Fault-Tolerant Multielectrode Array for Brain Implants
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current brain implantable devices for monitoring and treating epilepsy and locked-in syndrome are intolerant to faults, leading to potential system failures due to mechanical stress, foreign body response, and encapsulation, which can result in incorrect electrical activity readings and necessitate costly and risky surgeries for sensor replacement.
Innovation Solution
A fault-tolerant multielectrode array design with hardware redundancy, incorporating spare sensor modules arranged in rows, columns, or interstitial sites, allowing for reconfiguration through graph matching algorithms to replace faulty sensors and maintain reliable brain activity monitoring.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If brain implantable devices use electrical stimulation to control seizures, then seizure control is achieved, but the devices are intolerant to faults from mechanical stress and foreign body response
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-positioning spare sensor modules in specific locations (rows, columns, or interstitial sites) before any fault occurs. These spare modules are prepared in advance to replace faulty sensors, eliminating the need for surgical intervention when failures occur. The system proactively configures redundancy relationships between primary and spare sensors, ensuring immediate fault tolerance capability from the moment of implantation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements beforehand cushioning by creating a fault-tolerant system architecture that anticipates and prepares for sensor failures. The spare sensor modules act as a cushion or buffer against the harmful effects of mechanical stress and foreign body response, which cause sensor failures. When a primary sensor fails due to these harmful factors, the system can immediately switch to a spare sensor, cushioning the impact of the failure on overall system reliability and avoiding the need for corrective surgery.
2Measurement precision
If sensor failure occurs due to mechanical stress or foreign body response, then incorrect electrical activity readings are obtained, but surgery for sensor replacement is costly and risky
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies copying by creating identical spare sensor modules that replicate the functionality of primary sensors. Each spare sensor is a copy that can replace a faulty primary sensor, maintaining measurement precision without requiring external intervention. The copying principle is implemented at the hardware level with duplicate sensor circuits and signal processing paths, ensuring that when a primary sensor fails, an identical spare can take its place immediately, avoiding surgery and maintaining reading accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements discarding and recovering by enabling the system to discard (deactivate) faulty primary sensors and recover functionality by activating spare sensors. The control system continuously monitors sensor health and automatically discards failed sensors from the active array, then recovers system operation by switching to pre-positioned spare sensors. This process maintains continuous monitoring capability without requiring surgical replacement, transforming a potentially harmful failure into a manageable event.
3Reliability
If spare sensor modules are added to the multielectrode array, then fault tolerance is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the multielectrode array into distinct segments: primary sensor modules and spare sensor modules. The array is segmented into rows and columns with clearly defined roles, where certain rows or columns contain spares that can replace primaries in case of failure. This segmentation simplifies the management of complexity by creating modular, interchangeable units with standardized interfaces, making the fault-tolerant architecture more manageable despite the increased number of components.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements universality by designing spare sensor modules that are functionally identical to primary sensors, enabling them to perform multiple roles. A spare sensor can replace any primary sensor in the array, regardless of its original position or function, because all sensors use the same interface and signal processing path. This multi-functionality reduces the complexity of managing spares, as the system doesn't need to track which spare replaces which primary, simplifying the control logic despite the increased hardware count.
Data Source
AI summary
A multielectrode array with fault-tolerance for use in conjunction with a brain implantable device includes a sensor grid composed of a plurality of sensors, the plurality of sensors including primary sensors and spare sensors. The multielectrode array also includes signal processing circuitry associated with the plurality of sensors and a control system associated with the sensor grid for replacing faulty primary sensors with spare sensors.