Patents Examined by William J Levicky
  • Patent number: 12678594
    Abstract: An integrated catheter placement system for accurately placing a catheter within a patient's vasculature is disclosed. In one embodiment, the integrated system comprises a system console, a tip location sensor for temporary placement on the patient's chest, and an ultrasound probe. The tip location sensor senses a magnetic field of a stylet disposed in a lumen of the catheter when the catheter is disposed in the vasculature. The ultrasound probe ultrasonically images a portion of the vasculature prior to introduction of the catheter. ECG signal-based catheter tip guidance is included in the integrated system to enable guidance of the catheter tip to a desired position with respect to a node of the patient's heart. Iconic representations for depiction on the display of the system and relating to positional and other characteristics of the catheter or medical device are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2026
    Assignee: C. R. Bard, Inc.
    Inventor: Anthony K. Misener
  • Patent number: 12678620
    Abstract: When transducer arrays (i.e., arrays of electrode elements) are used to apply alternating electric fields to a subject's body, the subject may experience electrosensation. This electrosensation can be ameliorated by changing the way the voltage ramps up from zero to its peak when the AC voltage is first applied to any given transducer array, and also when the alternating electric field switches direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2023
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2026
    Assignee: Novocure GmbH
    Inventors: Yoram Wasserman, Michael Shtotland
  • Patent number: 12667728
    Abstract: The present invention provides improved methods for positioning of an implantable lead in a patient with an integrated EMG and stimulation clinician programmer. The integrated clinician programmer is coupled to the implantable lead, wherein the implantable lead comprises at least four electrodes, and to at least one EMG sensing electrode minimally invasively positioned on a skin surface or within the patient. The method comprises delivering a test stimulation at a stimulation amplitude level from the integrated clinician programmer to a nerve tissue of the patient with a principal electrode of the implantable lead. Test stimulations are delivered at a same stimulation amplitude level for a same period of time sequentially to each of the four electrodes of the implantable lead.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2026
    Assignee: Axonics, Inc.
    Inventors: Guangqiang Jiang, John Woock, Dennis Schroeder, Eric Schmid
  • Patent number: 12667729
    Abstract: The invention relates to a device for detecting a signal from a human or animal organism which, during operation, carries out the following steps: detecting a signal from a human or animal organism in a time-dependent manner; subdividing a signal segment into first blocks; determining a total number of the first blocks; determining a measure for a signal swing in each of the first blocks; determining a number of first blocks in which the measure for the signal swing is less than a predeterminable first threshold value; calculating a first quotient from the number of first blocks in which the measure for the signal swing is less than the first threshold value and the total number of first blocks; comparing the first quotient with a second threshold value; classifying a state of the human or animal organism as physiological or as pathophysiological as a function of the previous comparison.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2026
    Assignee: BIOTRONIK SE & Co. KG
    Inventor: Ingo Weiss
  • Patent number: 12667265
    Abstract: An electronic device may include: a first temperature sensor configured to measure a first temperature when an object comes into contact with a contact surface of a main body of the electronic device; a second temperature sensor spaced apart from the first temperature sensor in a direction opposite the contact surface and configured to measure a second temperature; and a processor configured to detect a temperature change due to heat generation inside the main body, and estimate skin surface temperature based on the first temperature, the second temperature, and the temperature change.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2023
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2026
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: So Young Lee, Sang Kyu Kim, Bok Soon Kwon, Sungho Kim, Ho Taik Lee, Hong Soon Rhee
  • Patent number: 12667725
    Abstract: An exemplary system is configured to maintain data representative a machine learning model for use in a cochlear implant system and train the machine learning model. The training may include applying audio content as a training input to the machine learning model, the machine learning model configured to apply a machine learning heuristic to the audio content to output an electrical signal representative of the audio content; applying the electrical signal to a brain processing model, the brain processing model configured to output synthesized audio content representative of the electrical signal; generating an error metric representative of a difference between the audio content and the synthesized audio content; and feeding back the error metric into the machine learning model, the machine learning model configured to use the error metric to adjust the machine learning heuristic applied to the audio content.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2026
    Assignee: Advanced Bionics AG
    Inventors: Daniel J. Alfsmann, Raphael S. Koning, Joachim Thiemann
  • Patent number: 12667735
    Abstract: This present invention and its embodiments relates to methods for reducing pain during photodynamic therapy of actinic keratosis. The present invention also relates to methods of treating actinic keratosis with reduced pain during photodynamic therapy of actinic keratosis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2026
    Assignee: Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Inc.
    Inventor: Edward V. Maytin
  • Patent number: 12661518
    Abstract: Devices, systems, and methods for pacing tissue are disclosed herein. In some embodiments, the devices, systems, and methods position a tip section of a catheter adjacent tissue within an anatomical structure. The tip section is attached to a distal end portion of a catheter shaft, has a maximum radial dimension that is larger than a maximum radial dimension of the catheter shaft, and includes a plurality of electrodes spatially distributed about the tip section. The devices, systems, and methods further select one or more groupings of individual ones of the plurality of electrodes and deliver stimulating energy to or through the adjacent tissue via the selected groupings of electrodes. The stimulating energy is sufficient to activate nerve tissue proximate the tip section but is insufficient to ablate the adjacent tissue. In this manner, devices, systems, and methods disclosed herein can be used to locate nerve tissue proximate the tip section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2026
    Assignee: AFFERA, INC.
    Inventors: Doron Harlev, Paul B. Hultz, Robert Alan Mest
  • Patent number: 12654022
    Abstract: A method and system for managing delivery of a respiration gated defibrillation shock from a subcutaneous implantable medical device (S-IMD) having one or more extra vascular electrodes. The method and system sense cardiac events of a heart. Additionally, the method and system utilize one or more processors to declare a shockable arrhythmia based on the cardiac events, obtain a respiration proxy signal indicative of respiration, track a respiration state related (RSR) characteristic from the respiration proxy signal, gate delivery of a high voltage (HV) shock based on occurrence of a respiration-gated (RG) trigger in connection with the RSR characteristic, and deliver the HV shock along a shocking vector between extra vascular electrodes based on the RG trigger to time delivering of the HV shock to occur during the select state within the respiration cycle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2026
    Assignee: Pacesetter, Inc.
    Inventors: Stuart Rosenberg, Gene A. Bornzin, Wenwen Li, Xiaoyi Min
  • Patent number: 12649063
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a stimulation generator suitable for use in an implantable neurostimulator, including an injectable neurostimulator. The stimulation generator is adapted to provide a configurable stimulation signal comprising a component, such as a pulse. The stimulation generator comprises circuitry to receive and combine an amplitude control signal and a duty cycle signal to produce a preliminary output voltage signal which includes the component of the stimulation signal. It further comprises a voltage-controlled current source adapted to be driven by the preliminary output voltage signal; and a mode selector controlled by a stimulation mode signal to output the component from the preliminary output voltage signal as a current-controlled component of the stimulation signal via the voltage-controlled current source or as a voltage-controlled component of the stimulation signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2026
    Assignee: Capri Medical Limited
    Inventors: Cédric Assambo, Tim Ring, Mike O'Keeffe, Farhat Abbas, John Mullins, Fergal Ward, Muhammad Usman
  • Patent number: 12642962
    Abstract: A disposable, self-contained electro-stimulation device configured with paired cutaneous electrodes for placement over specific acupuncture and neurostimulation points (such P6) on a patient's wrist, delivering controlled electrical pulses to reduce or prevent nausea and vomiting following surgery or anesthesia. Its advanced circuitry trades boost-converter efficiency for total system energy conservation, optimized for the low-duty-cycle pulse output used in neuromodulation rather than continuous high-power operation. Its single-IC, digitally controlled pulse engine performs both biphasic stimulation and contact verification, optimizing it for compact, battery-powered wearable medical devices. It also uses a miniature Hall-effect magnetic-field sensor positioned over a planar helical trace that carries the stimulation current, producing a proportional magnetic field detectable by the Hall sensor for the non-invasive current detection and skin-contact verification.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2025
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2026
    Inventors: George Ashford Reed, Patrick Flynn Boileau, Wessam Mohamed
  • Patent number: 12636506
    Abstract: An active medical device has a feedthrough with at least two terminal pins that are connected to electronic components in the device housing. A lead connector is connected to a strain-relief device for a lead. The lead connector supports at least two proximally-facing C-shaped inserts with an annular spring nested therein that are detachably connected to the device terminal pins to thereby connect the device electronic components to the lead electrodes. The device housing has a length extending along a longitudinal axis, and secondary axes of the terminal pins connected to the C-shaped inserts/annular springs are aligned parallel to the axis with imaginary extensions of the connector axes extending into the device housing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2023
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2026
    Assignee: Greatbatch Ltd.
    Inventors: Luis Daniel Villamil, Ignacio Agustin Armesto, Hugh D. Hestad
  • Patent number: 12629082
    Abstract: Systems and methods for detecting cardiac arrhythmia are discussed. A medical-device system includes an arrhythmia detector circuit and an event prioritizer circuit. The arrhythmia detector circuit can detect an atrial activation event from a cardiac electrical signal sensed from the patient, and determine an atrial fibrillation (AF) confidence indicator based on a signal characteristic of the atrial activation event. The event prioritizer circuit can generate an event priority for the AF event based on the AF confidence indicator. Multiple AF events may be prioritized in a specific order and presented to a user or a process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2026
    Assignee: Cardiac Pacemakers, Inc.
    Inventors: Deepa Mahajan, David L. Perschbacher, Sunipa Saha, Abhijit Rajan
  • Patent number: 12629537
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a flexible skin patch equipped with an ultra-thin LED assembly that emits light in a specific wavelength range and an invention for manufacturing the same, and is related to an invention capable of providing a flexible skin patch that has the excellent effect of promoting vitamin D production in a localized area of the skin, and has the effect of alleviating or treating local skin psoriasis, fungi, fungal tumors and eczema, and has excellent antiviral effect, and is easy to attach and detach.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2026
    Assignee: KOOKMIN UNIVERSITY INDUSTRY ACADEMY COOPERATION FOUNDATION
    Inventors: Young Rag Do, Min Ji Ko
  • Patent number: 12622586
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for activating a circuit of an implant device. Consistent with one implementation, an implant device is provided with a sensor including a working electrode (WE) and a counter electrode (CE). The sensor may be configured to generate a first current at the CE when the implant device is implanted in a body of a subject. A sensing circuit may also be provided that is electrically coupled to the WE of the sensor. The sensing circuit may be activated based on the first current and utilize the sensor to measure one or more parameters of an individual or other subject.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 2023
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2026
    Assignee: Dexcom, Inc.
    Inventors: Alireza Dastgheib, Johan Vanderhaegen
  • Patent number: 12622588
    Abstract: A system may include a neuromodulator and a processing system. The neuromodulator may be configured to be programmed with a set of more than one program to deliver neuromodulation. The processing system may be configured to: receive sensed data indicative of activity, motion and/or posture of a patient; analyze the activity, motion and/or posture of the patient; and perform a process, based on the analyzed activity, motion and/or posture, for switching from one program in the set of more than one program to another program from the set of more than one program. The process may include automatically implementing the other program from the set of more than one program or suggesting to switch to the other program from the set of more than one program.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2026
    Assignee: Boston Scientific Neuromodulation Corporation
    Inventors: Luca Antonello Annecchino, Matthew Lee McDonald, Que T. Doan, Changfang Zhu, Rosana Esteller
  • Patent number: 12623090
    Abstract: Herein are provided systems, devices, and methods for the treatment of oral and pharyngeal disorders via the stimulation of pharyngeal muscles. Contraction of the pharyngeal muscle cells (9) is induced by activation of at least one ion channel (1) formed in at least one of a muscle cell and a neural cell. The ion channel opens (4) when it is activated by a stimulus (3). This allows ions to flow into (5) and out of (6) the cell, causing muscle contraction. This muscle contraction can be targeted towards specific muscles depending upon the condition to be treated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2026
    Inventors: Lynne Bilston, Peter Burke
  • Patent number: 12616829
    Abstract: A real-time closed-loop electrical stimulation and recording device includes an electrical stimulator, a processor, two or more sample-and-hold protection circuits, and an analog front-end amplifier. The electrical stimulator is connected to a physiological tissue. The processor controls the protection circuits to sample and hold the first voltage of an analog physiological signal from a physiological tissue before the electrical stimulator generates a stimulation signal. The processor controls the protection circuits to block the analog physiological signal after the protection circuits hold the first voltage. The processor controls the protection circuits to sample and hold the second voltage of the analog physiological signal that replace the first voltage from the physiological tissue after the stimulation signal ends. The amplifier amplifies the first voltage or the second voltage to generate a detection signal and transmit the detection signal to the processor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2023
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2026
    Assignee: NATIONAL YANG MING CHIAO TUNG UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Ming-Dou Ker, Chung-Yu Wu, Chi-Wei Huang
  • Patent number: 12605548
    Abstract: Methods and systems for using sensed neural responses for informing aspects of stimulation therapy are disclosed. For example, features of evoked neural responses, such as evoked compound action potentials (ECAPs) can be used for closed-loop feedback control of stimulation parameters. Aspects of the disclosed methods and systems can differentiate between changes in the sensed neural responses that are caused by the environment at stimulating electrodes and changes in the neural responses that are caused by the environment at sensing electrodes. Embodiments determine changes in the morphology of the neural responses, which morphology changes indicate a degree of change in the stimulating environment. Algorithms and systems for assigning and tracking likelihoods for underlying electrode-tissue changes based on sensed neural responses are disclosed. The feedback control modality may be updated based on such likelihoods.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2026
    Assignee: Boston Scientific Neuromodulation Corporation
    Inventors: Tianhe Zhang, Rosana Esteller, Andrew Haddock, Michael Moffitt
  • Patent number: 12605555
    Abstract: A cardiac pacing threshold acquisition method, a pacing control method and apparatus, and a medical device. The acquisition method comprises: in a pacing test phase, using an initial pacing frequency and an initial pacing output to perform pacing on a patient; under the pacing operation, measuring first response information of the ventricle of a patient to the initial pacing frequency; according to whether an R wave is present in the first response information, adjusting pulse voltage amplitude or pulse width of the initial pacing frequency so as to obtain a cardiac pacing threshold corresponding to the patient.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2026
    Assignee: UNITED INNOMED (SHANGHAI) LIMITED
    Inventor: Li Wang