Method and system for direct communication
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.
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:
Cognitive effect
Target region
Perception of touch
Somatosensory cortex
Auditory perception
Auditory cortex
Vestibular perception
Temporal-parietal junction, central sulcus,
intraparietal sulcus, and insular cortex
Visual perception
Primary and extrastriate visual cortex
Olfactory perception
Piriform cortex
Language comprehension
Wernicke's area
Language production
Broca's area
Long-term memory
Hippocampus and parahippocampal
formation (and connected portions of cortex,
e.g. entorhinal cortex and perirhinal cortex)
Modulation of pain
Rostral anterior cingulate cortex
processing
Emotion
Limbic system (e.g. amygdala)
Motor control and
Primary and supplementary motor cortex;
movements
thalamus; cerebellum; basal ganglia;
substantia nigra
Attention
Gamma rhythms
Relaxation
Alpha rhythms
Empathy, social
Brainstem nuclei, hypothalamus, amygdala,
interaction
anterior cingulated cortex, prefrontal cortex,
ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and other
brain regions involved in oxytocin and
arginine vasopressin function
Mirth and laughter
Inferior temporal gyrus, cingulated gyrus,
subthalamic nucleus
Fear
Amygdala, insular cortex, internal capsule,
nucleus accumbens, and anterior temporal
gyrus
Physiological arousal,
Various brainstem nuclei
sleep state
Modulation of risk taking
Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.
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/cm 2 to 1 W/cm 2 .
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.
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:
Cognitive effect
Target region
Perception of touch
Somatosensory cortex
Auditory perception
Auditory cortex
Vestibular perception
Temporal-parietal junction, central sulcus,
intraparietal sulcus, and insular cortex
Visual perception
Primary and extrastriate visual cortex
Olfactory perception
Piriform cortex
Language comprehension
Wernicke's area
Language production
Broca's area
Long-term memory
Hippocampus and parahippocampal
formation (and connected portions of cortex,
e.g. entorhinal cortex and perirhinal cortex)
Modulation of pain
Rostral anterior cingulate cortex
processing
Emotion
Limbic system (e.g. amygdala)
Motor control and
Primary and supplementary motor cortex;
movements
thalamus; cerebellum; basal ganglia;
substantia nigra
Attention
Gamma rhythms
Relaxation
Alpha rhythms
Empathy, social
Brainstem nuclei, hypothalamus, amygdala,
interaction
anterior cingulated cortex, prefrontal cortex,
ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and other
brain regions involved in oxytocin and
arginine vasopressin function
Mirth and laughter
Inferior temporal gyrus, cingulated gyrus,
subthalamic nucleus
Fear
Amygdala, insular cortex, internal capsule,
nucleus accumbens, and anterior temporal
gyrus
Physiological arousal,
Various brainstem nuclei
sleep state
Modulation of risk taking
Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.
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.
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.
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.
26. The method of claim 1 , wherein the information comprises symbolic information.
27. The system of claim 12 , wherein the information comprises symbolic information.
28. The system of claim 24 , wherein the information comprises symbolic information.