The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 07, 1999
Filed:
Sep. 12, 1997
John C Gord, Venice, CA (US);
Joseph H Schulman, Santa Clarita, CA (US);
Alfred E. Mann Foundation, Valencia, CA (US);
Abstract
An implantable sensor/stimulator is connectable to a controller using just two conductors, which two conductors carry both operating power and data (data commands and/or measured data) between the sensor/stimulator and control circuit. Each sensor/stimulator may be serially connected to another sensor/stimulator, again using only two conductors, thereby allowing a 'daisy chain' of such sensors/stimulators to be formed. Each sensor/stimulator in the daisy chain is individually addressable by the control circuit. Input data is sent to the sensors over the two conductors using a phase-modulated biphasic modulation scheme, which scheme also provides operating power for each sensor/stimulator connected to the two conductors. Output data is sent from the sensors to the controller over the same two conductors using a pulse-position presence/absence modulation scheme. The data transmission schemes provide a very high signal-to-noise ratio. Each sensor/stimulator includes a power rectifier circuit, a line interface circuit, a state machine controller, at least one sensor that generates an analog output current as a function of a sensed parameter, a low power current-to-frequency converter circuit, and a counter circuit.