Implantable Device Cybersecurity Patent Snapshot 2026
The formal patent corpus for implantable device cybersecurity is extremely small, with activity concentrated among a handful of individual inventors and one established neuromodulation company. Filing volume peaked in 2021 and has since eased, signalling a field that remains largely pre-competitive and technically open.
A handful of filers dominate a very thin corpus
The leading filer, Alistair Bruce Kelman, accounts for the largest bloc among the top-ranked applicants, followed by Advanced Neuromodulation Systems Inc and the University of South Florida. The top five filers together account for the entirety of the ranked applicants visible in this query’ combined total, indicating near-total concentration.
The tier gap between the lead filer and the rest is narrow in absolute terms, reflecting the overall thinness of the corpus rather than entrenched dominance by a single organisation. No corporate incumbent has built a defensible moat through volume.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alistair Bruce Kelman | 4 | |
| 2 | Advanced Neuromodulation Systems Inc | 3 | |
| 3 | University of South Florida | 2 | |
| 4 | Mr Prafful Mishra | 1 | |
| 5 | Prof (Dr) Bimal Kumar Mishra | 1 |
The presence of individual inventors and a single university alongside one medical-device company suggests that formal patent strategy in this space is still emergent; institutional players have not yet mobilised at scale.
The most recent filing periods are subject to standard publication lag and may under-represent activity from 2024 onward; conclusions about recent trends should be treated as provisional. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Sparse, episodic filings across a narrow technology band
The annual filing trend and technology composition together reveal a field with limited sustained activity and a technology mix anchored in electrotherapy hardware rather than pure cybersecurity.
Annual filing trend
Filings were absent from 2017 through 2020, produced a small cluster in 2021, then fell back to zero through 2024 before a modest appearance in 2025. The overall trajectory reflects a lifecycle in decline from its 2021 peak; the most recent periods carry publication-lag uncertainty and should not be read as a definitive cessation of activity.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
The visible IPC class is A61N (electrotherapy and radiation therapy), followed by A61B (diagnosis and surgery) and H04L (digital information transmission). The relatively low share of H04L confirms that cybersecurity-specific claims sit at the periphery of the corpus, with most filings framed around the implantable device itself rather than its communication-security architecture.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaHighly cited patent families surfaced by the query
Citation-heavy patent families returned by the query. Use this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents.
System and method for operating an implantable pul…
A system and method for operating an implanted medical device (IMD) based on a waveform player. In one arrangement, the IMD may comprise a first module operative to effectuate a communication interface with an external device for receiving a plurality of program records for storage in a persistent memory, the program records each comprising a plurality of… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Integrated vectorcardiogram system and method of use | 50 |
| 2 | Integrated vectorcardiogram system and method of use | 30 |
| 3 | A secure home telemetry system | 28 |
| 4 | System and method for operating an implantable pul… | 8 |
| 5 | A secure home telemetry system | 3 |
| 6 | A secure home telemetry system | 2 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts favour older and broadly cited patent families, and broad or adjacent patents may appear when they match the search scope. Treat this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents. Some patent titles may be shown in their original, non-English language where an accurate translation could not be guaranteed.
Assignee snapshot from the current evidence set
The applicants below are visible in this query result. Because the evidence set is relatively small, read this section as a directional snapshot rather than a full competitive ranking.
Alistair Bruce Kelman
Kelman holds the largest bloc in the ranking with 4 patent records and spans three technical branches: A61B 5 (diagnosis and surgery), A61N 1 (electrotherapy), and H04L 9 (digital information transmission — the closest proxy to cryptographic security in this corpus). This cross-domain coverage is the broadest of any single filer and includes the secure home telemetry filings that appear among the most-cited works in the corpus. Applicant-level momentum data is not available.
patent records: 4Advanced Neuromodulation Systems Inc
Advanced Neuromodulation Systems Inc holds 3 patent records, all concentrated in A61N 1 (electrotherapy and radiation therapy). The focus is narrower than Kelman’s but reflects a commercially established position in implantable neurostimulation hardware. As a corporate entity rather than an individual inventor, it represents the only filer with an organisational infrastructure to enforce or license rights at scale. Applicant-level momentum data is not available.
patent records: 3Frequently asked questions
The corpus in scope contains 4 patent families. This is a very small corpus, indicating that formal patent activity in this specific intersection of implantable devices and cybersecurity remains nascent.
Alistair Bruce Kelman, an individual inventor, leads the ranking with 4 patent records, followed by Advanced Neuromodulation Systems Inc with 3 patent records and the University of South Florida with 2 patent records.
The field is classified as Decline. Annual filing volume peaked in 2021 and has eased back since. This does not mean the technical problem is resolved; it reflects that large commercial players have not yet filed at scale in this specific intersection.
Patent records are present in three jurisdictions: the United States (the most active), the United Kingdom, and India. Major medtech markets including the EU, Japan, and China have no recorded filings in this corpus.
A61N (electrotherapy and radiation therapy) is the visible branch by record count, followed by A61B (diagnosis and surgery) and H04L (digital information transmission). H04L is the branch most directly associated with communication security, yet it holds a relatively low share, suggesting cybersecurity-specific claims are under-represented.
No co-applicant filings are detected in this corpus. All identified filers appear to have filed independently, which is unusual for a topic that spans medical engineering, wireless communications, and cryptography — domains that typically attract consortium-based IP development.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
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