PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 15958715
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-04
Publication Date: 2018-11
Patent Classification: ["623", "017120"]

Abstract:
This specification describes technologies relating to an intervertebral disc prosthesis used to strengthen and stabilize the spine. Implementations of the technology described herein comprise a surgical device that is implanted through a small surgical incision into a portion of a human intervertebral disc, various support tools used to insert such a surgical device, and a method by which the device is used to strengthen and stabilize the spine.

Claim (Index 10):
A method for implanting an intervertebral disc implant to preserve motion between adjacent vertebrae, comprising:\n forming an access opening through an annulus fibrosus by penetrating the annulus fibrous using a first tool; increasing the size of the access opening by intruding a plurality of dilators with successively larger diameters over the first tool, wherein the step of forming the access opening and increasing the size of the access opening are performed without excising any portion of the annulus fibrosus; inserting an access cannula over the sequential dilators until its distal end reaches the distal margins of the annulus fibrosus; removing the plurality of dilators and the first tool from the access cannula; removing a nucleus pulposus through the access cannula and the access opening while leaving the annulus fibrosus substantially intact to create a void defined by the annulus fibrosus; delivering a deflated implant through the access cannula into the void defined by the annulus fibrosus, the implant having an outer chamber forming a periphery of the implant and an inner chamber inside the outer chamber forming a central portion of the implant, wherein the inner and outer chamber are distinct such that substances contained in one chamber cannot pass into the other chamber; inflating the inner chamber; permanently inflating the outer chamber with a curable material so that the implant substantially fills the void defined by the annulus fibrosus; wherein the inner chamber is inflated with a material different than the curable material.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 50.0
- Percentile: 91.0
- Lexical Diversity: 1.63636
- Patent Class: 623.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: False
- Related Applications: ['14536497', '15342161', '15254282', '13831355', '11170588']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.8107701267281994
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.5349556197131916
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.7831886760266986
- Mean Citation Score: 332.682184
- Max Citation Score: 435.43677
- Similarity Product: 338.7055176224524

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

Dataset: test