Burr cap-mounted electrodes

A system provides a burr hole cap assembly configured to secure a position of a lead implanted through a burr hole in a cranium of a patient. One or more electrodes are coupled to one or more components of the burr hole cap assembly. The one or more electrode is disposed within the burr hole cap assembly for sensing signals within a brain of the patient or stimulating a portion of the brain of the patient.

The abstract as published by the patent office, from US2021205623A1. It describes the invention; it is not a statement of what is protected.

• Surgical access

  Surgical planning and procedure

• Interface and electrodes

  Electrodes and arrays

• Stimulation

  Stimulation · Closed loop

What the filing appears to be about, read by published rules from its title, abstract and classification codes (A61B5/271, A61B5/279, A61B5/293, A61B5/383, A61B5/4082). 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.

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.

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 3 offices. Each publication opens in Espacenet.

• United StatesUS2021205623A18 Jul 2021US11633603B225 Apr 2023 · grant
• International (PCT)a route to several countries, not a countryWO2021141814A115 Jul 2021
• European Patent Officea route to several countries, not a countryEP4087643A116 Nov 2022

1. 7 Jan 2020First filingEarliest priority, at United States. The family is counted in this year.
2. 29 Dec 2020ApplicationFiled at United States.
3. 30 Dec 2020ApplicationsFiled at International (PCT), European Patent Office.
4. 18 Mar 2021Owner recordedUnited States, on US2021205623A1: assignment; owner named: MEDTRONIC, INC., MINNESOTA.
5. 8 Jul 2021First publicationUS2021205623A1, United States.
6. 25 Apr 2023Grant publishedUS11633603B2, United States.
7. 25 Feb 2025Office recordInternational (PCT), on WO2021141814A1: wipo information: withdrawn in national office.
8. 9 Jul 2025Office recordEuropean Patent Office, on EP4087643A1: application deemed to be withdrawn.

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: US2021205623A1 in Espacenet
• Counted as a BCI patent family: classified A61B5/293 (invasive electrodes for brain recording); filed by Medtronic, Inc., an organisation already in the graph; describes neural hardware or methods without naming the field. How families are found and judged