Gastrointestinal Stimulation Capsule Using Random Chaotic Patterns
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing medical devices for gastrointestinal stimulation, such as gastric pacemakers and intragastric balloons, face challenges in maintaining long-term effectiveness due to habituation, where the body adapts to repetitive stimulation patterns, reducing treatment efficacy over time.
Innovation Solution
Development of medical devices, including swallowable capsules and external wearable belts, that apply random or chaotic patterns of mechanical, electrical, and thermal stimuli to the gastrointestinal tract, dynamically altering parameters like frequency, amplitude, and duration to prevent habituation and maintain responsiveness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If repetitive stimulation patterns are used in gastrointestinal devices, then the device structure is simple and easy to manufacture, but the body adapts to the stimulation (habituation) reducing treatment efficacy over time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the stimulation parameters changeable over time. The device transitions from static, repetitive stimulation patterns to dynamic patterns where frequency, amplitude, and timing are continuously varied. This prevents the gastrointestinal system from adapting to a fixed pattern, thereby maintaining treatment efficacy without requiring complex reconfiguration of the device structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent directly implements parameter changes by varying stimulation frequency, amplitude, and pulse width according to predefined protocols or real-time feedback. This allows the same device hardware to deliver diverse stimulation patterns, preventing habituation while keeping the device structure simple and manufacturable.
2Reliability
If random or chaotic stimulation patterns are implemented, then habituation is prevented and treatment efficacy is maintained, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses periodic action with varying periods to generate complex stimulation patterns. By superimposing multiple periodic signals with different frequencies and phases, the device creates chaotic-appearing patterns that prevent habituation. This approach achieves the desired complexity through software/control algorithms rather than hardware complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The device employs dynamic control where stimulation parameters are adjusted in real-time based on feedback from gastrointestinal sensors or predefined adaptive protocols. This dynamic adjustment creates effectively random patterns that prevent habituation while using standard control circuitry, avoiding excessive device complexity.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple stimulation parameters are dynamically altered, then habituation resistance is improved, but the control system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback control where gastrointestinal sensors monitor physiological responses and feed this information back to the stimulation controller. The controller adjusts stimulation parameters based on this feedback, creating adaptive patterns that resist habituation. This feedback mechanism achieves high adaptability using standard sensor-controller architectures, managing control system complexity effectively.
Solution Approach 2:
The device employs self-adjusting algorithms that automatically modify stimulation patterns based on detected gastrointestinal activity without requiring external intervention. The system serves itself by using its own sensors and processors to generate appropriate stimulation variations, reducing the need for complex external control systems.
Data Source
AI summary
A gastrointestinal stimulation devices including a random stimulation delivery mechanism(s), configured to provide stimuli to a bodily tissue in a vicinity of the stimulation capsule, the provided random stimuli being characterized by a stimulation parameter, and a control circuitry in communication with said physical stimulation delivery mechanism, and configured to set and alter the stimulation parameter non-systematically, thereby altering the characterization of the stimuli provided to the bodily tissue. The algorithm may be patient tailored, and may have a learning machinery which responds to data being received from the patient.