Patents by Inventor Eric Pierce

Eric Pierce 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: 12383395
    Abstract: A prosthesis includes a frame and a skirt coupled to a surface of the frame. The skirt extends over at least one side opening of a plurality of side openings of the frame. The prosthesis also includes a skirt-reinforcement member that spans the at least one side opening from a first crown or strut edge defining the at least one side opening to a second crown or strut edge defining the at least one side opening. The skirt-reinforcement member has a first end, a second end, and a length therebetween. The first end of the skirt-reinforcement member is attached to the first crown or strut edge and the second end of the skirt-reinforcement member is attached to the second crown or strut edge. The skirt-reinforcement member is attached to the skirt along an unsupported portion of the skirt that spans the at least one side opening.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 23, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2025
    Assignee: MEDTRONIC, INC.
    Inventors: Yogesh Darekar, Brenda McIntire, Eric Pierce
  • Publication number: 20250064613
    Abstract: A skirt-reinforcement member for supporting or reinforcing an unsupported portion of a skirt that spans across a side opening of a stent or frame of a valve prosthesis. The skirt-reinforcement member is configured to prevent billowing of the skirt material that spans across the side opening of the inner frame of the valve prosthesis, as such billowing may undesirably result in contact between the skirt and leaflets of the valve prosthesis after the valve prosthesis is deployed in situ.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 15, 2024
    Publication date: February 27, 2025
    Inventors: Yogesh DAREKAR, Brenda MCINTIRE, Eric PIERCE
  • Publication number: 20250018249
    Abstract: A flotation apparatus includes an elongate, buoyant body having first and second opposite, longitudinal ends and a hollow core defining a passageway extending between the first and second ends; and a first plug entirely located within the hollow core proximate the first longitudinal end and a second plug entirely located within the hollow core proximate the second longitudinal end. The first and second plugs are configured to prevent bugs, mice, and snakes from entering the passageway extending between the first and second plugs. Each of the first and second plugs defines openings therein for venting moisture from the passageway extending between and enclosed by the first and second plugs. The first and second plugs engage in a frictional fit with a wall of the passageway defined by the hollow core and do not protrude out of the passageway. The flotation apparatus preferably is a pool noodle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 12, 2024
    Publication date: January 16, 2025
    Inventor: Eric Pierce
  • Patent number: 12171678
    Abstract: A skirt-reinforcement member for supporting or reinforcing an unsupported portion of a skirt that spans across a side opening of a stent or frame of a valve prosthesis. The skirt-reinforcement member is configured to prevent billowing of the skirt material that spans across the side opening of the inner frame of the valve prosthesis, as such billowing may undesirably result in contact between the skirt and leaflets of the valve prosthesis after the valve prosthesis is deployed in situ.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 24, 2024
    Assignee: MEDTRONIC, INC.
    Inventors: Yogesh Darekar, Brenda McIntire, Eric Pierce
  • Publication number: 20240252313
    Abstract: Composite skirts for a stent or frame of a valve prosthesis are configured to prevent billowing of the skirt material that spans across the side openings of the frame of the valve prosthesis, as such billowing may undesirably result in contact between the skirt and leaflets of the valve prosthesis after the valve prosthesis is deployed in situ. In a first embodiment, a composite skirt is formed by alternating first and second segments of a first stiffness and a second stiffness, respectively, that alternate in a circumferential direction. The second stiffness is higher than the first stiffness. Each segment of the alternating first and second segments extends in an axial direction for substantially an entire length of the composite skirt. In a second embodiment, a multi-layer skirt is formed by a porous fabric material and a thin polymeric coating covering the fabric material.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 12, 2022
    Publication date: August 1, 2024
    Inventors: Yogesh DAREKAR, Brenda MCINTIRE, Eric PIERCE
  • Publication number: 20240216137
    Abstract: A transcatheter heart valve prosthesis includes an annular stent, a valve structure including a plurality of leaflets positioned within and coupled to the stent, an inner skirt coupled to an interior surface of the stent, an exterior skirt coupled to an exterior surface of the stent, and a radiopaque marker is secured between the interior skirt and the exterior skirt.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 18, 2024
    Publication date: July 4, 2024
    Inventors: Frank Harewood, Taylor Winters, Evelyn Birmingham, Sara Saul, Victor Kimball, Eric Pierce, Radhika Bhargav, Jeffrey Sandstrom, Caitlin Dorff
  • Patent number: 11969343
    Abstract: Methods for rotationally aligning transcatheter heart valve prosthesis within a native heart valve include percutaneously delivering the transcatheter heart valve prosthesis to the native heart valve, wherein the transcatheter heart valve prosthesis includes at least one imaging marker, receiving a cusp overlap viewing angle image and/or a coronary overlap viewing angle image of the transcatheter heart valve prosthesis within the native heart valve, determining, based on the cusp overlap viewing angle image and/or the coronary overlap viewing angle image and the at least one imaging marker, whether the transcatheter heart valve prosthesis is in a desired rotational orientation, if the at least one imaging marker in the cusp overlap viewing angle image and/or the coronary overlap viewing angle indicates that the transcatheter heart valve prosthesis is not in the desired rotational orientation, rotating the transcatheter heart valve prosthesis until the transcatheter heart valve prosthesis is in the desired rot
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2024
    Assignee: Medtronic, Inc.
    Inventors: Frank Harewood, Taylor Winters, Evelyn Birmingham, Sara Saul, Victor Kimball, Eric Pierce, Radhika Bhargav, Jeffrey Sandstrom, Caitlin Dorff
  • Publication number: 20230200991
    Abstract: An example medical system includes a medical device configured to join the edges of the leaflets together, an elongate body configured to be navigated through vasculature to a heart valve of patient, and a plurality of tissue engagement devices extending from a distal end of the elongate body, each tissue engagement device comprising at least one clamp configured to capture leaflets of the heart valve.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 17, 2023
    Publication date: June 29, 2023
    Inventors: Michael Gloss, Caitlin Dorff, Fatemeh Fatemi Far, Emily Grimm, Matthew E. Genovese, Olivia Metcalf, Karan Punga, Eric Pierce
  • Patent number: 11583401
    Abstract: An example medical system includes a medical device configured to join the edges of the leaflets together, an elongate body configured to be navigated through vasculature to a heart valve of patient, and a plurality of tissue engagement devices extending from a distal end of the elongate body, each tissue engagement device comprising at least one clamp configured to capture leaflets of the heart valve.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2023
    Assignee: MEDTRONIC VASCULAR, INC.
    Inventors: Michael Gloss, Caitlin Dorff, Fatemeh Fatemi Far, Emily Grimm, Matthew E. Genovese, Olivia Metcalf, Karan Punga, Eric Pierce
  • Publication number: 20220265450
    Abstract: A skirt-reinforcement member for supporting or reinforcing an unsupported portion of a skirt that spans across a side opening of a stent or frame of a valve prosthesis. The skirt-reinforcement member is configured to prevent billowing of the skirt material that spans across the side opening of the inner frame of the valve prosthesis, as such billowing may undesirably result in contact between the skirt and leaflets of the valve prosthesis after the valve prosthesis is deployed in situ.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 2, 2022
    Publication date: August 25, 2022
    Inventors: Yogesh DAREKAR, Brenda MCINTIRE, Eric PIERCE
  • Publication number: 20220192823
    Abstract: A prosthesis includes a frame and a skirt coupled to a surface of the frame. The skirt extends over at least one side opening of a plurality of side openings of the frame. The prosthesis also includes a skirt-reinforcement member that spans the at least one side opening from a first crown or strut edge defining the at least one side opening to a second crown or strut edge defining the at least one side opening. The skirt-reinforcement member has a first end, a second end, and a length therebetween. The first end of the skirt-reinforcement member is attached to the first crown or strut edge and the second end of the skirt-reinforcement member is attached to the second crown or strut edge. The skirt-reinforcement member is attached to the skirt along an unsupported portion of the skirt that spans the at least one side opening.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 23, 2021
    Publication date: June 23, 2022
    Inventors: Yogesh DAREKAR, Brenda MCINTIRE, Eric PIERCE
  • Publication number: 20220175524
    Abstract: Methods for rotationally aligning transcatheter heart valve prosthesis within a native heart valve include percutaneously delivering the transcatheter heart valve prosthesis to the native heart valve, wherein the transcatheter heart valve prosthesis includes at least one imaging marker, receiving a cusp overlap viewing angle image and/or a coronary overlap viewing angle image of the transcatheter heart valve prosthesis within the native heart valve, determining, based on the cusp overlap viewing angle image and/or the coronary overlap viewing angle image and the at least one imaging marker, whether the transcatheter heart valve prosthesis is in a desired rotational orientation, if the at least one imaging marker in the cusp overlap viewing angle image and/or the coronary overlap viewing angle indicates that the transcatheter heart valve prosthesis is not in the desired rotational orientation, rotating the transcatheter heart valve prosthesis until the transcatheter heart valve prosthesis is in the desired rot
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 6, 2021
    Publication date: June 9, 2022
    Inventors: Frank Harewood, Taylor Winters, Evelyn Birmingham, Sara Saul, Victor Kimball, Eric Pierce, Radhika Bhargava, Jeffrey Sandstrom, Caitlin Dorff
  • Publication number: 20200188107
    Abstract: An example medical system includes a medical device configured to join the edges of the leaflets together, an elongate body configured to be navigated through vasculature to a heart valve of patient, and a plurality of tissue engagement devices extending from a distal end of the elongate body, each tissue engagement device comprising at least one clamp configured to capture leaflets of the heart valve.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 11, 2019
    Publication date: June 18, 2020
    Inventors: Michael Gloss, Caitlin Dorff, Fatemeh Fatemi Far, Emily Grimm, Matthew E. Genovese, Olivia Metcalf, Karan Punga, Eric Pierce
  • Patent number: 9523967
    Abstract: Data comprising a request specifying a desired change in electrical load for a defined period of time is received. The electrical load is associated with a plurality of resources under control of resource agents and on a utility grid. Available capacity of resources within the control of each resource agent over the defined period of time is determined. Each available capacity is determined at least using a resource load model. Using the determined available capacity of resources over the defined period of time, resource scheduling instructions are calculated for a subset of resources. The resource scheduling instructions satisfy the desired change in electrical load of the request. Data characterizing the resource scheduling instructions is provided. Related systems, apparatus, methods, and articles are also described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: INNOVARI, INC.
    Inventors: Loran Friedrich, Eric Pierce, Jason Hill, James Tillett, David Walden, Laura V. Raymond, Chris Hickman, Phong Do
  • Publication number: 20160363950
    Abstract: The subject matter described herein relates to the organized measurement, dispatch and/or control of disparate and distributed resources along the length of and at the ends of the electrical grid. Related systems, apparatus, methods, and articles are also described.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 14, 2016
    Publication date: December 15, 2016
    Inventors: Loran Friedrich, David Walden, Chris Hickman, Robin Jensen Lunt, Jason Hill, Eric Pierce, Nathan Ronald Ortega, Phong Do, James Tillett
  • Patent number: 9454141
    Abstract: Systems are described that provide monitoring for control, measurement and verification of demand side management resources. Control units deployed among customer or utility premises can monitor capacity as real or reactive power that is consumed, generated or stored by resources and, in some cases, selectively alter the load consumed or energy delivered by some or all of such resources derived from load capacity and dispatch models. Related apparatus, systems, techniques and articles are also described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2016
    Assignee: INNOVARI, INC.
    Inventors: Loran Friedrich, David Walden, Chris Hickman, Laura V. Raymond, James Tillett, Eric Pierce, John Whalen
  • Publication number: 20150355650
    Abstract: Systems are described that provide monitoring for control, measurement and verification of demand side management resources. Control units deployed among customer or utility premises can monitor capacity as real or reactive power that is consumed, generated or stored by resources and, in some cases, selectively alter the load consumed or energy delivered by some or all of such resources derived from load capacity and dispatch models. Related apparatus, systems, techniques and articles are also described.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 4, 2015
    Publication date: December 10, 2015
    Inventors: Loran Friedrich, David Walden, Chris Hickman, Laura V. Raymond, James Tillett, Eric Pierce, John Whalen
  • Patent number: 8892634
    Abstract: A web server receives from different client applications HTTP requests for the same webpage in which video content is to be embedded. The web server provides to each of the client applications an HTTP response to the HTTP request. The HTML or XHTML text included in the response references the video content solely in a manner that is specific to a single video player. The HTML or XHTML text returned in a response to a request may be different for different client applications, even though the different client applications all requested the same webpage or portion of webpage. The video file referenced by the HTML or XHTML text returned in a response may be different for different client applications, even though the video files encode the same video content.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 18, 2014
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Eric Pierce, Mahua Chaudhuri, Parag Dharap
  • Publication number: 20140222238
    Abstract: Data comprising a request specifying a desired change in electrical load for a defined period of time is received. The electrical load is associated with a plurality of resources under control of resource agents and on a utility grid. Available capacity of resources within the control of each resource agent over the defined period of time is determined. Each available capacity is determined at least using a resource load model. Using the determined available capacity of resources over the defined period of time, resource scheduling instructions are calculated for a subset of resources. The resource scheduling instructions satisfy the desired change in electrical load of the request. Data characterizing the resource scheduling instructions is provided. Related systems, apparatus, methods, and articles are also described.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 14, 2014
    Publication date: August 7, 2014
    Applicant: INNOVARI, INC.
    Inventors: Loran Friedrich, Eric Pierce, Jason Hill, James Tillett, David Walden, Laura V. Raymond, Chris Hickman, Phong Do
  • Patent number: 8761953
    Abstract: Data comprising a request specifying a desired change in electrical load for a defined period of time is received. The electrical load is associated with a plurality of resources under control of resource agents and on a utility grid. Available capacity of resources within the control of each resource agent over the defined period of time is determined. Each available capacity is determined at least using a resource load model. Using the determined available capacity of resources over the defined period of time, resource scheduling instructions are calculated for a subset of resources. The resource scheduling instructions satisfy the desired change in electrical load of the request. Data characterizing the resource scheduling instructions is provided. Related systems, apparatus, methods, and articles are also described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 24, 2014
    Assignee: Innovari, Inc.
    Inventors: Loran Friedrich, Eric Pierce, Jason Hill, James Tillett, Dave Walden, Laura Raymond, Chris Hickman, Phong Do