Selection circuit for an electrode assembly and method for operating an electrode assembly

The circuit has a signal interface with multiple electrode connections and multiple signal connections, where the electrode connections are coupled with multiple electrodes (20) of an electrode arrangement (10). A switching electronics is provided with multiple programmable switches. Independent claims are also included for the following: (1) a method for operating an implantable electrode arrangement; and (2) a method for manufacturing an electrode arrangement.

The abstract as published by the patent office, from EP2446921A1. It describes the invention; it is not a statement of what is protected.

• Interface and electrodes

  Electrodes and arrays · Peripheral interfaces

• Signal acquisition

  Signal acquisition

• Power

  Wireless power

• Decoding

  Motor decoding

What the filing appears to be about, read by published rules from its title, abstract and classification codes (A61N1/00, A61N1/0529). 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.

Signal acquisition

Neural signals are microvolts. They have to be amplified and digitised on many channels at once, inside a power budget that must not warm the tissue. The problem behind it: low noise on hundreds or thousands of channels at milliwatts.

Power

A wire through the skin is a standing infection risk, and a battery sets how long a device runs and how large it is. The problem behind it: enough power through the skin without heating it, and without a connector that breaks the skin.

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 3 times in 2 offices. Each publication opens in Espacenet.

• European Patent Officea route to several countries, not a countryEP2446921A12 May 2012EP2446921B19 May 2018 · grant
• GermanyDE102010043029A13 May 2012

1. 27 Oct 2010First filingEarliest priority, at Germany. The family is counted in this year.
2. 27 Oct 2011ApplicationFiled at European Patent Office.
3. 2 May 2012First publicationEP2446921A1, European Patent Office.
4. 6 Jun 2013Owner recordedGermany, on DE102010043029A1: change of applicant/patentee; owner named: CORTEC GMBH, DE.
5. 3 Jan 2018Owner recordedEuropean Patent Office, on EP2446921A1: party data changed (applicant data changed or rights of an application transferred); owner named: CORTEC GMBH.
6. 9 May 2018Grant publishedEP2446921B1, European Patent Office.
7. 1 Apr 2019Owner recordedEuropean Patent Office, on EP2446921A1: reference to a national code; owner named: CORTEC GMBH, DE.
8. 1 May 2019Office recordGermany, on DE102010043029A1: application deemed withdrawn, or ip right lapsed, due to non-payment of renewal fee.
9. 31 Jul 2024Office recordEuropean Patent Office, on EP2446921A1: 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, LI, LT, LU, LV, MC, MK, MT, NL, NO, PL, PT, RO, RS, 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

• 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: EP2446921A1 in Espacenet
• Counted as a BCI patent family: classified A61N1/0529 (electrodes for brain stimulation); filed by CORTEC GMBH, an organisation already in the graph; a hardware layer of the stack, filed by a company that builds interfaces; cites a family already accepted. How families are found and judged