Granted Patent B2

US 8,718,783 · App. 13/327,351 · Granted May 6, 2014

Abstract

Claims (29)

1. A method of stimulating a hypoglossal nerve comprising:

chronically implanting a nerve cuff electrode on a portion of the hypoglossal nerve;

sensing a signal corresponding to respiration;

detecting one or more expiratory onsets from the sensed signal;

calculating a future inspiratory onset from the detected one or more expiratory onsets; and

delivering a stimulus to the portion of the hypoglossal nerve via the nerve cuff electrode, wherein the stimulus delivery begins a predetermined amount of time prior to the calculated future inspiratory onset.

2. A method as in claim 1 , wherein the sensed signal is a bio-impedance signal.

3. A method as in claim 1 , wherein a stimulus trigger time is predicted based on historical respiratory data.

4. A method as in claim 3 , wherein the stimulus trigger time is predicted for a future respiratory cycle using respiratory data from a previous respiratory cycle and a current respiratory cycle.

5. A method as in claim 4 , wherein the respiratory data comprises expiratory onset.

6. A method as in claim 5 , wherein respiratory data from the previous and the current respiratory cycles are weighted differently.

7. A method as in claim 6 , wherein respiratory data from the current respiratory cycle is weighted negatively relative to data from the previous respiratory cycle.

8. A method as in claim 1 , wherein stimulus is delivered without identifying inspiratory onset from the sensed signal.

9. A method as in claim 8 , wherein the stimulus is delivered approximately 300 ms before the predicted inspiratory onset.

10. A method as in claim 1 , wherein the portion of the hypoglossal nerve corresponds to a portion innervating a genioglossus muscle of the patient.

11. A method as in claim 1 , wherein the nerve cuff electrode includes an electrode contact arrangement configured for selectively activating only one of the superior, inferior, lateral, and medial fascicles of the hypoglossal nerve.

12. A method as in claim 1 , wherein the method does not include detecting inspiration onset.

13. A device for stimulating a hypoglossal nerve, comprising:

a neurostimulator for generating an electrical stimulus signal;

a lead connected to the neurostimulator, the lead having a nerve cuff electrode for delivering the electrical stimulus to a portion of the hypoglossal nerve; and

an algorithm contained in the neurostimulator, wherein the algorithm is configured to begin stimulus delivery a predetermined amount of time prior to a predicted future inspiratory onset, wherein the predicted future inspiratory onset is calculated from one or more expiratory onsets detected from a sensed respiratory signal.

14. A device as in claim 13 , wherein the sensed respiratory signal is bio-impedance.

15. A device as in claim 14 , further comprising a sensor for sensing bio-impedance.

16. A device as in claim 13 , wherein the algorithm predicts a stimulation trigger time based on historical respiratory data.

17. A device as in claim 16 , wherein the algorithm predicts the stimulation trigger time for a future respiratory cycle using respiratory data from previous and current respiratory cycles.

18. A device as in claim 17 , wherein the algorithm is configured to predict the future inspiratory onset without identifying an inspiratory onset of the sensed respiratory signal.

19. A device as in claim 18 , wherein the algorithm applies differing weights to the data from the previous and current respiratory cycles.

20. A device as in claim 19 , wherein the algorithm applies a negative weight to data from the current respiratory cycle relative to data from the previous respiratory cycle.

21. A device as in claim 13 , wherein the algorithm is configured to trigger stimulation without detecting inspiration onset.

Assignments (7)