Implantable medical device structures

An implantable medical device (IMD) includes a housing that is configured to enclose internal components including at least a processor and a power source. The housing defines two major surfaces that are generally parallel to each other and one or more channels that are each configured to receive a lead and electrically couple the respective lead to the internal components, where each of the channels extend substantially straight in to the housing along an axis generally parallel to the two major surfaces. The housing may be configured to be mounted to a cranium of a patient such that at least one of the two major surfaces approximates a curvature of the cranium. The IMD may include one or more funneling walls that define a rounded and smooth transition from a sidewall of the housing to a surface that defines one or more mouths to the channels.

The abstract as published by the patent office, from US2019060656A1. It describes the invention; it is not a statement of what is protected.

• Interface and electrodes

  Electrodes and arrays · Peripheral interfaces

• Implant electronics

  Implant electronics

• Packaging

  Packaging and hermeticity

• Telemetry

  Wireless telemetry

What the filing appears to be about, read by published rules from its title, abstract and classification codes (A61N1/0531, A61N1/0534, A61N1/0551, A61N1/36064, A61N1/36071). 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.

Implant electronics

An implant has room for very little, so functions that fill a rack in the laboratory have to fit on a chip. The problem behind it: fitting channel count, computing and safety functions into a volume and a heat budget the body accepts.

Packaging

Body fluid destroys unprotected electronics. An implant meant to last has to stay sealed for years while passing every channel through its wall. The problem behind it: a seal that lasts as long as the patient needs it, at a size that leaves room for the channels.

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 12 times in 4 offices. Each publication opens in Espacenet.

• United StatesUS2019060656A128 Feb 2019US2019290911A126 Sep 2019US10994147B24 May 2021 · grantUS11291841B25 Apr 2022 · grant
• International (PCT)a route to several countries, not a countryWO2019046694A17 Mar 2019WO2019183386A126 Sep 2019
• European Patent Officea route to several countries, not a countryEP3675954A18 Jul 2020EP3768376A127 Jan 2021EP3675954B116 Jun 2021 · grantEP3768376B113 Mar 2024 · grant
• ChinaCN111886050A3 Nov 2020CN111886050B6 Sep 2024 · grant

1. 31 Aug 2017First filingEarliest priority, at United States. The family is counted in this year.
2. 28 Aug 2018ApplicationFiled at United States.
3. 28 Aug 2018Owner recordedUnited States, on US2019060656A1: assignment; owner named: MEDTRONIC, INC., MINNESOTA.
4. 31 Aug 2018ApplicationsFiled at International (PCT), European Patent Office.
5. 28 Feb 2019First publicationUS2019060656A1, United States.
6. 21 Mar 2019ApplicationsFiled at United States, International (PCT), China, European Patent Office.
7. 5 Apr 2022Grant publishedUS11291841B2, United States.
8. 13 Mar 2024Grant publishedEP3768376B1, European Patent Office.
9. 6 Sep 2024Grant publishedCN111886050B, China.
10. 23 Jul 2026Office recordEuropean Patent Office, on EP3675954A1: 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

Medtronic · 40 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: US2019060656A1 in Espacenet
• Counted as a BCI patent family: classified A61N1/0531 (brain cortex electrodes); filed by Medtronic, Inc., an organisation already in the graph; cites a family already accepted. How families are found and judged