Computer modeling meets Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS): Key Neurotech Patent #17

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transcranial magnetic stimulation
– Illus­tra­tive image from U.S. Patent No. 6,827,681

This is a very inter­est­ing 2004 patent, assigned to Brain­lab AG,  out­lin­ing a way to use com­put­er mod­el­ing to tar­get brain stimulation.

U.S. Patent No. 6,827,681: Method and device for tran­scra­nial mag­net­ic stimulation.

  • Assignee(s): Brain­lab AG
  • Inventor(s): Phillipp Tan­ner, Andreas Hartlep, Hen­rik Wist, Ker­stin Wen­dicke, Thomas Weyh
  • Tech­nol­o­gy Cat­e­go­ry: Tran­scra­nial Stimulation
  • Issue Date: Decem­ber 7, 2004

SharpBrains’ Take:

The ‘681 patent claims broad cov­er­age over the use of com­put­er mod­el­ing in tar­get­ed brain stim­u­la­tion tech­niques. Two broad claims direct­ed towards stim­u­lat­ing spe­cif­ic brain areas com­pli­ment each oth­er, with one claim recit­ing a lim­i­ta­tion of gen­er­at­ing a sim­u­la­tion mod­el of the induc­tion device and the oth­er claim recit­ing a lim­i­ta­tion of a sim­u­la­tion mod­el of the head. The spec­i­fi­ca­tion is very short (sev­en illus­tra­tion sheets and four pages of writ­ten mate­r­i­al), which may raise ques­tions around ade­quate­ly sup­port claimed sub­ject mat­ter. How­ev­er, the impor­tance of com­put­er-mod­el­ing tech­nolo­gies for improv­ing spa­tial pre­ci­sion in med­ical pro­ce­dures, evi­denced in fields such as robot­ic surgery, along with the broad cov­er­age of the ‘681 patent over such mod­els as they apply to brain stim­u­la­tion tech­niques are among the fac­tors mak­ing the ‘681 patent a key non-inva­sive neu­rotech­nol­o­gy patent.

Abstract:

The inven­tion relates to a method for stim­u­lat­ing spe­cif­ic areas of a brain using an induc­tion device, com­pris­ing the fol­low­ing steps: record­ing the spa­tial struc­ture of the head, in par­tic­u­lar the brain; gen­er­at­ing a sim­u­la­tion mod­el of the induc­tion device; and arrang­ing the induc­tion device rel­a­tive to the head such that a spe­cif­ic area of the brain deter­mined by means of the sim­u­la­tion mod­el of the induc­tion device is stim­u­lat­ed by a cur­rent flow­ing in the induc­tion device, as well as to a method for stim­u­lat­ing spe­cif­ic areas of a brain using an induc­tion device, com­pris­ing the fol­low­ing steps: record­ing the spa­tial struc­ture of the head, in par­tic­u­lar the brain; gen­er­at­ing a sim­u­la­tion mod­el of the head; and arrang­ing the induc­tion device rel­a­tive to the head such that a spe­cif­ic area of the brain deter­mined by means of the sim­u­la­tion mod­el of the head is stim­u­lat­ed by a cur­rent flow­ing in the induc­tion device, as well as to a device for stim­u­lat­ing spe­cif­ic areas of a brain using an induc­tion device con­nect­ed to a marker.

Illus­tra­tive claim 1. A method for stim­u­lat­ing a spe­cif­ic area of a brain using an induc­tion device, com­pris­ing the fol­low­ing steps:

a) record­ing the spa­tial struc­ture of the brain;
b) gen­er­at­ing a sim­u­la­tion mod­el of the induc­tion device; and
c) arrang­ing the induc­tion device rel­a­tive to the head using the sim­u­la­tion mod­el of the induc­tion device, such that a spe­cif­ic area of the brain can be stim­u­lat­ed by a cur­rent flow­ing in the induc­tion device.

To learn more about mar­ket data, trends and lead­ing com­pa­nies in the dig­i­tal brain health space –dig­i­tal plat­forms for brain/ cog­ni­tive assess­ment, mon­i­tor­ing and enhance­ment– check out this mar­ket report. To learn more about our analy­sis of 10,000+ patent fil­ings, check out this IP & inno­va­tion neu­rotech report.