Patents by Inventor R. Hollis Whittington

R. Hollis Whittington has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20140236032
    Abstract: An implantable heart monitoring device including a sensing unit, a signal quality analysis unit, and an evaluation unit. The sensing unit is connected to at least one electrode that picks up electric potentials. The sensing unit processes electrical signals corresponding to the electric potentials, and generates sense signals including events corresponding to myocardial contractions. The signal quality analysis unit determines whether a noise condition (NC) and/or a low signal indication is present for an event and generates an indication signal. The evaluation unit evaluates the sense signals and the indication signals, treats a detected event as non-valid if a NC and/or low signal indication signal is present for that event, and uses only intervals defined by two consecutive events which do not have a NC and/or a low signal indication to determine a rate of events of the sense signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 14, 2014
    Publication date: August 21, 2014
    Applicant: BIOTRONIK SE & CO. KG
    Inventors: GARTH GARNER, J. CHRISTOPHER MOULDER, HANNES KRAETSCHMER, R. HOLLIS WHITTINGTON, DIRK MUESSIG, SWETHA VENNELAGANTI
  • Publication number: 20140222110
    Abstract: An implantable medical device including a data communication device that includes a device to alter and/or generate an oscillatory electric field imposed on body tissue surrounding the implantable medical device when the implantable medical device is in its implanted state. The device that alters an oscillatory electric field modulates an impedance of body tissue surrounding the implantable medical device when the implantable medical device is in its implanted state and within an oscillatory electric field. The device that alters an oscillatory electric field includes a device that generates an oscillatory electric field that is phase-synchronized with an oscillatory electric field imposed on body tissue surrounding the implantable medical device when the implantable medical device is in its implanted state.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 16, 2014
    Publication date: August 7, 2014
    Applicant: BIOTRONIK SE & CO. KG
    Inventors: Andrew B. Kibler, J. Christopher Moulder, R. Hollis Whittington
  • Patent number: 7993906
    Abstract: The present invention provides a sensitive system for measuring the physiological response of an in-vitro cell culture to an environmental parameter. An electrical property of the cell culture is measured as a control signal, and a parameter of a stimulus is adjusted in real time to maintain the control signal at a specified value as the environment of the cell culture is altered, for example, pharmacologically. Artifact reduction and real-time control methods are two key aspects of preferred embodiments of the invention, and enable highly accurate determination of pulse parameters which elicit a desired response. Both aspects must be highly robust to the natural variations inherent in a biological system. This system is beneficial for studying the effects of environmental alterations because extremely small changes in the physiological response can be measured over time, revealing the magnitude and time-dependence of the impact of these alterations on the cell culture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2011
    Assignee: The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
    Inventors: Gregory T. A. Kovacs, R. Hollis Whittington
  • Publication number: 20100292596
    Abstract: A system, method and computer-readable storage medium are configured for the detection of electrical signals originating from a human or animal heart. In particular, for monitoring devices, it is desired to obtain electrical signals from a human or animal heart with electrical contacts at the body of an implantable medical device, hence without the need to implant electrical leads to the hearts. Hence, a method, a system and a computer-readable storage medium for detecting electrical signals originating from a human or animal heart is proposed. The method includes the steps of receiving electrical signals in at least two sensing channels, combining the electrical signals for forming a combined channel, extracting a template from the signals of the combined channel, comparing incoming electrical signals with the template, and depending from the result of the comparison, performing at least one of controlling one or more devices and signaling the result.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 12, 2010
    Publication date: November 18, 2010
    Applicant: BIOTRONIK CRM PATENT AG
    Inventors: J. Christopher Moulder, R. Hollis Whittington, Dirk Muessig