Patent ID: 8457759

Claim:
A method for controlling a patient therapy device, comprising: applying or directing application of a therapeutic electrical signal to a patient via an implanted portion of a patient stimulation system that includes a signal delivery device in electrical communication with a target neural population of the patient, the electrical signal being delivered to a first implanted electrical contact set in accordance with a signal delivery parameter having a first value; using the implanted portion of the patient stimulation system, detecting or directing detection of an increase in an impedance of an electrical circuit that includes the signal delivery device; and based at least in part on the detected impedance increase, automatically adjusting or directing adjustment of the value of the signal delivery parameter from the first value to a second value different than the first value, without human intervention, wherein automatically adjusting or directing adjustment of the value of the signal delivery parameter includes applying or directing application of the electrical signal to a second implanted electrical contact set, at least one of the first and second contact sets having a different member than the other.