Patents by Inventor Robert W. Hocken

Robert W. Hocken 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).

  • Patent number: 11648400
    Abstract: The disclosure describes an implementation of a combinational thermometric-R2R that includes a thermometric DAC circuit to output the coarse output steps, an R2R circuit to control the fine output steps, and a resistor in series with the thermometric and R2R circuits. The techniques of this disclosure implement a fine resolution DAC, on the order of two nanoamps per bit, that operates at low current, yet maintains monotonicity throughout the DAC output range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2023
    Assignee: MEDTRONIC, INC.
    Inventors: Krishna Pramod Madabhushi, Robert W. Hocken, Jr.
  • Patent number: 11406830
    Abstract: Techniques are described for magnetic field detection using a plurality of Hall sensors and chopper-amplifier circuit. Determination that a magnetic field is present from measurement from one of the Hall sensors may trigger confirmation or confirmation and reconfirmation of the presence of the magnetic field from measurements from one or more of the other Hall sensors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Assignee: MEDTRONIC, INC.
    Inventors: Jalpa S. Shah, Robert W. Hocken, Jr., Joel Sivula, Wesley A. Santa
  • Patent number: 11379394
    Abstract: 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.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: MEDTRONIC, INC.
    Inventors: Robert W. Hocken, Wesley A. Santa, Christopher M. Arnett, Jalpa S. Shah, Joel E. Sivula
  • Publication number: 20220111209
    Abstract: The disclosure describes an implementation of a combinational thermometric-R2R that includes a thermometric DAC circuit to output the coarse output steps, an R2R circuit to control the fine output steps, and a resistor in series with the thermometric and R2R circuits. The techniques of this disclosure implement a fine resolution DAC, on the order of two nanoamps per bit, that operates at low current, yet maintains monotonicity throughout the DAC output range.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 9, 2020
    Publication date: April 14, 2022
    Inventors: Krishna Pramod Madabhushi, Robert W. Hocken, JR.
  • Publication number: 20220100654
    Abstract: 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. Multiple individual block mover components of the controller may move respective blocks, each responsive to a dedicated trigger or to a same trigger. Furthermore, a given block mover or individual block mover component may have multiple selectable triggers. The block moving hardware based controller may have one or more memory devices to access, and the firmware may write to one memory while the block moving hardware based controller may read from another.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 14, 2021
    Publication date: March 31, 2022
    Inventors: Robert W. Hocken, Wesley A. Santa, Christopher M. Arnett, Jalpa S. Shah, Joel E. Sivula
  • Patent number: 11216370
    Abstract: 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. Multiple individual block mover components of the controller may move respective blocks, each responsive to a dedicated trigger or to a same trigger. Furthermore, a given block mover or individual block mover component may have multiple selectable triggers. The block moving hardware based controller may have one or more memory devices to access, and the firmware may write to one memory while the block moving hardware based controller may read from another.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 4, 2022
    Assignee: MEDTRONIC, INC.
    Inventors: Robert W. Hocken, Wesley A. Santa, Christopher M. Arnett, Jalpa S. Shah, Joel E. Sivula
  • Publication number: 20210275822
    Abstract: Techniques are described for magnetic field detection using a plurality of Hall sensors and chopper-amplifier circuit. Determination that a magnetic field is present from measurement from one of the Hall sensors may trigger confirmation or confirmation and reconfirmation of the presence of the magnetic field from measurements from one or more of the other Hall sensors.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 18, 2017
    Publication date: September 9, 2021
    Applicants: Medtronic, Inc., Medtronic, Inc.
    Inventors: Jalpa S. Shah, Robert W. Hocken, Jr., Joel Sivula, Wesley A. Santa
  • Publication number: 20200387464
    Abstract: 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.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 24, 2020
    Publication date: December 10, 2020
    Inventors: Robert W. Hocken, Wesley A. Santa, Christopher M. Arnett, Jalpa S. Shah, Joel E. Sivula
  • Patent number: 10754803
    Abstract: 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.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2020
    Assignee: MEDTRONIC, INC.
    Inventors: Robert W. Hocken, Wesley A. Santa, Christopher M. Arnett, Jalpa S. Shah, Joel E. Sivula
  • Publication number: 20190310955
    Abstract: 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.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 24, 2019
    Publication date: October 10, 2019
    Inventors: Robert W. Hocken, Wesley A. Santa, Christopher M. Arnett, Jalpa S. Shah, Joel E. Sivula
  • Publication number: 20190258570
    Abstract: 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. Multiple individual block mover components of the controller may move respective blocks, each responsive to a dedicated trigger or to a same trigger. Furthermore, a given block mover or individual block mover component may have multiple selectable triggers. The block moving hardware based controller may have one or more memory devices to access, and the firmware may write to one memory while the block moving hardware based controller may read from another.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 14, 2019
    Publication date: August 22, 2019
    Inventors: Robert W. Hocken, Wesley A. Santa, Christopher M. Arnett, Jalpa S. Shah, Joel E. Sivula
  • Patent number: 9149635
    Abstract: This disclosure describes techniques for generating stimulation current pulses that have differing pulse shapes in a medical device. A circuit architecture is described that is configured to charge a capacitor to an initial amount of charge, modulate the amount of charge stored in the capacitor based on a control signal, and generate a stimulation current pulse that has an amplitude based on the amount charge stored in the capacitor. The circuit architecture may be configured to generate complex pulse shapes, such as, e.g., steps, ramps, bursts, and combinations thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2015
    Assignee: Medtronic, Inc.
    Inventors: Timothy J. Denison, Robert W. Hocken, Jr., Gabriela C. Molnar, Wesley A. Santa, Jalpa S. Shah, Larry E. Tyler
  • Publication number: 20130289658
    Abstract: This disclosure describes techniques for generating stimulation current pulses that have differing pulse shapes in a medical device. A circuit architecture is described that is configured to charge a capacitor to an initial amount of charge, modulate the amount of charge stored in the capacitor based on a control signal, and generate a stimulation current pulse that has an amplitude based on the amount charge stored in the capacitor. The circuit architecture may be configured to generate complex pulse shapes, such as, e.g., steps, ramps, bursts, and combinations thereof.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 27, 2012
    Publication date: October 31, 2013
    Applicant: MEDTRONIC, INC.
    Inventors: Timothy J. Denison, Robert W. Hocken, JR., Gabriela C. Molnar, Wesley A. Santa, Jalpa S. Shah, Larry E. Tyler
  • Patent number: 6456875
    Abstract: Cyclic redundancy calculations are provided by operating on a data stream, e.g., a data stream in an implantable medical device, to perform a polynomial division thereon using one of a first cyclic redundancy code generator polynomial and a second cyclic redundancy code generator polynomial. The first cyclic redundancy code generator polynomial is a higher order polynomial than the second cyclic redundancy code generator polynomial and contains all terms of the second cyclic redundancy code generator polynomial. The polynomial division may be implemented using linear feedback shift register circuitry and circuitry to select between the use of the first or second cyclic redundancy code generator polynomial.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 1999
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2002
    Assignee: Medtronic, Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey D. Wilkinson, Kevin K. Walsh, Robert W. Hocken
  • Patent number: 6286346
    Abstract: A method and apparatus including conditional add and conditional add/subtract instructions are provided for use in the instruction set of a medical device instruction processor. More specifically, the conditional add and add/subtract instructions are provided to add two operands if a predetermined condition is satisfied within the instruction processor hardware. Additionally, the conditional add/subtract instruction may be used to subtract one operand from another operand if the predetermined condition is not satisfied. These instructions are adapted for use in implementing an efficient, interruptible, firmware-controlled multiplication or division mechanism. The inventive system allows multiplication or division operations to be interrupted at various intermediate points during the multiplication or division operation to thereby reducing interrupt latency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 1998
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2001
    Assignee: Medtronic, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert W. Hocken, Jr., Kevin K. Walsh, Jeffrey D. Wilkinson