energy-transmitting module  20  is located outside an organism and the internal implantable module  22  is implanted into the organism. The external energy-transmitting module  20  is used to transmit power and data, and comprises a first energy-transmitting antenna  201 , a first wireless radio frequency interface circuit  202 , an adjustable power control circuit  203 , an output control circuit  204 , and a display device  205 . The internal implantable module  22  comprises a second energy-transmitting antenna  221 , a second wireless radio frequency interface circuit  222 , a feedback modulation control circuit  223  and an electrical stimulating control circuit  224 . Wherein the feedback modulation control circuit  223  further includes an energy-storing capacitor  2231 , an ADC(Analog-to-Digital Converter)  2232 , a MCU(Micro Central Unit)  2233 , and a load modulation circuit  2234 . The first energy-transmitting antenna  201  is used to perform wireless energy transmission. The first wireless radio frequency interface circuit  202  is used to drive the first energy-transmitting antenna  201  to emit energy and convert a sense signal received by the first energy-transmitting antenna  201  into a first electronic signal. The adjustable power control circuit  203  determines the optimum power control mode for transmitting energy based on the first electronic signal. The output control circuit  204  outputs a corresponding output signal to the first wireless radio frequency interface circuit  202  based on the optimum power control mode for transmitting energy, in order to drive the first energy-transmitting antenna  201  to perform wireless energy transmission. The second energy-transmitting antenna  221  receives the power and data in a form of energy emitted by the first energy-transmitting antenna  201 . The second wireless radio frequency interface circuit  222  converts the received energy into a second electronic signal and then sends the second electronic signal to the feedback modulation control circuit  223 . The MCU  2233  determines based on the second electronic signal whether the received energy is enough to drive the electrical stimulating control circuit  224 . If the determination result is yes, then an electrical stimulation is performed; or otherwise, a feedback signal is generated based on the second electronic signal and sent out via the second energy-transmitting antenna  221  and received by the first energy-transmitting antenna  201  to form the sense signal. However, if the first energy-transmitting antenna  201  does not detect the feedback signal, then the position of the first energy-transmitting antenna  201  will be further adjusted until a feedback signal is detected.  
         [0024]     The work principles and flowchart of the device for optimizing transmitting energy and transmitting position  2  for the abovementioned implantable electrical stimulator according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3  in the following.  
         [0025]     First, the external energy-transmitting module  20  is activated at step  300 . The first energy-transmitting antenna  201  approaches the internal implantable module  22  to perform wireless energy transmission. Then at step  301 , the wireless radio frequency energy is received by the second energy-transmitting antenna  221  of the internal implantable module  22  and converted by the second wireless radio frequency interface circuit  222  into the second electronic signal and sent to the feedback modulation control circuit  223 . And, the MCU  2233  determines based on the second electronic signal whether the energy is enough to drive the electrical stimulating control circuit  224 . If the determination result is yes, then the process proceeds to step  311 , the electrical stimulating control circuit  224  is driven and an electrical stimulation is performed. Otherwise if the determination result is no, and then the process proceeds to step  302  and the ADC  2232  of the feedback modulation control circuit  223  detects the voltage level of the energy-storing capacitor  2231 . And at step  303 , the MCU  2233  of the feedback modulation control circuit  223  determines a feedback signal to be sent based on the voltage level of the energy-storing capacitor  2231 . Thereafter, the load modulation circuit  2234  of the feedback modulation control circuit  223  is activated to transmit the feedback signal at step  304 . Then the external energy-transmitting module  20  detects the feedback signal via the first energy-transmitting antenna  201  at step  305 . If the first energy-transmitting antenna  201  does not detect the feedback signal, then the position of the first energy-transmitting antenna  201  is finely adjusted at step  306  and steps  300 - 305  is repeated until the feedback signal is detected by the first energy-transmitting antenna  201 . When the first energy-transmitting antenna  201  has detected the feedback signal, the process proceeds to step  307 . At step  307 , the feedback signal is converted by the first wireless radio frequency interface circuit  202  into the first electronic signal and the first electronic signal is sent to the adjustable power control circuit  203 . Based on the first electronic signal, the adjustable power control circuit  203  determines some parameters, such as the inclination angle and the distance of the second energy-transmitting antenna  221  and the first energy-transmitting antenna  201 . At step  308 , the adjustable power control circuit  203  determines the optimum power control mode for transmitting energy based on these parameters. Then at step  309 , the output control circuit  204 , e.g. a digital control circuit, outputs a corresponding output signal to the first wireless radio frequency interface circuit  202  based on the optimum power control mode for transmitting energy, in order to drive the first energy-transmitting antenna  201  to perform wireless energy transmission. Subsequently, steps  301  and  310  are performed, the second wireless radio frequency interface circuit  222  converts the received energy into a second electronic signal and determines based on the second electronic signal whether the received energy is enough to drive the electrical stimulating control circuit  224 . If the determination result is yes, then the process proceeds to step  311 , the electrical stimulating control circuit  224  is activated and an electrical stimulation is performed; or otherwise, steps  302  and  309  are repeated, until the electrical stimulating control circuit  224  can be activated. Moreover, the optimum power control mode for transmitting energy determined at step  308  determines the optimum orientation for transmitting energy and the optimum transmission energy for the first energy-transmitting antenna  201 , and the display device  205 , e.g. a liquid crystal display or light-emitting diode display, can display these results. The position of the first energy-transmitting antenna  201  can be finely adjusted by the user based on the displayed optimum orientation of the first energy-transmitting antenna  201 .  
         [0026]     As mentioned above, the device for optimizing transmitting energy and transmitting position for an implantable electrical stimulator according to the present invention can automatically detect an optimum energy-transmitting position through an external antenna performing an adjustable energy transmission method, and through a wireless-feedback control method to provide the optimum energy, such that the energy can be exactly and effectively transmitted to the implantable electrical stimulator via a wireless energy transmission method, thereby the implantable electrical stimulator can be used more comfortable, safer, and more convenient. In addition, the device for optimizing transmitting energy and transmitting position for an implantable electrical stimulator according to the present invention designs a two-step usage, such that the product can be used less complex and more convenient. The device for optimizing transmitting energy and transmitting position according to the_ present invention not only can be combined with an implantable electrical stimulator, but also can be combined with any implantable electronic element. Thus, the present invention provides a solution for optimizing transmitting energy for all implantable elements.  
         [0027]     The above specific embodiments are only illustrative and does not intend limiting the scope of the present invention. And many variations can be introduced on these embodiments without departing from the spirit of the disclosure or from the scope of the appended claims.