BCI device for use in stroke rehabilitation

The device (10) has a probe (18) for conducting a neuronal activity signal. The probe, a stimulator (22), a display device (26) and an orthosis element (28) are controlled by a control- and evaluation unit (24) based on detected movements of a patient (12). The evaluation unit provides a request to the patient, where the request has an instruction to imagine or try out and implement a certain movement i.e. arm- and hand movements. The evaluation unit forms frequency channels and evaluates the signal based on amplitudes and/or phases in the channels for identifying a desired activity pattern.

The abstract as published by the patent office, from US2011295338A1. It describes the invention; it is not a statement of what is protected.

• Interface and electrodes

  Electrodes and arrays

• Stimulation

  Stimulation

• Application

  Assistive and control applications

What the filing appears to be about, read by published rules from its title, abstract and classification codes (A61B5/16, A61B5/372, A61B5/374, A61B5/4064, A61B5/4094). The claims define what a patent protects, and they are not read here.

Interface and electrodes

Everything downstream works with what the contacts pick up. Their number, size and distance from the neurons set the ceiling on the signal. The problem behind it: more contacts, closer to neurons, that still record after years in tissue that reacts to them.

Stimulation

Restoring sensation, sight or movement needs information going in, and a therapy that adapts needs to sense and stimulate at once. The problem behind it: evoking a precise, stable effect without damaging tissue or electrodes, and without blinding the recording.

Application

A decoded signal is useful only when it operates something a person wants to use, every day, without an engineer in the room. The problem behind it: dependable everyday use outside the laboratory, with set-up a user or carer can manage.

Why the layer matters to the field, not a judgement of this filing. A patent family shows that protection was sought. It does not show that the technology was built, is used in a product, or works in people. The whole stack

One invention, published 4 times in 2 offices. Each publication opens in Espacenet.

• European Patent Officea route to several countries, not a countryEP2389859A130 Nov 2011EP2389859B112 Aug 2015 · grant
• United StatesUS2011295338A11 Dec 2011US8509904B213 Aug 2013 · grant

1. 27 May 2010First filingEarliest priority, at European Patent Office. The family is counted in this year.
2. 20 May 2011ApplicationFiled at United States.
3. 26 May 2011Owner recordedUnited States, on US2011295338A1: assignment; owner named: ALBERT-LUDWIGS-UNIVERSITAT, GERMANY.
4. 30 Nov 2011First publicationEP2389859A1, European Patent Office.
5. 18 Apr 2013Owner recordedUnited States, on US2011295338A1: assignment; owner named: CORTEC GMBH, GERMANY.
6. 3 Jul 2013Owner recordedEuropean Patent Office, on EP2389859A1: party data changed (applicant data changed or rights of an application transferred); owner named: CORTEC GMBH.
7. 13 Aug 2013Grant publishedUS8509904B2, United States.
8. 12 Aug 2015Grant publishedEP2389859B1, European Patent Office.
9. 1 Apr 2019Owner recordedEuropean Patent Office, on EP2389859A1: reference to a national code; owner named: CORTEC GMBH, DE.
10. 28 Apr 2025Office recordEuropean Patent Office, on EP2389859A1: lapsed in a contracting state [announced via postgrant information from national office to epo] (AL, AT, BE, BG, CH, CY, CZ, DK, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HR, HU, IE, IS, IT, LT, LU, LV, MC, MK, MT, NL, NO, PL, PT, RO, SE, SI, SK, SM, TR).

Dates as the offices published them. Office records are in the offices' own words and are a selection: refusals, lapses and withdrawals, and records that name an owner. Each concerns one member of the family, not the family as a whole, and another member in the same office may stand. Whether a patent is in force today is not assessed.

Organisation

CorTec · 27 families identified

Use case

Motor control

• Bibliographic data, family members and office records: European Patent Office, Open Patent Services (the DOCDB and INPADOC databases), read 7 Oct 2026.
• The record itself, with its claims and description: US2011295338A1 in Espacenet
• Counted as a BCI patent family: uses the field's wording; classified A61B5/37 (analysis and use of electroencephalograms); filed by CORTEC GMBH, an organisation already in the graph; describes neural hardware or methods without naming the field; cites a family already accepted. How families are found and judged