Methods and Apparatus for Electric Stimulation of Tissues Using Signals That Minimize The Effects of Tissue Impedance

Abstract

A tissue stimulation system that generates an electrical tissue stimulation signal configured to reduce tissue impedance and increase depth of signal penetration. The use of leads is dynamically controlled and altered between conducting biopotential voltages, conducting electrical tissue stimulation signals, and grounding, in response to a computational analysis of biopotential data acquired from a region of tissue to be stimulated.

I claim: 
     
         1 . A tissue stimulation method comprising the steps of:
 providing a tissue stimulation apparatus configured to dynamically alter the use of leads between conducting biopotential voltages, conducting an electrical signal for stimulating tissues, and grounding, in response to a computational analysis of biopotential data acquired from a region of tissue to be stimulated;   aquiring biopotential data from a region of tissue to be stimulated;   performing a computational analysis of the acquired biopotential data;   in response to the analysis, identifying and placing sufficient leads so as to provide a number of possible conduction paths passing in near proximity to a region of tissue of interest; and   dynamically controlling electrical signal delivery to the region of tissue of interest by selectively switching the use of the leads as conductors and grounds.   
     
     
         2 . The tissue stimulation method of  claim 1  including the additional step of assessing subsequently acquired data for the purpose of subsequent altering of lead use. 
     
     
         3 . The tissue stimulation method of  claim 1  in which the step of dynamically controlling electrical signal delivery includes generating and applying an electrical tissue stimulation signal that reduces tissue impedance and increases depth of signal penetration. 
     
     
         4 . The tissue stimulation method of  claim 3  in which the step generating and applying an electrical tissue stimulation signal includes generating and applying an AMPWM signal. 
     
     
         5 . The tissue stimulation method of  claim 4  in which the step of generating and applying an AMPWM signal includes varying the time-averaged current flow of an electric tissue stimulation signal by modifying the duty cycle of the high frequency component of an AMPWM signal. 
     
     
         6 . The tissue stimulation method of  claim 5  including the additional step of varying stimulation intensity provided to a subject by the external stimulation device ( 123 ). 
     
     
         7 . The tissue stimulation method of  claim 5  including the additional step of varying stimulation intensity of one or more external stimulation devices ( 123 ) selected from the group of external stimulation devices consisting of an optical stimulation device, an electromagnetic field-producing device, an electromechanical stimulation device, and an audio stimulation device. 
     
     
         8 . The tissue stimulation method of  claim 1  in which the electrical stimulation apparatus is configured to identify a subject. 
     
     
         9 . The tissue stimulation method of  claim 8  in which the electrical stimulation apparatus is configured to identify a subject by examining any one or more identification media selected from the group of media consisting of visual media, electronic media, and magnetic media. 
     
     
         10 . The tissue stimulation method of  claim 8  in which the electrical stimulation apparatus is configured to identify a subject by examining a digital photograph of a subject. 
     
     
         11 . The tissue stimulation method of  claim 1  in which the electrical stimulation apparatus is further configured to use a digital photograph of the subject to identify proper locations for lead placement.