Recovery of visual function through neural stimulation: Key Neurotech Patent #22

neural stimulation

– Illus­tra­tive image from U.S. Patent No. 6,990,377

Today we are shar­ing a very inter­est­ing 2006 patent, assigned to Advanced Neu­ro­mod­u­la­tion Sys­tems, span­ning both inva­sive and non-inva­sive neurotechnologies.

U.S. Patent No. 6,990,377: Sys­tems and meth­ods for facil­i­tat­ing and/or effec­tu­at­ing devel­op­ment, reha­bil­i­ta­tion, restora­tion, and/or recov­ery of visu­al func­tion through neur­al stimulation.

  • Assignee(s): Advanced Neu­ro­mod­u­la­tion Sys­tems, Inc.
  • Inventor(s): Brad­ford E. Glin­er, War­ren D. Sheffield
  • Tech­nol­o­gy Cat­e­go­ry: Hybrid
  • Issue Date: Jan­u­ary 24, 2006

SharpBrains’ Take:

The ‘377 patent dis­clos­es treat­ments com­bin­ing mul­ti­ple neu­rotech­nolo­gies, cou­pling neu­rostim­u­la­tion tech­niques (e.g., elec­tri­cal, mag­net­ic, etc.) with soft­ware-based visu­al train­ing pro­grams. Although some embod­i­ments are explic­it­ly direct­ed towards implantable stim­u­la­tion devices, at least some of the claims do not require implan­ta­tion — mak­ing the patent span both inva­sive and non-inva­sive tech­niques. The five inde­pen­dent claims include, in some instances, ele­ments direct­ed towards both neur­al stim­u­la­tion and visu­al train­ing sys­tems, while in oth­er instances pri­mar­i­ly focus on only neur­al stim­u­la­tion tech­niques applied to spe­cif­ic stim­u­la­tion sites asso­ci­at­ed with a pop­u­la­tion of neu­rons. The inde­pen­dent claim scope, some­times pos­sess­ing only two major lim­i­ta­tions (and hence quite broad), along with the com­bi­na­tion of two com­pli­men­ta­ry but diverse treat­ments modal­i­ties of (1) electrical/ mag­net­ic stim­u­la­tion and (2) com­put­er soft­ware pro­gram appli­ca­tions, are among the fac­tors con­tribut­ing to mak­ing the ‘377 patent a key non-inva­sive neu­rotech patent.

Abstract:

Sys­tem and meth­ods for effec­tu­at­ing and/or facil­i­tat­ing visu­al func­tion in a patient. One embod­i­ment of a sys­tem com­pris­es a neur­al stim­u­la­tion sys­tem and a visu­al train­ing sys­tem. The neur­al stim­u­la­tion sys­tem can include a pulse gen­er­a­tor and a stim­u­lus deliv­ery device cou­pled to the pulse gen­er­a­tor. The stim­u­lus deliv­ery device is con­fig­ured to deliv­er a stim­u­lus to the brain of the patient. The visu­al train­ing sys­tem can include a com­put­er and a dis­play cou­pled to the com­put­er. The com­put­er has a com­put­er oper­a­ble medi­um con­tain­ing instruc­tions to pro­vide a visu­al out­put to the patient via the display.

Illus­tra­tive Claim 1. A sys­tem for effec­tu­at­ing and/or facil­i­tat­ing visu­al func­tion in a patient, comprising:

  • a neur­al stim­u­la­tion sys­tem includ­ing a pulse gen­er­a­tor and a stim­u­lus deliv­ery device cou­pled to the pulse gen­er­a­tor, the stim­u­lus deliv­ery device being con­fig­ured to deliv­er a stim­u­lus to the brain of the patient via a path­way that does not include the cornea; and
  • a visu­al train­ing sys­tem includ­ing a com­put­er and a dis­play cou­pled to the com­put­er, the com­put­er hav­ing a com­put­er oper­a­ble medi­um con­tain­ing instruc­tions to pro­vide a visu­al out­put to the patient via the display.

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.

About SharpBrains

SHARPBRAINS is an independent think-tank and consulting firm providing services at the frontier of applied neuroscience, health, leadership and innovation.
SHARPBRAINS es un think-tank y consultoría independiente proporcionando servicios para la neurociencia aplicada, salud, liderazgo e innovación.

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