Wireless wearable big data brain machine interface

• US 10,027,362 B2
• Filed: 06/08/2016
• Issued: 07/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Regents of the University of California (University of California)
• Original Assignee: Regents of the University of California (University of California)
• Inventors: Liu, Wentai, Chang, Mau-Chung Frank, Kuan, Yen-Cheng, Lo, Yi-Kai, Zhao, Yan
• Primary Examiner(s): Yun, Eugene
• Application Number:
  US15/176,411
• Publication Number:
  US 20160323000A1
• Time in Patent Office: 769 Days
• Field of Search: 455 412
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/369 Electroencephalography [EEG] devices for psychotechnics A61B5/16
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7225 Details of analog processing, e.g. isolation amplifier, gain or sensitivity adjustment, filtering, baseline or drift compensation A61B5/30, A61B5/316 take precedence; transformers for specific applications H01F38/00; amplifiers H03F
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/015 Input arrangements based on nervous system activity detection, e.g. brain waves [EEG] detection, electromyograms [EMG] detection, electrodermal response detection
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/10 using inductive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/385 Transceivers carried on the body, e.g. in helmets
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2001/3866 carried on the head
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0044 allocation of payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A wireless wearable high data throughput (big data) brain machine interface apparatus is presented. An implanted recording and transmitting module collects neural data from a plurality of implanted electrodes and wirelessly transmits this over a short distance to a wearable (not implanted) receiving and forwarding module, which communicates the data over a wired communication to a mobile post processing device. The post processing device can send this neural data to an external display or computer enabled device for viewing and/or manipulation. High data throughput is supported by aggregating multiple groups of electrodes by multiple n-channel recording elements, which are multiplexed and then modulated into high frequency wireless communications to the wearable module. Embodiments include use of multiple radiators (multiple polarizations and/or spatially distributed), with beam alignment adjustment.

Claims

1. A wireless wearable brain machine interface apparatus, comprising:

(a) an implant recording and transmitting module, configured for receiving neural data from a plurality of implant electrodes on a cranial region of a patient and wirelessly transmitting said neural data, said implant recording and transmitting module comprising;

(i) a plurality of multiple-channel neural recorders, each of which is configured for connection to a plurality of implant electrodes from which neural data is received and recorded by said multiple-channel neural recorders which sample neural signals at a sampling rate and convert neural levels through analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) to generate multiple digitized recording outputs;

(ii) at least one multiplexer or serializer configured for aggregating digitized outputs from said plurality of multiple-channel neural recorders to reduce the number of bit-streams; and

(iii) at least one modulator configured for encoding said neural data into a digital radio frequency transmission;

(b) a wearable receiving and forwarding module configured for wirelessly receiving said neural data from said implant recording and transmitting module;

(c) a mobile post processing module configured for receiving transmissions from said wearable receiving and forwarding module which is configured for transmitting said neural data to said mobile post processing module; and

(d) wherein said mobile post processing module is configured for performing feature extraction and compression on said neural data and wirelessly transmitting neural information to a remote computer-enabled electronic device configured for viewing, storing, and/or manipulating said neural information.

2. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, further comprising a mobile post processing module electrically connected to said wearable receiving and forwarding module and configured with a wireless communications interface for communicating said neural data to an external processor enabled device configured for processing and display of said neural data.

3. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, further comprising a communications adapter integrated within, or coupled to, said wearable receiving and forwarding module which is configured for converting neural data received by said wearable receiving and forwarding module into another format prior to transmitting said neural data to a mobile post processing module.

4. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the wearable receiving and forwarding module comprises:

a demodulator configured for demodulating a radio frequency transmission from said implant recording and transmitting module to extract said neural data; and

an output driver configured for outputting said neural data in a digital format over a wired interface for receipt by the mobile post processing module.

5. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

a power generator on said wearable receiving and forwarding module which uses power supplied through a wired interface to power its own circuitry, and to deliver power through an attached power coil; and

a power coil and rectification circuit in said implant recording and transmitting module configured for inductively receiving power supplied between the power coil on said wearable receiving and forwarding module to said power coil in said implant recording and transmitting module, this power being rectified and utilized for powering the circuitry in said implant recording and transmitting module.

6. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein said wearable receiving and forwarding module is configured for retention within a wearable head covering, hat, headset, or set of glasses.

7. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein said implant recording and transmitting module communicates with said wearable receiving and forwarding module through a short-distance wireless link of approximately 1 cm in length.

8. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, further comprising multiple transmission radiators on said implant recording and transmitting module, through which neural data is wirelessly transmitted at a rate higher than using a single radiator, to multiple reception radiators in said receiving and forwarding module.

9. The apparatus as recited in claim 8, wherein each of said multiple transmission radiators on said implant recording and transmitting module are configured with different amount of time delay to provide beam alignment between these radiators and radiators with matching alignments in the wearable record and forward module to which neural data is wirelessly transmitted.

10. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein data rate of said neural data being collected and transmitted by said implant record and transmit module is approximately 1 Gb/second, or higher.

11. A wireless wearable brain machine interface apparatus, comprising:

(a) an implant recording and transmitting module configured for electrical connection to a plurality of electrodes implant on a cranial region of a patient, from which neural data is registered and wirelessly transmitted, said implant recording and transmitting module, comprising;

(i) multiple N-channel recorders configured for storing neural data from a plurality of electrodes coupled to each of said N-channel recorders, which sample neural signals at a sampling rate and convert neural levels though analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) to generate multiple digitized recording outputs;

(ii) at least one multiplexor configured for multiplexing neural data signals from a number of said N-channel recorders into a single bit stream; and

(iii) at least one modulator configured for converting each single bit stream from a multiplexor by modulating a carrier frequency with each said single bit stream into a wireless digital radio frequency signal for transmission through a radiating element;

(b) a wearable receiving and forwarding module configured for being wearably retained, and not implant, near the cranium region of the patient proximal said implant recording and transmitting module, said wearable receiving and forwarding module configured for receiving wireless transmissions of neural data from said proximal implant recording and transmitting module;

(c) a mobile post processing module configured for receiving transmissions from said wearable receiving and forwarding module which is configured for formatting said neural data and transmitting it to said mobile post processing module; and

(d) wherein said mobile post processing module is configured for performing feature extraction and compression on said neural data and wirelessly transmitting neural information to a remote computer-enabled electronic device configured for viewing, storing, and/or manipulating said neural information.

12. The apparatus as recited in claim 11, wherein said wearable receiving and forwarding module comprises:

(i) a radiator or antenna configured for receiving said radio frequency signal from said implant recording and transmitting module; and

(ii) a demodulator configured for extracting each said single bit stream of neural data from said wireless radio frequency signal.

13. The apparatus as recited in claim 11, further comprising a power generation circuit in said wearable receiving and forwarding module configured for powering an inductive power coil as an inductively coupled power source to the power coil of said implant recording and transmitting module, which rectifies and distributes this as operating power to its circuitry.

14. The apparatus as recited in claim 11, further comprising a mobile post processing module electrically connected to said wearable receiving and forwarding module through which neural data is received, and said mobile post processing module is also configured with a wireless communications interface for communicating said neural data to an external processor enabled device configured for processing and display of said neural data.

15. The apparatus as recited in claim 11, further comprising a communications adapter integrated within, or coupled to, said wearable receiving and forwarding module which is configured for converting neural data received by said wearable receiving and forwarding module into another format prior to transmitting said neural data to a mobile post processing module.

16. The apparatus as recited in claim 11, further comprising:

a power generator on said wearable receiving and forwarding module which uses power supplied through a wired interface to power its own circuitry, and to deliver power through an attached power coil; and

a power coil and rectification circuit in said implant recording and transmitting module configured for inductively receiving power supplied between the power coil on said wearable receiving and forwarding module to said power coil in said implant recording and transmitting module, this power being rectified and utilized for powering the circuitry in said implant recording and transmitting module.

17. The apparatus as recited in claim 11, wherein said wearable receiving and forwarding module is configured for retention within a wearable head covering, hat, headset, or set of glasses.

18. The apparatus as recited in claim 11, wherein said implant recording and transmitting module communicates with said wearable receiving and forwarding module through a short-distance wireless link of approximately 1 cm in length.

19. The apparatus as recited in claim 11, further comprising multiple transmission radiators on said implant recording and transmitting module, through which neural data is wirelessly transmitted at a rate higher than using a single radiator, to multiple reception radiators in said receiving and forwarding module.

20. The apparatus as recited in claim 19, wherein each of said multiple transmission radiators on said implant recording and transmitting module are configured with different amount of time delay to provide beam alignment between these radiators and radiators with matching alignments in the wearable record and forward module to which neural data is wirelessly transmitted.

21. The apparatus as recited in claim 11, wherein data rate of said neural data being collected and transmitted by said implant record and transmit module is approximately 1 Gb/second, or higher.

22. A wireless wearable brain machine interface apparatus, comprising:

(a) an implant recording and transmitting module configured for connection to a plurality of electrodes implant on a cranial region of a patient, said implant recording and transmitting module comprising;

(i) multiple N-channel recorders configured for storing neural data from a plurality of electrodes coupled to each of said N-channel recorders which sample neural signals and convert neural levels to generate multiple digitized recording outputs;

(ii) at least one multiplexor configured for multiplexing neural data signals from a number of said N-channel recorders into a single bit stream; and

(iii) at least one modulator configured for converting each single bit stream from a multiplexor by modulating a carrier frequency with each said single bit stream into a wireless radio frequency signal for transmission through a radiating element;

(b) a wearable receiving and forwarding module configured for being wearably retained, and not implant, near the patient'"'"'s cranium proximal to said implant recording and transmitting module, said wearable receiving and forwarding module comprising;

(i) a radiator or antenna configured for receiving said radio frequency signal from said implant recording and transmitting module; and

(ii) a demodulator configured for extracting each said single bit stream of neural data from said wireless radio frequency signal;

(c) a mobile post processing module configured for receiving at least one of said single bit stream and performing post-processing of the neural data in response to programming executing on a computer processor within said mobile post processing module;

(d) wherein said mobile post processing module is configured for being worn by the patient while said neural data is being collected; and

(e) wherein said mobile post processing module is configured for performing feature extraction and compression on said neural data and wirelessly transmitting neural information to a remote computer-enabled electronic device configured for viewing, storing, and/or manipulating said neural information.

23. A wireless wearable brain machine interface apparatus, comprising:

(a) an implant recording and transmitting module configured for connection to a plurality of electrodes implant on a patient'"'"'s cranium, said implant recording and transmitting module comprising;

(i) a power coil and rectification circuit configured for receiving power from an inductively coupled power source;

(ii) multiple N-channel recorders configured for storing neural data from a plurality of electrodes coupled to each of said N-channel recorders, which sample neural signals at a sampling rate and convert neural levels though analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) to generate multiple digitized recording outputs;

(iii) at least one multiplexor configured for multiplexing neural data signals from a number of said N-channel recorders into a single bit stream;

(iv) at least one modulator configured for converting each single bit stream from a multiplexor by modulating a carrier frequency with each said single bit stream into a wireless digital radio frequency signal for transmission through a radiating element;

(b) a wearable receiving and forwarding module configured for being wearably retained, and not implanted, near the patient'"'"'s cranium proximal to said implant recording and transmitting module, said wearable receiving and forwarding module including;

(i) a power generation circuit configured for powering an inductive power coil as the inductively coupled power source to the power coil of said implant recording and transmitting module;

(ii) a radiator or antenna configured for receiving said radio frequency signal from said implant recording and transmitting module;

(iii) a demodulator configured for extracting each said single bit stream of neural data from said wireless radio frequency signal;

(c) a mobile post processing module configured for receiving at least one of said single bit stream and performing post-processing of the neural data in response to programming executing on a computer processor within said mobile post processing module;

(d) wherein said mobile post processing module is configured for being worn by the patient while said neural data is being collected; and

(e) wherein said mobile post processing module is configured for performing feature extraction and compression on said neural data and wirelessly transmitting neural information to a remote computer-enabled electronic device configured for viewing, storing, and/or manipulating said neural information.