PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 16049737
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-07
Publication Date: 2018-12
Patent Classification: ["600", "374000"]

Abstract:
A catheter has a multifunctional “virtual” tip electrode with a porous substrate and a multitude of surface microelectrodes. The surface microelectrodes are in close proximity to each other and in a variety of configurations so as to sense tissue for highly localized intracardiac signal detection, and high density local electrograms and mapping. The porous substrate allows for flow of conductive fluid for ablating tissue. The surface microelectrodes can be formed via a metallization process that allows for any shape or size and close proximity, and the fluid “weeping” from the porous substrate provides more uniform irrigation in the form of a thin layer of saline. The delivery of RF power to the catheter tip is based on the principle of “virtual electrode,” where the conductive saline flowing through the porous tip acts as the electrical connection between the tip electrode and the heart surface. The substrate and the surface electrodes are constructed of MRI compatible materials so that the physician can conduct lesion assessment in real time during an ablation procedure. The surface electrodes include noble metals, including, for example, platinum, gold and combinations thereof.

Claim (Index 11):
A catheter comprising:\n an elongated catheter body; a distal electrode member comprising:\n a porous substrate having an interior chamber adapted to receive conductive fluid, \n a plurality of distal surface electrodes arranged on an outer surface of the porous substrate, and \n a plurality of proximal surface electrodes arranged on the porous substrate proximal of the plurality of distal surface electrodes, the plurality of proximal surface electrodes being axially offset from the plurality of distal surface electrodes; \n a plurality of proximal lead traces, each of the plurality of proximal lead traces being connected to a respective one of the plurality of proximal surface electrodes; a plurality of distal lead traces, each of the plurality of distal lead traces being connected to a respective one of the plurality of distal surface electrodes, at least one of the plurality of distal lead traces having a portion extending between two adjacent ones of the plurality of proximal surface electrodes; and a lead wire having a distal portion extending into the interior chamber, the lead wire configured to electrify the conductive fluid in the chamber, wherein the porous substrate is configured to pass the conductive fluid from the chamber to the outer surface of the porous substrate.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 50.0
- Percentile: 95.0
- Lexical Diversity: 1.84685
- Patent Class: 600.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: False
- Related Applications: ['14586907', '10820480', '15296013', '15664652', '13430530']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.4671792615393405
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.5665080054612811
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.4771121359315345
- Mean Citation Score: 331.157848
- Max Citation Score: 457.46472
- Similarity Product: 413.1407576378632

Labels:
- Claim Label 101: 1
- Claim Label 102: 1
- Claim Label 103: 1
- Claim Label 112: 0
- Combined Label: 1
- Label 101 Adjusted: 1

Dataset: test