Method and system for direct communication

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

translating the information into a series of energy pulses for transmission to one or more target regions of a brain of the individual, and

directing the series of energy pulses to the one or more target regions 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 energy pulses are 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

Rostral anterior cingulate cortex

pain processing

Emotion

Limbic system (e.g. amygdala)

Motor control

Primary and supplementary motor cortex;

and 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 the modulating comprises at least one of:

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

generating a series of off and on pulses of the cognitive effect which is perceived as a code by the individual;

directing ultrasound energy to different target regions to produce a perceptible pattern of different cognitive effects; and

controlling intensity of a cognitive effect in said perceptible pattern.

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

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein energy of the series of energy pulses comprises acoustic energy having 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 a brain tissue at the target location caused by said directing is no more than 2 degrees Celsius for no more than 5 seconds.

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

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

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

12. The method of claim 1 , whereby a communication protocol specifies one or more of a frequency, duration, intensity, pulse repetition frequency, number of cycles, and duty cycle of the series of energy pulses.

13. The method of claim 1 , whereby an instruction, message, emotion, feeling, experience, or alteration in cognitive state is delivered to a recipient by one or more methods for brain stimulation chosen from bioTU, transcranial magnetic stimulation, deep brain stimulation, transcranial direct current stimulation, transcranial alternating current stimulation, transcranial electric stimulation, one electrode or an array of electrodes implanted on a surface of the brain or dura, and light activation of specially engineered proteins for neuromodulation including optogenetics.