Patent ID: 8868198

Claim:
A system for an electrical neurostimulator coupled to a plurality of electrodes, comprising: telemetry circuitry configured for communicating with the electrical neurostimulator; and a controller/processor configured for (a) defining an immediate virtual multipole, (b) defining an immediate electrode configuration that emulates the immediate virtual multipole, (c) instructing the electrical neurostimulator via the telemetry circuitry to convey electrical energy to the plurality of electrodes in accordance with the immediate electrode configuration, (d) defining a new virtual multipole by changing a parameter of the immediate virtual multipole by a step size, (e) defining a new electrode configuration that emulates the new virtual multipole, (f) computing a difference value as a function of the immediate virtual multipole and the new virtual multipole, after the new electrode configuration has been defined, (g) comparing the difference value to a limit value, (h) instructing the electrical neurostimulator to convey electrical energy to the plurality of electrodes in accordance with the new electrode configuration if the difference value does not exceed the limit value, and (i) decreasing the absolute value of the step size to create a new step size, and repeating steps (d)-(i) for the new step size if the difference value exceeds the limit value.