Implantable Pulse Generator Patents: Who Leads, Trends 2026
- 64.2% concentration. The top 5 of 100 ranked assignees hold 7,096 of the 11,053 records in scope — a field where claim space is already occupied at the top, not evenly spread.
- Filings cooled through the last complete year. 2021 to 2024 filings fell from 394 to 285, a 28% drop over that span; treat 2025-2026 as still filling in given the usual publication lag.
- Recharging and packaging carry the citation weight. The most-cited record in the set is a rechargeable spinal cord stimulator system cited 3,874 times, with a second filing from the same family close behind.
Filing growth compares 2021 (394 records) with 2024 (285) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 11,053 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks patent families combining implantable pulse generator and neurostimulator device language with claims touching rechargeable battery systems, hermetic packaging, telemetry links, device longevity, MRI-conditional design, or current-source output stages. The scope spans 2015 through the mid-2026 data cut-off, capturing both the mature spinal cord stimulation lineage and newer sacral, vagal and cardiac rhythm device filings that share the same generator architecture.
The 11,053 records in scope sit overwhelmingly inside electrotherapy classification, with meaningful overlap into surgical devices, power supply systems and connector hardware — a sign that generator design claims are rarely filed in isolation from the delivery lead, the charging coil, or the software that manages therapy parameters.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 11,053-record set: how filing activity moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the claims actually sit in.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Filings peaked in 2018 at 686 before declining; the last complete year, 2024, sat at 285 — down from 394 in 2021, a 28% fall over that three-year span. The 2025 and 2026 figures (19 in the most recent year) are undercounted because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, not because filing has stopped.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
Electrotherapy and radiation therapy (A61N) covers 91.2% of the 11,053 records, confirming this is a tightly defined generator-design corpus rather than a broad implant category. Diagnosis and surgery (A61B) claims run alongside 19.6% of records, power supply systems (H02J) touch 3.2%, and connector hardware (H01R) appears in 2.1% — each class can appear on the same record as another, so shares sum above 100%.
Shares are the percentage of the 11,053 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Implantable Pulse Generator Design with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about implantable pulse generator design and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaKey patents shaping the field
US20070060980A1 — Implantable pulse generator systems and methods for functional and therapeutic stimulation
Filed by Medtronic Urinary Solutions, this record describes a stimulation system pairing an implantable pulse generator with a subcutaneously implanted lead, an external controller with wireless telemetry, and a charging coil that transcutaneously recharges the generator's rechargeable battery. The generator transmits status information back to the controller over the same telemetry link, closing the loop between device and external management hardware.Filed 2007-03-15 — illustrates the recharge-plus-telemetry architecture that recurs across the corpus's most-cited records.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6516227B1 | Rechargeable spinal cord stimulator system | 3,874 |
| 2 | US6895280B2 | Rechargeable spinal cord stimulator system | 1,670 |
| 3 | US20070010702A1 | Medical device with low magnetic susceptibility | 1,510 |
| 4 | US6609032B1 | Fitting process for a neural stimulation system | 1,310 |
| 5 | US5752976A | World wide patient location and data telemetry system for implantable medical devices | 1,274 |
| 6 | US6023641A | Power consumption reduction in medical devices employing multiple digital signal processors | 1,159 |
| 7 | US6393325B1 | Directional programming for implantable electrode arrays | 1,119 |
| 8 | US20050115561A1 | Patient monitoring, diagnosis, and/or therapy systems and methods | 1,106 |
| 9 | US5861019A | Implantable medical device microstrip telemetry antenna | 1,074 |
| 10 | US6381496B1 | Parameter context switching for an implanted device | 1,029 |
Citation counts favour older filings simply because they have had longer to accumulate references — read this as a map of foundational influence, not of which claims are commercially active today.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three cuts of the same dataset that matter for a filing or freedom-to-operate decision.
Claim space is occupied at the top
Just five of the 100 ranked assignees account for 7,096 of the 11,053 records in scope. Extending to ten assignees adds only another 935 records, reaching 72.7% — the long tail past the top ten is thin rather than absent.
Filing activity has cooled from its peak
The corpus peaked in 2018 at 686 filings and has trended down through the last complete data year. Recent-year figures per assignee show steep year-over-year drops across several leaders, though 2025-2026 counts are still incomplete due to publication lag.
Recharge architecture anchors the citation graph
The most-cited record and its closest follower both describe rechargeable spinal cord stimulator systems, together drawing well over 5,000 citations. A third heavily-cited record addresses low magnetic susceptibility, pointing to MRI-conditional design as a second citation anchor.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to implantable pulse generator design, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| Medtronic Inc | OSORIO IVAN | 25 |
| Medtronic Inc | FREI MARK G | 25 |
| Medtronic Inc | CARLSON DAVID L | 25 |
| Medtronic Inc | WERDER JONATHAN C | 16 |
| Boston Scientific Neuromodulation Corp | BRADLEY KERRY | 14 |
| Boston Scientific Neuromodulation Corp | BARKER JOHN MICHAEL | 14 |
| Medtronic Inc | PANKEN ERIC J | 14 |
| Medtronic Inc | GIFTAKIS JONATHON E | 14 |
Ten co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, with the strongest links pairing Medtronic's corporate entity with named individual inventors at 25 shared records each — a pattern consistent with inventor-led continuation filings inside a single large assignee rather than cross-company collaboration.
Who holds the ranked positions
The ranking covers 100 assignees by record count. Position at the top is stable and concentrated; the recent-year momentum figures show that stability is not the same as continued growth.
A single assignee dominates the ranking
The top-ranked assignee holds 4,083 of the 11,053 records in scope, well ahead of fifth place at 390 and tenth place at 95 — the drop-off from first to fifth is steep even before the long tail begins.
Even leaders are filing less in the most recent year
Every one of the leading assignees tracked for recent-year momentum shows a year-over-year decline, several exceeding -90%. Given publication lag, part of this is an artefact of incomplete recent data rather than a genuine halt in R&D activity.
Filing is US-centred with strong PCT and EPO use
The United States receives the largest share of filings at 5,336 records, followed by Europe (EPO) at 1,744 and WIPO/PCT at 1,224. Germany and Australia each carry meaningful volume, indicating deliberate multi-jurisdiction strategies among the leading assignees rather than US-only filing.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Boston Scientific Neuromodulation Corp | 5 | -90% |
| Nevro Corp | 2 | -88% |
| Medtronic Inc | 1 | -83% |
| ADVANCED NEUROMODULATION SYSTEMS INC | 1 | -95% |
| Cardiac Pacemakers Inc | 0 | — |
| Axonics Inc | 0 | -100% |
| Greatbatch Ltd | 0 | — |
| Advanced Bionics Corp | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The ranking and trend charts establish the shape of the field. The next questions are specific to a given claim strategy or freedom-to-operate need.
Map a specific claim against the leader's portfolio
With one assignee holding 4,083 of 11,053 records, a freedom-to-operate check for any recharge or telemetry claim should start against that single portfolio before broadening.
Explore assignee portfolios in EurekaTrack the under-claimed branches before they fill in
Sub-areas like current-source output calibration and hermetic feedthrough design carry far fewer records than the core electrotherapy class — a narrower window for a defensible first claim.
Run a white space search in EurekaWatch the 2025-2026 filings as they publish
The last complete year, 2024, sat at 285 filings; the true 2025-2026 count will only become clear as the 18-month publication lag resolves.
Set up filing alerts in EurekaCommon questions on implantable pulse generator patents
One assignee leads the ranking with 4,083 of the 11,053 records in scope, well clear of the field. The top five assignees together hold 7,096 records, 64.2% of all records in scope, and the top ten hold 72.7%. Beyond tenth place the ranking thins into a long tail of assignees with far smaller counts, so a competitive read of this space needs to focus on the concentrated top rather than the full 100-assignee ranking.
Filings peaked in 2018 at 686 and have declined since; from 2021 to 2024, the last year with reasonably complete data, filings fell from 394 to 285, a 28% drop. Figures for 2025 and 2026 look much lower still, but that reflects the roughly 18-month lag between filing and publication rather than a real collapse in R&D activity. Treat any conclusion about the very latest years with caution until more data publishes.
Electrotherapy and radiation therapy classification (A61N) covers 91.2% of the 11,053 records in scope, confirming this is a tightly bounded generator-design corpus. Diagnosis and surgery claims (A61B) appear alongside 19.6% of records, and smaller but notable overlaps exist with power supply systems (H02J, 3.2%) and connector hardware (H01R, 2.1%). Because a single record can carry multiple IPC classes, these shares add up to more than 100% and should be read as overlap patterns, not a strict breakdown.
This Medtronic Urinary Solutions filing describes an implantable pulse generator paired with a subcutaneously implanted lead, an external controller with wireless telemetry, and a charging coil that transcutaneously recharges the generator's battery. The pulse generator also transmits status data back to the controller over the same telemetry link. It is a representative architecture claim covering the combination of rechargeable power, telemetry and external control rather than a narrow component-level claim, which is why it is useful as a reference point for scoping around recharge-and-telemetry designs.
Sub-areas such as current-source output stage calibration, hermetic feedthrough connector design, MRI-conditional shielding, and battery longevity telemetry reporting carry far fewer records than the dominant electrotherapy classification that covers 91.2% of the dataset. These branches sit adjacent to the core generator claims but are not saturated the way recharge and telemetry claims are. A first claim in one of these narrower branches has a better chance of clearing prior art than a claim filed squarely inside the crowded recharge-plus-telemetry combination.
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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.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.