Methods and systems for processing of brain signals

• US 20040249302A1
• Filed: 06/09/2003
• Published: 12/09/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/09/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Cyberkinetics, Inc. (Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cyberkinetics, Inc. (Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Donoghue, John P., Serruya, Mijail, Hatsopoulos, Nicholas George
• Application Number:
  US10/456,490
• Publication Number:
  US 20040249302A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/544
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/046 in a matrix array
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/24 Detecting, measuring or recording bioelectric or biomagnetic signals of the body or parts thereof
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/30 Input circuits therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7242 using integration

Abstract

System and methods consistent with the present invention decode brain signals. The system includes a receiver for receiving an input signal representing multiple individual neuron signals, and a frequency filter for separating the multiple neuron signals from the received input neural signal. A rectifier full wave rectifies the filtered neural signal and an integrator integrates the rectified neural signal to obtain an envelope of the rectified neural signal. As a result of this processing, sample values of the neural signal envelope represent neurological activity.

Claims

1. A system for processing neural signals, comprising:

a receiver for receiving an input neural signal representing multiple individual neuron signals sensed directly from a cerebral cortex;

a frequency filter for separating the multiple neuron signals from the received input neural signal;

a rectifier for full wave rectifying the filtered neural signal; and

an integrator for integrating the rectified neural signal to obtain an envelope of the rectified neural signal,

wherein sample values of the neural signal envelope represent neurological activity.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the receiver further includes:

an amplifier for amplifying the received input signal.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the frequency filter comprises a bandpass filter.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the bandpass filter passes frequencies between 300 Hz and 10 kHz.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the integrator comprises a low pass filter.

6. The system of claim 1, further including a sampler to obtain the sample values, and wherein the sampler samples the integrated neural signal.

7. The system of claim 1, further including a sampler to obtain the sample values, and wherein the sampler samples the filtered neural signal such that the rectifier full-wave rectifies the sampled neural signal.

8. The system of claim 1, further including a sampler to obtain the sample values wherein the sampler samples the integrated neural signal according to a low sampling rate.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the sampling rate is less than about 2 kHz.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the sampler further includes:

an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter for converting the neural signal into a digital signal.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the A/D converter samples the neural signal according to a low sampling rate.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the sampling rate is less than about 2 kHz.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the receiver further includes:

an electrode for making electrical contact with the cerebral cortex to thereby detect the input neural signal.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the electrode is inserted into the cerebral cortex to thereby detect neural signals below a surface of the cerebral cortex.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the electrode is part of a two-dimensional array of electrodes.

16. A method for decoding a neuron signal, comprising:

receiving an input neural signal representing multiple individual neuron signals sensed directly from a cerebral cortex;

filtering the received input neural signal to separate the multiple neuron signals from the received input signal;

full-wave rectifying the filtered neural signal;

integrating the rectified neural signal to obtain an envelope of the rectified neural signal,

wherein sample values of the neural signal envelope represent neurological activity.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the receiving further includes amplifying the received input signal.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the filtering of the neural signal includes filtering by using a bandpass filter.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the bandpass filter passes frequencies between 300 Hz and 10 kHz.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein integrating the filtered neural signal includes low pass filtering the neural signal.

21. The method of claim 16, further including sampling the integrated neural signal to obtain the sample values.

22. The method of claim 16, further including sampling the filtered neural to obtain the sampled values, such that the rectifying includes full-wave rectifying the sampled neural signal.

23. The method of claim 16, further including sampling the neural signal to obtain the sample values according to a low sampling rate.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the sampling rate is less than about 2 kHz.

25. The method of claim 16, wherein the sampling includes converting the analog neural signal into a digital signal.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the sampling rate is a low sampling rate.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the sampling rate is less than about 2 kHz.

28. The method of claim 16, wherein the receiving further includes:

receiving the input neural signal from an electrode in electrical contact with the cerebral cortex.

29. The method of claim 16, wherein the electrode is inserted into the cerebral cortex, and wherein the receiving further includes:

detecting a neural signals below a surface of the cerebral cortex.

30. The method of claim 16, wherein the electrode is part of a two-dimensional array of electrodes.