Optical coherence tomography for robotic brain surgery

Disclosed are methods related to guiding robotic surgery using optical coherence tomography (OCT) and computer-readable media and computer systems executing the methods. They may include receiving a series of cross-sectional slices of 3D space obtained from an OCT probe over biological tissue and processing and filtering the series of slices. The processing and filtering may include spatially smoothing the intensity values of each slice, thresholding each slice after it has been blurred, performing a connected-component analysis to identify blobs on the thresholded slice, filtering the blobs, performing edge detection, and invoking a selective median filter. The processing and filtering can be used to construct a depth map from the received series of cross-sectional slices in order to guide a robotic end effector, based on the depth map.

The abstract as published by the patent office, from US2021007808A1. It describes the invention; it is not a statement of what is protected.

• Surgical access

  Insertion tools and robots · Surgical planning and procedure

• Interface and electrodes

  Electrodes and arrays

• Signal processing

  Signal processing

• Stimulation

  Stimulation

What the filing appears to be about, read by published rules from its title, abstract and classification codes (A61B2034/2055, A61B2034/2065, A61B2090/309, A61B2090/371, A61B2090/3735). The claims define what a patent protects, and they are not read here.

Surgical access

A probe soft enough for the brain to tolerate is too soft to push in by hand, and each route into the head has its own risk. The problem behind it: placing many contacts exactly, without injuring tissue or vessels, in an operation short and repeatable enough to offer widely.

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 processing

A decoder is only as good as the features it is given, and recordings drift and pick up noise from movement, muscle and stimulation. The problem behind it: stable features from signals that change from day to day, computed fast enough to act on.

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

• United StatesUS2021007808A114 Jan 2021US11712306B21 Aug 2023 · grant
• International (PCT)a route to several countries, not a countryWO2021011239A121 Jan 2021
• South KoreaKR20220031667A11 Mar 2022
• JapanJP2022543980A17 Oct 2022JP7198950B24 Jan 2023 · grant

1. 12 Jul 2019First filingEarliest priority, at United States. The family is counted in this year.
2. 7 Jul 2020ApplicationsFiled at United States, International (PCT), South Korea, Japan.
3. 7 Jul 2020Owner recordedUnited States, on US2021007808A1: assignment; owner named: NEURALINK CORP., CALIFORNIA.
4. 14 Jan 2021First publicationUS2021007808A1, United States.
5. 4 Jan 2023Grant publishedJP7198950B2, Japan.
6. 4 Jan 2023Office recordInternational (PCT), on WO2021011239A1: ep: pct application non-entry in european phase.
7. 1 Aug 2023Grant publishedUS11712306B2, United States.
8. 7 May 2024Office recordSouth Korea, on KR20220031667A: decision to refuse application.

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

Neuralink · 31 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: US2021007808A1 in Espacenet
• Counted as a BCI patent family: classified A61N1/36 (electrical stimulation therapy); filed by 뉴럴링크 코포레이션, 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