Granted Patent B2

US 12,727,784 · App. 16/158,739 · Granted Sep 8, 2026

Inventors: Christopher Wybo (Brighton, MI); Aashish Shah (Ann Arbor, MI); Tarik Yardibi (Reading, MA); Emir Osmanagic (Norwell, MA); Darren Scarfe (LaSalle, CA)

Assignee: DePuy Synthes Products, Inc.

A61B5/1106A61B5/05A61B5/4519A61B2505/05A61B2562/0219

Abstract

Claims (48)

1 . A sensing device, comprising:

a carrier material for placing on a single limb of a patient, one or more alignment indicia disposed on the carrier material for orientation of the carrier material relative to the limb of the patient;

a plurality of neuromuscular sensors disposed on the carrier material, wherein each sensor generates a mechanomyography (MMG) output signal, and wherein each sensor is associated with a different muscle group of the limb; and

a processor configured to:

receive a MMG output signal from each of the sensors;

buffer a portion of each MMG output signal;

determine whether any of the buffered MMG output signals is associated with an artificially induced neuromuscular response; and

if an artificially induced neuromuscular response is determined, send only those buffered MMG output signals associated with the artificially induced neuromuscular response;

wherein the processor is further configured to periodically send a connection diagnostic data packet, wherein the data packet is a low-footprint, nominal transmission that is performed solely to evaluate whether the connection is still active and/or whether a fidelity of the connection is sufficient to convey data.

2 . The sensing device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to indicate that a nerve associated with the affected muscle group has been depolarized.

3 . The sensing device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to indicate that a single artificially induced neuromuscular response has been determined.

4 . The sensing device of claim 3 , wherein the processor is further configured to send an alert.

5 . The sensing device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to indicate that more than one artificially induced neuromuscular response has been determined.

6 . The sensing device of claim 5 , wherein the processor is further configured to send an alert.

7 . The sensing device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to, if no artificially induced neuromuscular response is determined:

reduce a representation quality of each of the buffered MMG output signals, wherein the reduced representation quality has at least one of a lower resolution or a lower sampling rate; and

send the reduced quality representations of the buffered MMG output signals.

8 . The sensing device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to periodically receive a connection diagnostic packet.

9 . The sensing device of claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to generate an alert if the connection diagnostic packet is not received at a periodic interval.

10 . The sensing device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to store the MMG output signal from each of the sensors at predetermined intervals.

11 . The sensing device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to determine that an electrical stimulus has been applied to the patient; and then store the MMG output signal from each of the sensors.

12 . A system, comprising:

a display and/or a speaker;

a stimulator; and

a sensing device, comprising:

a carrier material for placing on a single limb of a patient;

a plurality of neuromuscular sensors disposed on the carrier material, wherein each sensor generates a mechanomyography (MMG) output signal, and wherein each sensor is associated with a different muscle group of the limb; and

a processor configured to:

receive a MMG output signal from each of the sensors; and

determine whether any of the MMG output signals is associated with an artificially induced neuromuscular response, and, if so, send only those MMG output signals associated with artificially induced neuromuscular response;

wherein, if a single artificially induced neuromuscular response has been determined, the display displays a first color and/or the speaker plays a first tone;

wherein, if more than one artificially induced neuromuscular response has been determined, the display displays a second color and/or the speaker plays a second tone;

wherein the first color is different from the second color and the first tone is different from the second tone; and

wherein the processor is further configured to periodically send a connection diagnostic data packet, wherein the data packet is a low-footprint, nominal transmission that is performed solely to evaluate whether the connection is still active and/or whether a fidelity of the connection is sufficient to convey data.

13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the processor is further configured to receive an indication that an electrical stimulus has been administered to the patient.

14 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the processor is further configured to store a portion of the MMG output signal from each of the sensors after the electrical stimulus has been administered to the patient.

15 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the processor is further configured to determine that an electrical stimulus has been administered to the patient.

16 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the processor is further configured to filter out portions of the MMG output signals that are attributable to gross translation of the limb or gross rotation of the limb before determining whether any of the MMG output signals is associated with an artificially induced neuromuscular response.

17 . A sensing device, comprising:

a carrier material for placing on a single limb of a patient;

one or more alignment indicia disposed on the carrier material for orientation of the carrier material relative to the limb of the patient;

a plurality of neuromuscular sensors disposed on the carrier material, wherein each sensor generates a mechanomyography (MMG) output signal, and wherein each sensor is associated with a different muscle group of the limb; and

a processor configured to:

receive a MMG output signal from each of the sensors;

only send a subset of the MMG output signals, wherein the subset of the MMG output signals are those associated with an artificially induced neuromuscular response; and

periodically send a connection diagnostic data packet, wherein the data packet is a low-footprint, nominal transmission that is performed solely to evaluate whether the connection is still active and/or whether a fidelity of the connection is sufficient to convey data.

18 . The sensing device of claim 17 , wherein the subset of the MMG output signals are MMG output signals from more than one sensor.

19 . The sensing device of claim 17 , wherein the processor is configured to examine one or more characteristics of the MMG output signal from each of the sensors using a supervised learning algorithm to determine whether the MMG output signal is representative of an artificially-induced mechanical response.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (384)