Patent ID: 8306617

Claim:
Heart control apparatus, the apparatus comprising: circuitry for generating a non-excitatory electric field adapted to stop fibrillation; timing circuitry configured to determine an estimated activation time and configured to determine an application time for said field relative to said activation time; a sensor configured to detect fibrillation; a controller adapted to operate the circuitry in response to the detected fibrillation to generate a non-excitatory field which is applied at a timing and a magnitude where it does not reset the synchronization of the heart by forcing a significant percentage of the cardiac tissue into a refractory state; and elongate electrodes for applying said non-excitatory electric field, wherein said field generated is characterized by a timing relative to the activation of the heart or of a portion thereof, and of a magnitude, shape, duty, cycle, phase, frequency, and duration which is unable to generate a propagating action potential.