Pacemaker Hermeticity & Device QC Patent Snapshot
The pacemaker hermeticity and device QC patent corpus is a highly concentrated niche: a small set of filers dominate, with ST Jude Medical AB and Onward Medical accounting for the bulk of activity. Filing volume peaked in 2020 and has since eased, signalling a mature or declining innovation phase in this specific sub-domain.
ST Jude Medical AB and Onward Medical co-lead a tightly held niche
ST Jude Medical AB and Onward Medical NV jointly top the applicant ranking, each with 4 patent records, followed at a distance by individual inventor Bisping Hans Jurgen with 1 patent record. The top five filers account for the entire combined total of the ranked applicants visible in this query, reflecting an unusually tight visible assignee structure.
There is effectively no second tier: the corpus is so compact that a single new entrant with a modest filing programme could materially shift the concentration picture. The gap between the leading pair and all others is immediate and steep.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ST Jude Medical AB | 4 | |
| 2 | Onward Medical NV | 4 | |
| 3 | Bisping Hans Jurgen | 1 |
The shared leadership position of ST Jude Medical AB and Onward Medical NV suggests that established cardiac-device specialists, rather than platform-technology companies, are the primary architects of this IP space. Siemens appears only as a minor co-filer, underscoring that industrial electronics players have not prioritised this sub-domain.
Patent publication typically lags filing by 18–24 months; any apparent absence of recent activity should be interpreted with that delay in mind. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
A 2020 activity peak, dominant electrotherapy classification, and a sparse connector branch
The filing timeline reveals a discrete burst of activity centred on 2020, while the technology composition chart highlights how heavily this niche clusters around electrotherapy and implantable-device standards.
Annual filing trend
Activity was negligible before 2019, rose to its highest single-year level in 2020 with 3 filings, then returned to zero across subsequent recorded years. Given the 18–24 month publication lag, very recent filings may not yet appear; the trend should be read as past-peak rather than definitively dormant.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
Class A61N (electrotherapy and radiation therapy) is visible in with 10 patent records, followed by A61B (diagnosis and surgery) with 4. H01R (connectors and current collectors) represents just 1 patent record — the most under-populated branch in the corpus — pointing to limited coverage of the connector and seal interfaces that are central to hermetic packaging.
↗ 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.
ANTENNE FÜR EINEN IMPLANTIERBAREN IMPULSGENERATOR
An antenna (10) for an implantable pulse generator (IPG), the antenna (10) being configured for resonant inductive wireless power transfer and/or near field magnetic induction communication, the antenna (10) comprising at least two sets (12a, 12b) each comprising several windings (14a, 14b). Furthermore, the present invention relates to an implantable pulse… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Implantable blood oxygen sensor and method of use | 49 |
| 2 | Systems and methods for pacemaker programming | 38 |
| 3 | Test cable arrangement | 8 |
| 4 | Implantable blood oxygen sensor and use thereof | 8 |
| 5 | Antenna for An Implantable Pulse Generator | 3 |
| 6 | Antenna for an implantable pulse generator | 2 |
| 7 | Antenna for an implantable pulse generator | 1 |
| 8 | Antenna for an implantable pulse generator | 1 |
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.
ST Jude Medical AB
ST Jude Medical AB holds 4 patent records and is the only applicant active across both A61B 5 (diagnosis and surgery) and A61N 1 (electrotherapy), with 4 records in each class. This dual-class presence suggests a broader systems-level approach spanning device diagnostics and stimulation therapy — consistent with a full-platform cardiac device strategy. It is also the sole entity with a recorded co-filing partnership (with Siemens). Applicant momentum data is evidence pending.
patent records: 4Onward Medical NV
Onward Medical NV matches ST Jude Medical AB with 4 patent records, all concentrated in A61N 1 (electrotherapy and radiation therapy). This single-class focus reflects Onward Medical’s specialist positioning in neurostimulation and implantable pulse therapy rather than broader diagnostic systems. The narrower IPC profile may indicate a more targeted IP strategy, potentially leaving diagnostic and connector-related angles as differentiation opportunities for new entrants. Applicant momentum data is evidence pending.
patent records: 4Frequently asked questions
The current evidence covers 4 patent families in scope for this specific niche. This is a narrow corpus, and users should treat it as a focused sub-domain rather than a comprehensive view of all implantable cardiac device IP.
ST Jude Medical AB and Onward Medical NV jointly lead with 4 patent records each, followed by individual inventor Bisping Hans Jurgen with 1 patent record. The top five filers account for the entire combined total of the ranked applicants visible in this query.
The evidence places this niche in a Decline stage. Annual filings peaked in 2020 and have eased back since, suggesting that the primary wave of foundational IP activity in this sub-domain has passed.
Europe (EPO) is the leading jurisdiction with 5 patent records, followed by the United States with 4 and Japan with 1. EPO and US clearance are the priority considerations for any freedom-to-operate or market-entry analysis.
The evidence records one co-applicant relationship: ST Jude Medical AB and Siemens filed one patent record jointly. No other co-filing relationships are present, indicating that cross-industry collaboration is limited in this niche.
H01R (connectors and current collectors) has only 1 patent record, representing 7% of the corpus — the sparsest branch in the evidence. This is noteworthy given the technical importance of hermetic connectors and feedthroughs in implantable devices. Test-method classifications (such as G01) do not appear in the current corpus at all, which may represent a genuine gap or an artefact of the narrow search scope.
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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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