Patents by Inventor Franco Portillo

Franco Portillo has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 5749912
    Abstract: A low-cost, four-channel cochlear stimulation system utilizes a completely passive, implantable receiver/electrode array that is inductively coupled to an external wearable processor. The receiver/electrode array is formed in a silicone rubber carrier adapted to be implanted in a deaf patient. At one end of the receiver/electrode array, positioned subcutaneously near the surface of skin above the ear, four receiving coils are arranged in an appropriate pattern. Such receiving coils are held within an hermetically-sealed titanium case. At the other end of the receiver/electrode array, which may be pre-formed in a spiral to match the basal turn of the cochlea, and which is inserted in the cochlea, four ball electrodes are spaced apart along an inner radius of the spiral. Each electrode is electrically connected to a respective receiving coil. Each receiving coil is also electrically connected to a reference electrode typically located near the receiver-coil end of the array.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 1996
    Date of Patent: May 12, 1998
    Assignees: House Ear Institute, Advanced Bionics Corporation
    Inventors: Chaoying Zhang, Franco Portillo, Fan-Gang Zeng, Robert V. Shannon, Gerald E. Loeb