- 07 April 2005 by Jenny Hogan and Barry Fox
- Magazine issue 2494
IMAGINE movies and computer games in which you get to smell, taste and perhaps even feel things. That's the tantalising prospect raised by a patent on a device for transmitting sensory data directly into the human brain - granted to none other than the entertainment giant Sony.
The technique suggested in the patent is entirely non-invasive. It describes a device that fires pulses of ultrasound at the head to modify firing patterns in targeted parts of the brain, creating "sensory experiences" ranging from moving images to tastes and sounds. This could give blind or deaf people the chance to see or hear, the patent claims.
While brain implants are becoming increasingly sophisticated, the only non-invasive ways of manipulating the brain remain crude. A technique known as transcranial magnetic stimulation can activate nerves by using rapidly changing magnetic fields to induce currents in brain tissue.
Method and system for generating sensory data onto the human neural cortex
US 6536440 B1
The technique suggested in the patent is entirely non-invasive. It describes a device that fires pulses of ultrasound at the head to modify firing patterns in targeted parts of the brain, creating "sensory experiences" ranging from moving images to tastes and sounds. This could give blind or deaf people the chance to see or hear, the patent claims.
While brain implants are becoming increasingly sophisticated, the only non-invasive ways of manipulating the brain remain crude. A technique known as transcranial magnetic stimulation can activate nerves by using rapidly changing magnetic fields to induce currents in brain tissue.
| US6536440 B1 | |
| Publication type | Grant |
| Application number | US 09/690,571 |
| Publication date | Mar 25, 2003 |
| Filing date | Oct 17, 2000 |
| Priority date | Oct 17, 2000 |
| Fee status | Paid |
| Also published as | US6729337, US20030145864 |
| Publication number | 09690571, 690571, US 6536440 B1, US 6536440B1, US-B1-6536440, US6536440 B1, US6536440B1 |
| Inventors | Thomas P. Dawson |
| Original Assignee | Sony Corporation, Sony Electronics, Inc. |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan |
| Patent Citations (19), Non-Patent Citations (20), Referenced by (23), Classifications (5), Legal Events (4) | |
| External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet | |
US 6536440 B1
Abstract
A non-invasive system and process for projecting sensory data onto the human neural cortex is provided. The system includes a primary transducer array and a secondary transducer array. The primary transducer array acts as a coherent signal source, and the secondary transducer array acts as a controllable diffraction pattern that focuses energy onto the neural cortex in a desired pattern. In addition, the pattern of energy is constructed such that each portion projected into the neural cortex may be individually pulsed at low frequency. This low frequency pulsing is formed by controlling the phase differences between the emitted energy of the elements of primary and secondary transducer arrays.
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