Cardiac Science Inc has been granted two additional U.S. patents -- one covering its biphasic waveform technology, the core defibrillation technology embedded in all the Company's Powerheart-brand in-hospital and public access defibrillator (AEDs) products and the second related to the invention of long-term wear defibrillation electrodes applicable to in-hospital bedside and wearable defibrillator products. Cardiac Science now owns a total of 71 issued patents covering a wide variety of defibrillation technologies.
"These are critical patents that cover two areas of product development," said Chief Technology Officer Kenneth F. Olson. "One is a step forward in the technology of biphasic waveform that should lead to a decreased device cost and the other bolsters the intellectual property surrounding long-term wear electrodes and covers many aspects and methods of extending the wear time of electrodes to over a week."
The first patent, No. 6,539,255, is titled "Full-Tilt Exponential Defibrillation Waveform" and was issued on March 25. This covers a new and unique defibrillation waveform that has the potential to dramatically reduce the cost of defibrillation while remaining highly effective. The second patent, No. 6,546,285, is titled "Long-Term Wear Electrodes for Defibrillation System" and was issued on April 8. This patent protects the invention of defibrillation electrodes intended to be worn for extended periods of time and is part of the body of intellectual property surrounding the Company's in-hospital bedside device and wearable defibrillator programs. Methods covered in the patent pertain to extending the wear time of electrodes to over a week and include among other things, the use of segmentation, moveable electrodes, mesh screens, gel compositions, moisturizers, emollients and anti-bacterial agents. The long-term wear electrode technology in Cardiac Science existing patent portfolio and the inventions covered in this patent are not included in the licensing agreement signed last year with wearable defibrillator manufacturer Lifecor Inc.