Method and system for direct communication

• US 9,042,201 B2
• Filed: 10/22/2012
• Issued: 05/26/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cerevast Medical, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Thync, Inc.
• Inventors: Tyler, William J., Goldwasser, Isy, Muratore, Robert, Pal, Sumon, Sato, Tomo, Wetmore, Daniel Z.
• Primary Examiner(s): PIHULIC, DANIEL T
• Application Number:
  US13/657,401
• Publication Number:
  US 20140211593A1
• Time in Patent Office: 946 Days
• Field of Search: 367/139, 367/137, 600 9- 15, 607/45
• US Class Current: 367/139
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/163 by tracking eye movement, gaze, or pupil change
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/165 Evaluating the state of mind, e.g. depression, anxiety
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/369 Electroencephalography [EEG] devices for psychotechnics A61B5/16
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 2007/0026 Stimulation of nerve tissue
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 2007/0073 using multiple frequencies
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 2007/0078 with multiple treatment transducers
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 7/00 Ultrasound therapy lithotripsy A61B17/22, A61B17/225; massage using supersonic vibration A61H23/00 ; using ultrasound for introducing media into the body A61M37/0092
• 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: H04B 11/00 Transmission systems employing sonic, ultrasonic or infrasonic waves

Abstract

Information is communicated to an individual by directing an acoustic signal transcranially to a target region in the brain. The target region is stimulated to produce a cognitive effect, and the cognitive effect is modulated or encoded to carry the desired information.

Claims

1. A method for communicating information to an individual, said method comprising:

translating the information into a series of ultrasound pulses for transmission to one or more target locations of a brain of the individual; and

directing the series of ultrasound pulses to the one or more target locations of the brain through a cranium of the individual to produce a cognitive effect which the individual perceives as the information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the acoustic energy is directed at a target region in the brain to cause a selected cognitive effect.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the target region and cognitive effect are selected from the group consisting of:

4. The method of claim 3, wherein modulating comprises at least one of:

(a) controlling the duration of the cognitive effect which is perceived by the individual;

(b) generating a series of off and on pulses of the cognitive effect which are perceived as a code by the individual

(c) directing the ultrasonic energy to different target regions to produce a perceptible pattern of different cognitive effects; and

(d) controlling the intensity of the cognitive effect in a perceptible pattern.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the acoustic energy has a frequency in a range between 100 kHz and 10 MHz.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the acoustic energy has a spatial-peak, temporal-average intensity in brain tissue in a range from 0.0001 mW/cm² to 1 W/cm².

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the spatial-peak, temporal-average intensity in brain tissue is modulated to encode the information.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the heating of brain tissue at the target location is no more than 2 degrees Celsius for no more than 5 seconds.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the pulse length in a range between 0.5 microsecond and 5 seconds.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the pulse length is modulated.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the pulse repetition frequency is in a range between 50 Hz and 25 kHz.

23. The method of claim 1 whereby the communication protocol specifies one or more of the acoustic frequency, duration, intensity, pulse repetition frequency, number of cycles, or duty cycle of the ultrasound wave.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein the information comprises symbolic information.

12. A system for communicating information to an individual, said system comprising:

means for translating the information into a series of ultrasound pulses for transmission to one or more target locations of the individual'"'"'s brain;

means for directing acoustic energy to the one or more target locations of the individual'"'"'s brain through the individual'"'"'s cranium to produce a cognitive effect; and

means for modulating the acoustic energy to encode the information transmitted to the one or more target locations with the series of ultrasound pulses, wherein the information is perceptible to the individual through variations in the cognitive effect.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the acoustic energy is directed at a target region in the brain to cause a selected cognitive effect.

14. The system as of claim 13, wherein the target region and cognitive effect are selected from the group consisting of:

15. The system of claim 14, wherein modulating comprises at least one of:

(a) controlling the duration of the cognitive effect which is perceived by the individual;

(b) generating a series of off and on pulses of the cognitive effect which are perceived as a code by the individual;

(c) directing the ultrasonic energy to different target regions to produce a perceptible pattern of different cognitive effects; and

(d) controlling the intensity of the cognitive effect in a perceptible pattern.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the acoustic energy has a frequency in a range between about 100 kHZ and about 10 MHz.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the acoustic energy has a spatial-peak, temporal-average intensity in brain tissue in a range from 0.0001 mW/cm2 to 1 W/cm2.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the spatial-peak, temporal-average intensity in brain tissue is modulated to encode the information.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the heating of brain tissue at the target location is no more than 2 degrees Celsius for no more than 5 seconds.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the pulse length is in a range between 0.5 microsecond and 5 seconds.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the pulse length is modulated during the bioTU protocol.

22. The system of claim 12, wherein the pulse repetition frequency is in a range between 50 Hz and 25 kHz.

27. The system of claim 12, wherein the information comprises symbolic information.

24. A system for communicating information to an individual, comprising:

one or more ultrasound transducers;

a processor coupled to the one or more ultrasound transducers, the processor comprising instructions to,

translate the information into a series of ultrasound pulses to one or more target locations of a brain of the individual;

direct the series of ultrasound pulses to the one or more target locations of the brain through a cranium of the individual to produce a cognitive effect which the individual perceives as the information.

25. The system of claim 24, whereby the one or more target locations of the brain are specified and targeted for brain stimulation as part of a communication protocol.

28. The system of claim 24, wherein the information comprises symbolic information.