Hardware Parameter Block Transfer for Synchronized Register Updates
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Solution Overview
Problem
Firmware in active devices, such as implantable medical devices, faces significant overhead and synchronization challenges when changing operating parameters in registers, leading to inefficiencies in controlling components like stimulation engines.
Innovation Solution
A block moving hardware-based controller is introduced to receive triggers and move blocks of operating parameter data from memory to registers, relieving firmware from this task and ensuring synchronization with component operations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If firmware is used to change operating parameters in registers, then the device can be controlled, but firmware overhead increases and synchronization becomes complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the parameter transfer function from firmware and implements it in dedicated hardware (block moving hardware-based controller). This hardware controller autonomously reads parameter blocks from memory and writes them to registers, removing this task from the firmware's responsibility and reducing firmware overhead while maintaining control functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a block moving hardware-based controller as an intermediary component between memory and registers. This intermediary handles parameter transfers automatically based on trigger signals, simplifying the control architecture by eliminating the need for firmware to directly manage parameter synchronization with component operations.
2Loss of time
If firmware synchronizes parameter changes with component operation, then timing accuracy is improved, but firmware becomes overburdened
Solution Approach 1:
The block moving hardware-based controller operates autonomously, receiving trigger signals and automatically performing parameter transfers from memory to registers without firmware intervention. This self-service capability ensures precise timing synchronization while freeing firmware to focus on higher-level control functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the software-based (firmware) parameter transfer mechanism with a hardware-based automatic transfer system. This substitution eliminates the processing overhead associated with firmware execution while maintaining accurate timing through hardware-triggered operations.
3Adaptability or versatility
If manual parameter updates are performed, then flexibility is maintained, but update speed and efficiency decrease
Solution Approach 1:
Parameters are pre-organized into blocks in memory with associated metadata (block size, number of triggers to skip). When triggered, the block moving hardware-based controller rapidly transfers entire parameter blocks to registers in one operation, achieving high-speed updates while maintaining flexibility through the structured block format.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses trigger-based periodic action to initiate parameter updates. The block moving hardware-based controller transfers parameters at predetermined intervals or events, combining the speed of automatic hardware transfer with the flexibility of event-driven timing control.
Data Source
AI summary
A hardware based block moving controller of an active device such as an implantable medical device that provides electrical stimulation reads a parameter data from a block of memory and then writes the parameter data to a designated register set of a component that performs an active function. The block of memory may include data that specifies a size of the block of memory to be moved to the register set. The block of memory may also include data that indicates a number of triggers to skip before moving a next block of memory to the register set. A trigger that causes the block moving controller to move the data from the block of memory to the register set may be generated in various ways such as through operation of the component having the register set or by a separate timer.