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The BCI Briefing

Patent familyLikely BCI-related

Control policy settings for electrical stimulation therapy

Filed by Medtronic, first in 2020.

Granted · CN, EP, USView in Espacenet
Earliest priority
10 Jun 2020 · United States
Status
A grant was published in China, European Patent Office, United States, first on 24 Sep 2024
Published in
United States · International (PCT) · China · Australia · European Patent Office
Registered as
Medtronic, Inc. · MEDTRONIC INC · 美敦力公司
Inventors
Bourget, Duane L. · Hageman, Kristin N. · Bink, Hank · Li, Jiashu · Skarie, Laura Ann · D·l·鲍格特 · and 4 more
Family
DOCDB 78824223 · 9 publications

What it concerns

This disclosure is directed to devices, systems, and techniques for controlling electrical stimulation. In some examples, a system includes a user interface and processing circuitry. The processing circuitry is configured to output, for display by the user interface, a message requesting the patient perform a set of actions, receive, from the user interface, user input indicative of a patient response associated with the set of actions, and determine, based on the user input, one or more adjustments to a control policy which controls electrical stimulation delivered by a medical device based on a plurality of evoked compound action potentials (ECAPs) sensed by the medical device.

The abstract as published by the patent office, from US2021387002A1. It describes the invention; it is not a statement of what is protected.

Protection themes

  • Interface and electrodes

    Electrodes and arrays · Peripheral interfaces

  • Telemetry

    Wireless telemetry

  • Stimulation

    Stimulation

  • Application

    BCI software

What the filing appears to be about, read by published rules from its title, abstract and classification codes (A61B2562/0219, A61N1/0531, A61N1/0534, A61N1/0553, A61N1/0556). The claims define what a patent protects, and they are not read here.

Why it matters

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.
Telemetry
Thousands of channels produce more data than a low-power radio can carry raw, so what is sent, and how, decides what the system can use. The problem behind it: high data rates at low power through tissue, reliably and securely.
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

The family

One invention, published 9 times in 5 offices. Each publication opens in Espacenet.

Timeline

  1. 10 Jun 2020First filingEarliest priority, at United States. The family is counted in this year.
  2. 24 Feb 2021ApplicationFiled at United States.
  3. 24 Feb 2021Owner recordedUnited States, on US2021387002A1: assignment; owner named: MEDTRONIC, INC., MINNESOTA.
  4. 3 Jun 2021ApplicationsFiled at International (PCT), China, Australia, European Patent Office.
  5. 16 Dec 2021First publicationUS2021387002A1, United States.
  6. 24 Sep 2024Grant publishedUS12097373B2, United States.
  7. 3 Jun 2026Grant publishedEP4164734B1, European Patent Office.
  8. 22 Sep 2026Grant publishedCN115697467B, China.

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.

Sources

  • 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: US2021387002A1 in Espacenet
  • Counted as a BCI patent family: classified A61N1/0531 (brain cortex electrodes); filed by Medtronic, Inc., an organisation already in the graph. How families are found and judged