Drive-Sense Circuit ECG Leads Using One Conductor for Pacing and Sensing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing sensor systems face challenges in efficiently and effectively integrating drive and sense functions within medical applications, particularly in electrocardiogram (ECG) leads, due to separate drive and sense lines requiring higher power consumption and increased line interference.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of drive-sense circuits (DSCs) that combine drive and sense functions using a single conductor, reducing power requirements and minimizing line interference, while enabling simultaneous driving and sensing operations in ECG leads.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If separate drive and sense lines are used in ECG leads, then drive and sense functions can be performed independently, but power consumption increases and line interference occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines separate drive and sense lines into a single shared line for ECG leads. The drive-sense circuit multiplexes the same physical conductor to carry both drive signals (for pacing) and sense signals (for monitoring cardiac activity), thereby reducing the number of required conductors and associated power consumption while maintaining functional reliability through time-division or code-division multiplexing techniques.
Solution Approach 2:
The ECG lead is designed with a universal conductor that serves multiple functions: it acts as both a drive line for delivering pacing impulses and a sense line for detecting cardiac electrical activity. This multi-functional design eliminates the need for dedicated separate lines, reducing overall system complexity and power requirements while maintaining independent drive and sense capabilities through electronic control.
2Measurement precision
If separate drive and sense lines are used in ECG leads, then signal integrity can be maintained, but line interference increases
Solution Approach 1:
By merging drive and sense functions into a single line, the patent eliminates the interference that would occur between adjacent separate conductors. The shared conductor approach removes capacitive coupling and electromagnetic interference between dedicated drive and sense lines, while signal integrity is preserved through electronic separation of drive and sense operations within the drive-sense circuit.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the interference problem by separating the drive and sense signal processing functions electronically within the drive-sense circuit, even though they share a physical conductor. This allows the physical line to be shared while the signal processing paths remain distinct, removing harmful interactions between drive and sense signals.
3Use of energy by moving object
If a single conductor is used for drive-sense operations, then power consumption is reduced and interference is minimized, but simultaneous driving and sensing becomes challenging
Solution Approach 1:
The drive-sense circuit employs periodic action by alternating between drive phases and sense phases in a time-division multiplexed manner. During drive phases, the conductor delivers pacing impulses; during sense phases, the same conductor receives cardiac activity signals. This periodic switching enables simultaneous drive and sense capabilities on a single line while minimizing interference and power consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses dynamic switching and adaptive control to transition the single conductor between drive and sense modes. The drive-sense circuit dynamically adjusts its operation based on the current phase, enabling flexible simultaneous drive and sense functionality on a shared conductor through electronic reconfiguration rather than fixed dedicated lines.
Data Source
AI summary
A pacemaker system includes a drive-sense circuit (DSC) operably coupled to a pacemaker lead. The DSC generates a pace signal including electrical impulses based on a reference signal. The DSC provides the pace signal via the pacemaker lead to an electrically responsive portion of a cardiac conductive system of a subject to facilitate cardiac operation of a cardiovascular system of the subject. The DSC senses, via the pacemaker lead, cardiac electrical activity of the cardiovascular system of the subject that is generated in response to the pace signal and electrically coupled into the pacemaker lead and generates a digital signal that is representative of the cardiac electrical activity of the cardiovascular system of the subject that is sensed via the pacemaker lead. The DSC provides digital information to one or more processing modules that includes and/or is coupled to memory and that provide the reference signal to the DSC.