A Software Upgrade Method for Micro-electronics Medical Implants

• Published in: 2006 International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Vol. 2006; pp. 5009 - 5012
• Main Authors: Cao, Yang, Hao, Hongwei, Xue, Lin, Li, Luming, Ma, Bozhi
• Format: Conference Proceeding Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States IEEE 2006
• Subjects: Auditory implants; Biomedical Engineering - methods; Circuit faults; Computer bugs; Computer Communication Networks; Computer Systems; Computers; Computers, Handheld; Costs; Electric Stimulation; Electronics; Electronics, Medical; Hardware; Humans; Implantable biomedical devices; in-application programming (IAP); Medical treatment; micro-electronics medical implant; Microelectronic implants; Pain; Programming profession; Prostheses and Implants; Safety; Software; Software Design; software upgrade; Software Validation; User-Computer Interface
• ISBN: 9781424400324; 1424400325
• ISSN: 1557-170X
• DOI: 10.1109/IEMBS.2006.260044

A software upgrade method for micro-electronics medical implants is designed to enhance the devices' function or renew the software if there are some bugs found, the software updating or some memory units disabled. The implants needn't be replaced by operations if the faults can be corrected through reprogramming, which reduces the patients' pain and improves the safety effectively. This paper introduces the software upgrade method using in-application programming (IAP) and emphasizes how to insure the system, especially the implanted part's reliability and stability while upgrading.