Claims
- 1. A full-body charger for providing an alternating magnetic field to one or more electrically-powered devices implanted beneath the skin of a patient's body wherein each of said electrically-powered devices is powered by a rechargeable battery mounted within each said device, said charger comprising:
a support structure configured to support a patient's body; at least one coil configured for mounting within said support structure, proximate to one or more of the electrically-powered devices, for emitting a magnetic field substantially encompassing one or more of the electrically-powered devices implanted within the patient's body; a controller for periodically providing an AC signal to energize at least one of said coils; and wherein
said controller additionally includes communication circuitry for periodically providing a control signal to the electrically-powered devices to selectively interrogate the status of the rechargeable battery mounted within and for receiving a status signal in response thereto.
- 2. The charger of claim 1 wherein said communication means comprises amplitude modulating said AC signal with said control signal and receiving an AC signal amplitude modulated with said status signal in response thereto.
- 3. The charger of claim 1 additionally comprising a transducer capable of emitting a modulated output signal and receiving a modulated input signal; and wherein said communication means comprises modulating the output of said transducer with said control signal and receiving an input signal modulated with said status signal in response thereto.
- 4. The charger of claim 1 wherein said support structure is chair-shaped.
- 5. The charger of claim 1 wherein said support structure is bed-shaped.
- 6. The charger of claim 1 wherein said coil is comprised of a plurality of conductive loops within said support structure.
- 7. The charger of claim 1 wherein said controller is configured for selectively energizing one of said coils at a time to generate a magnetic field that encompasses one or more of the electrically-powered device within an operational range and to query the battery status of each electrically-powered device within said selected coil's operational range.
- 8. The charger of claim 7 wherein said controller is configured to sequentially energize one of said coils and query the status of each of the electrically-powered devices within its operational range until all of the electrically-powered devices within its operational range indicate that their rechargeable batteries are fully charged and to then energize a next one of said coils.
- 9. The charger of claim 7 wherein said controller is configured to sequentially energize each of said coils until all of the electrically-powered devices indicate that their rechargeable batteries are fully charged.
- 10. The charger of claim 9 wherein said controller is configured to skip energizing a coil if during the prior query of the electrically-powered devices within the coil's operational range, all of the electrically-powered devices indicated that their batteries were fully charged.
- 11. A method of charging rechargeable batteries mounted within one or more electrically-powered devices implanted beneath the skin of a patient's body, said method comprising the steps of:
positioning a patient, having one or more implanted electrically-powered devices, proximate to at least one coil capable of being energized to emit an alternating magnetic field encompassing one or more of the electrically-powered devices; energizing said at least one coil with an AC signal for a first time period; emitting a control signal to the electrically-powered devices during a second time period to selectively interrogate the status of the rechargeable battery mounted within one of the electrically-powered devices; receiving a status signal from said selectively interrogated device during a third time period; and repeating said energizing, emitting and receiving steps according to said status signal received from each of said selectively interrogated devices.
- 12. The method of claim 11 wherein said repeating step is terminated after a predefined time period.
- 13. The method of claim 11 wherein said emitting step comprises modulating said AC signal with an interrogation signal and using said modulated signal to energize said coil.
- 14. A method of charging rechargeable batteries mounted within one or more electrically-powered devices implanted beneath the skin of a patient's body wherein said patient's body is positioned on a support structure which includes a plurality of coils, each being capable of being energized to emit an alternating magnetic field encompassing one or more of the electrically-powered devices, said method comprising the steps of:
(a) energizing a selected one of said coils with an AC signal for a first time period for providing charging power to electrically-powered devices within an operational range; (b) emitting a control signal to the electrically-powered devices during a second time period to selectively interrogate the status of the rechargeable batteries mounted within the electrically-powered devices located within said selected coil's operational range; (c) receiving a status signal from each of said electrically-powered devices within the operational range during discrete portions of a third time period; and (d) repeating said energizing, emitting and receiving steps according to said status signals received from each of said electrically-powered devices until all of the electrically-powered devices located within said selected coil's operational range indicate that their respective batteries are fully charged.
- 15. The method of claim 14 further comprising the step of:
(e) sequencing to a next selected one of said coils and repeating steps (a)-(d).
- 16. The method of claim 15 further comprising the step of:
(f) terminating the charging cycle when steps (a)-(d) have been executed for all of said coils.
- 17. A method of charging rechargeable batteries mounted within one or more electrically-powered devices implanted beneath the skin of a patient's body wherein said patient's body is positioned on a support structure which includes a plurality of coils, each being capable of being energized to emit an alternating magnetic field encompassing one or more of the electrically-powered devices, said method comprising the steps of:
(a) energizing a selected one of said coils with an AC signal for a first time period for providing charging power to electrically-powered devices within an operational range; (b) emitting a control signal to the electrically-powered devices during a second time period to selectively interrogate the status of the rechargeable batteries mounted within the electrically-powered devices located within said selected coil's operational range; (c) receiving a status signal from each of said electrically-powered devices within said selected coil's operational range during discrete portions of a third time period; and (d) repeating steps (a)-(c) for a next selected one of said coils.
- 18. The method of claim 17 further comprising the step of:
(e) repeating steps (a)-(d) until the last coil has been selected and then sequencing to the first one of said coils if any one of said electrically-powered devices has indicated that its battery is not fully-charged.
- 19. The method of claim 18 further comprising the step of:
(f) skipping steps (a)-(c) for a selected coil if the last status signals received for each of the electrically-powered devices within said selected coil's operational range indicated that all of the batteries were fully charged.
- 20. The method of claim 17 wherein steps (a)-(d) are repeated for a prescribed maximum length of time.
Parent Case Info
[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/347,902, filed Oct. 18, 2001.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60347902 |
Oct 2001 |
US |