Method and apparatus for neural activity identification

• US 8,169,299 B2
• Filed: 07/12/2006
• Issued: 05/01/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intellectual Tech LLC
• Original Assignee: OnAsset Intelligence Incorporated
• Inventors: Sharma, Jugal Kishore
• Primary Examiner(s): BROWN, VERNAL U
• Application Number:
  US11/457,108
• Publication Number:
  US 20080015801A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,120 Days
• Field of Search: 340/5.82, 340/5.52, 600/395, 713/186
• US Class Current: 340/5.82
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/05 Detecting, measuring or recording for diagnosis by means of electric currents or magnetic fields; Measuring using microwaves or radio waves impedance plethysmography A61B5/0295; measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof A61B5/11; detecting, measuring or recording bioelectric or biomagnetic signals of the body or parts thereof A61B5/24
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/16 Devices for psychotechnics using teaching or educational appliances G09B1/00 - G09B7/00; Testing reaction times ; Devices for evaluating the psychological state
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/165 Evaluating the state of mind, e.g. depression, anxiety
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/37 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voice recognition

Abstract

A method and apparatus is provided for creating and recognizing a USN (Unique Signature Number) from an analysis of living entity'"'"'s (e.g. person, animal or other multi-cellular being having neural activity) emitted electrical or electromagnetic signal in a given, normalized or calm state. This USN may then be used at a later date, in a comparison function of a number of stored USN'"'"'s, in ascertaining the identity of an entity recently detected as being in proximity to an antenna of the apparatus. A further analysis process can also detect neural activity that is abnormal to that indicated by the USN of a given entity in a calm state and which neural activity may be indicative of excessive aggression, stress or even ill health said given entity.

Claims

1. A method of identifying a living entity comprising:

detecting a naturally occurring, internally generated and emitted signal of an individual;

resolving the detected naturally occurring, internally generated and emitted signal of an individual into a base and harmonic frequency spectrum comprising a base frequency thereof and a plurality of harmonics of the base frequency; and

sampling enough points in the base frequency and harmonic frequency spectrum as resolved for formulating a USN (Unique Signature Number)for a living entity.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein:

storing said USN in a database along with a reference commonly used to identify that individual; and

comparing a detected USN with stored USN'"'"'s to ascertain the individual'"'"'s identity.

22. The method of claim 1 additionally comprising:

comparing the just formulated USN with a stored set of USN'"'"'s; and

performing a further electronic operation as a function of the result of said comparing.

23. The method of claim 1 additionally comprising:

comparing the just formulated USN with a stored set of USNs to determine whether or not a positive comparison exists;

performing a first type electronic operation if a positive comparison does not exist; and

performing a second type electronic operation when a positive comparison exists.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the second type electronic operation performed comprises a function of the USN positively compared.

3. Apparatus for processing naturally occurring electromagnetic signals generated within and emitted from a living entity:

antenna means operable to receive naturally occurring living entity generated signals emitted from at least one entity into space that is in proximity to said antenna means; and

signal processing means, connected to said antenna means for receiving said living entity emitted signals collected by said antenna means, said signal processing means being operable to separate the naturally occurring living entity-emitted signal into at least one base signal component and a one or more base signal harmonic components.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said signal processing means further comprises:

sampling means, for deriving a USN (Unique Signature Number) based upon the frequency and characteristic of said base signal component and a plurality of said harmonic components.

5. Apparatus for processing living entity generated naturally occurring emitted signals comprising:

resolving means operable to resolve the naturally occurring living entity generated and emitted signal of a living entity into a base frequency signal and a plurality of the base frequency signal harmonics; and

recording means operable to record, in association with said living entity, the frequency and amplitude of said base frequency signal and at least some of said plurality of harmonics.

6. The apparatus of claim 5,

wherein said recording means is operable to store the recorded frequency and amplitude as numeric values in the form of a USN (Unique Signature Number) along with further identity information pertaining to that entity;

and said apparatus further comprising

comparison means operable to compare a plurality of previously stored USNs with a presently resolved emitted signal whereby the identity of a the entity presently resolved may be ascertained.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the living entity whose signal is being resolved is a human being.

8. A method of uniquely identifying a living entity naturally occurring emitted neural activity related electrical signals comprising:

separating a copy of a naturally occurring an electrical signal emitted by a living entity into its separate frequency components;

sampling a characteristic of each of a plurality of said separate frequency components; and

recording, in association with said living entity, the characteristic and frequency values of each sampled frequency component.

9. The method of claim 8 comprising the additional step of storing the recorded values as a USN (Unique Signature Number) along with a reference to the specific living entity having that USN in a database with other USNs.

10. A method of uniquely identifying a living entity naturally occurring emitted body generated electrical signals comprising:

separating a copy of an electrical signal naturally occurring emitted into space adjacent a living entity by a living entity into its separate frequency components;

sampling a predefined characteristic of each of a plurality of said separate frequency components; and

assigning at least one descriptor symbol to each sampled value; and

assembling a plurality of said descriptor symbols into a USN (Unique Signature Number) that uniquely identifies a given living entity.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein:

the descriptor is a numerical value; and

the predefined characteristic is amplitude.

12. A method of determining an entity'"'"'s relative mental health comprising:

separating a copy of a recently obtained naturally occurring and biometric activity emitted signal of a living entity into its separate frequency components;

sampling a predefined characteristic of each of a plurality of said separate frequency components;

comparing the predefined characteristic of at least some of said plurality of separate frequency components with previously recorded derived data; and

establishing the entity'"'"'s relative mental health as a result of the magnitude of any differences revealed in the comparing step.

13. A method of uniquely identifying a living entity that generates neural activity related electromagnetic signals comprising:

separating a copy of an electromagnetic signal naturally occurring and generated by neural activity of a living entity into its separate frequency components;

sampling a characteristic of each of a plurality of said separate frequency components; and

recording, in association with said living entity, symbols representative of said sampled frequency components.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein:

the separate frequency components comprise a base signal and a plurality of harmonics of said base signal; and

the recorded symbols define a USN (Unique Signature Number) for said living entity.

15. Apparatus for uniquely identifying a living entity that generates neural activity related electromagnetic signals comprising:

detection means for obtaining and separating a copy of an electromagnetic signal naturally occurring and generated by neural activity of a living entity;

frequency analysis means, connected to said detection means, for resolving the detected copy into its separate frequency components;

sampling means, constituting a part of said frequency analysis means, for sampling a predefined characteristic of each of a plurality of said separate frequency components; and

recording means, interconnected to said frequency analysis means and said sampling means, for recording, in association with said living entity, a unique entity identifier representative of the sampled frequency components.

16. A method of determining an entity'"'"'s relative mental stress levels comprising:

separating a copy of a recently obtained naturally occurring and biometric activity generated signal of a living entity into its separate frequency components;

sampling a characteristic of each of a plurality of said separate frequency components;

comparing the sampled characteristic of at least some of said plurality of separate frequency components with previously recorded entity identifier values of those frequencies for said living entity; and

generating an alarm when the compared values deviate by more than predetermined amounts.

17. A computer assisted method of uniquely identifying a living entity that emits biometric activity related electrical signals comprising:

separating a naturally occurring and entity biometric activity emitted biometric signal into separate frequency components;

sampling given parameters of each of a plurality of said separate frequency components; and

assembling a representation of the given parameters into a USN (Unique Signature Number).

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the separate frequency components comprises at least a base frequency and a plurality of harmonics of said base frequency.

19. A method of uniquely identifying a living entity comprising:

separating an electric signal generated by a living entity into its separate frequency components;

sampling a characteristic of each of a plurality of said separate frequency components; and

storing, in association with said living entity, a set of symbols representative of the sampled characteristics.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the set of symbols defines a USN (Unique Signature Number) derived from a function of the sampled characteristics.

21. Apparatus for processing living entity emitted signals comprising:

resolving means operable to resolve the naturally occurring and emitted signal of a living entity into a base frequency signal and a plurality of the base frequency signal harmonics; and

sampling means for sampling a characteristic of each of a plurality of said separate frequency components; and

storing in association with said living entity a set of symbols representative of the sampled characteristics.

25. Apparatus for identifying a living entity comprising:

emitted signal resolver circuitry operable to separate eletromagnetic signals naturally occurring and emitted by living entities into a base and harmonic frequency spectrum comprising a base frequency thereof and a plurality of harmonics of the base frequency; and

character generator circuitry operable to sample enough points in the base frequency and harmonic frequency spectrum as resolved whereby a USN (Unique Signature Number) for a living entity is generated.

26. Apparatus as claimed in claim 25 additionally comprising:

comparator circuitry operable to compare the just generated USN with a stored set of USNs to determine whether or not a positive comparison exists;

result circuitry operable to perform a first type electronic operation if a positive comparison does not exist and a second type electronic operation when a positive comparison exists.