RIVANNA crosses 100-patent threshold: estate protects shared platform spanning multiple FDA-cleared product lines
100+ patents across 20+ families, accelerating at 30% year-over-year growth
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Sept. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- RIVANNA®, developer of AI-enabled clinical decision-support solutions, today announced its 100th patent filing: an AI-powered ultrasound pathology detection pipeline protecting the company's automated computer-aided diagnosis features (CADe/x) on the Accuro® XV platform. The filing marks fifteen years of continuous innovation and reinforces RIVANNA's intellectual property estate as a vertically integrated, AI-enabled platform with FDA-cleared product lines serving multiple clinical markets.
The filing, U.S. patent application #64/080,862, describes a computer-aided detection algorithm for automated pathology identification from volumetric ultrasound imaging acquired by the Accuro XV platform that is advancing toward FDA clearance. The filing is structured as a foundational application designed to support multiple downstream continuation filings, extending claim coverage as RIVANNA advances the AI platform.
RIVANNA's portfolio spans 100+ active issued and pending patents across more than 20 patent families, growing approximately 30% year over year, with strategic continuation depth and coverage across the United States, Europe, Japan, and China. All filings are owned or exclusively controlled by RIVANNA. Claims protect the full technology stack: AI and machine learning, cloud-based analytics infrastructure, robotics and automation, image processing and workflow, and hardware and interfaces.
Inside the 100th filing
The 100th filing describes a broad AI-enabled ultrasound pathology detection platform: a unified diagnostic pipeline connecting image acquisition, image enhancement, multi-level (frame, scan, and subject) decision assistance, and adaptive workflow control. The filing is positioned around automated fracture and fracture-associated pathology detection; the architecture is intentionally broad, with applicability across musculoskeletal, cardiac, lung, obstetric, and other imaging workflows and image modalities.
A key innovation is use of custom multi-channel ultrasound inputs with proprietary feature enhancement based on RIVANNA's BoneEnhance® algorithm to improve image visibility and provide structural context to downstream AI detectors. The filing also covers higher-level AI decision layers that incorporate detections across frames, scans, and anatomical views, incorporating clinical metadata and view coverage to support different clinical objectives, from rule-out screening to rule-in confirmation.
The family extends beyond pathology detection and into workflow optimization. Adaptive scan ordering and early stopping can reduce the number of required views while maintaining or improving diagnostic performance. The filing also claims self-supervised ultrasound pretraining approaches that leverage large unlabeled datasets, potentially reducing dependence on manual annotation and strengthening the foundation for scalable AI development across future ultrasound applications.
A moat built across hardware, AI, and data
RIVANNA's patent strategy protects integrated workflows, not isolated algorithms. The estate covers proprietary imaging hardware (custom beamformer, volumetric imaging probe architecture, probe-patient interface); the AI that interprets it (BoneEnhance anatomy segmentation, CADe/x automated fracture identification, automated spine recognition technology underlying SpineNav-AI™); and the procedural infrastructure that surrounds both (SafeTrack™ instrument tracking, acquisition standardization, quality control). Integrated imaging hardware, acquisition standardization, clinical datasets, and AI models all operate within a unified, protected architecture.
The estate is reinforced by proprietary know-how in signal processing, quality control, and acquisition standardization, and one of the largest private musculoskeletal (MSK) ultrasound datasets, sourced from eight-plus clinical sites across the company's multi-site clinical network. Freedom-to-operate diligence has been completed across key feature sets.
Capital-efficient expansion: shared IP across clinical markets
The patent estate is engineered for shared R&D investment across multiple clinical applications. Foundational families protect the AI and 3D ultrasound architecture that powers two FDA-cleared product lines serving distinct markets: Accuro® 3S, FDA cleared for guidance for needle or catheter placement; and Accuro XV, FDA cleared for musculoskeletal imaging. Each new clinical indication extends the platform without rebuilding the foundation. The 100th filing's claim scope is designed to support additional applications as RIVANNA expands the platform. One IP estate, multiple commercial outputs: shared foundational claims, distinct market-entry strategies.
Clinical traction
The Accuro XV multi-site clinical study expanded from two to eight academic medical centers in four months, with ten systems deployed and 1,800+ patients enrolled. A peer-reviewed multicenter study published in the Journal of Emergency Medicine (Thom et al., 2026) demonstrated that non-physician operators at UVA Health and UT Southwestern Medical Center acquired extremity images with quality statistically indistinguishable from board-certified emergency physicians (mean scores 3.6 vs. 3.7; p = 0.24); more than 90% of scans were rated adequate for diagnostic interpretation.
"Reaching one hundred patent filings is a structural milestone," said Will Mauldin, PhD, Co-founder and CEO of RIVANNA. "Our IP estate protects what makes the platform work at the point of decision: shared imaging hardware, AI models, and clinical datasets that support confident clinical decisions across distinct applications. The same foundational claims protect both neuraxial anesthesia and fracture care. The 100th filing extends that protection into the automated pathology detection work conducted under our BARDA funding option; it defines what decision-grade ultrasound looks like: built to accelerate clinical decision-making, standardize procedural outcomes, and reduce operator variability at the point of care."
About Accuro 3S
Accuro 3S is a portable, cart-based, point-of-care diagnostic ultrasound system. SpineNav-AI automatically identifies lumbar spinal landmarks and the midline, and measures depth to the epidural space in real time. The patented Dual-Array™ probe positions two transducer arrays on either side of a central aperture, so the needle can be introduced and advanced along the spinal midline within the ultrasound imaging plane. When used with a compatible tracked needle, SafeTrack displays needle-tip location and trajectory relative to the ultrasound image in real time.
About Accuro XV
Accuro XV is a portable, small-footprint, point-of-care diagnostic ultrasound system FDA 510(k) cleared for musculoskeletal imaging. The system features a conformable three-dimensional probe that automates large field-of-view B-mode image acquisitions without ionizing radiation. With AI-enabled decision-assist capabilities advancing toward FDA clearance, Accuro XV will deliver BoneEnhance, a machine learning software module that segments musculoskeletal anatomy to support 2D and 3D visualization of skeletal structures; and a world-first CADe/x machine learning software module that assists clinicians in detecting fractures from volumetric ultrasound imaging to support triage decisions, including referral for additional radiographic imaging.
This project has been supported in whole or in part with federal funds from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR); Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), under contract number 75A50121C00035.
About RIVANNA
RIVANNA is a medical technology company developing clinical decision-support solutions powered by proprietary clinical datasets, AI models, and purpose-built imaging hardware. The company's platform is designed to automate complex anatomical analysis at the point of care, support faster and more confident clinical decisions, reduce variability, and expand access to advanced capabilities. Its initial applications address interventional guidance and trauma triage, beginning with neuraxial procedures and musculoskeletal injury assessment. RIVANNA has established an FDA-cleared product portfolio and maintains a worldwide intellectual-property portfolio of more than 100 issued and pending patents. RIVANNA is headquartered in Charlottesville, Virginia, and operates an FDA-registered, ISO 13485:2016-certified manufacturing facility.
RIVANNA, Accuro, and the Rivanna Medical family of marks are registered and unregistered trademarks of Rivanna Medical, Inc. in the United States and other jurisdictions. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
SOURCE RIVANNA
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