A novel design of control circuit in neural stimulator for optic nerve prostheses

More recent studies show that electrical micro-stimulation of the retina or cortex produces visual sensations in blinds subjects. However, with current electrode array technologies, it is nearly impossible to cover entire visual field by electrically stimulating the retina or visual cortex. In the visual pathway, by stimulating optic nerve, the entire visual filed is represented in such a relatively small area. According to physiological experiment results, we design a kind of implantable neural stimulator based on stimulating optic nerve to generate visual perception. The control circuit is designed to control 64 electrodes, offer single pulse or multiple pulses sequence which are variable range such as from 1 muA to 2.048 mA current amplitudes, from 21 mu5 to 400 mus duration, from 0 to 350 Hz frequency