Dave Horvath
18 Aug 2007 11:35
Remember the older commercial from Sony that was intended to show off the power of the PS2 by showing a fully immersed virtual reality gaming situation? The commercial showed a young man in the future battling people on the streets, swimming in a vast ocean and even playing Jai-Alai across the towering buildings. It was dubbed the Playstation 9.
Well as outlandish as the commercial may have looked at the time, far be it from Sony to think of it as merely a well thought out marketing scheme. Sony, in cooperation with scientists in San Diego have patented a technology for non-invasive brain targeting devices that essentially shoot ultrasound waves to stimulate brain tissue and create "sensory experiences" such as touch, taste, sight, smell and sound. One additional claim is that this technology could be used for a more noble cause such as allowing the blind to see, or the deaf to hear.
Admittedly, brain implants become more and more sophisticated by the day, however non-invasive brain manipulation such as this is still rather crude in design and practice. There are already techniques that employ such manipulation. One such technique is known as transcranial magnetic stimulation and relies on magnetic fields to activate nerves within the brain tissue. The problem with this technology is it cant be focused well enough to to concentrate on a small area of brain tissue, like ultrasound can.
There are very few details at all about this patent and news sources have attempted to get Sony to comment on the patent, but Sony refuses to interview or discuss this matter. It seems odd however that independent experts in the science field don't completely dismiss this idea as out of hand or improbable. Niels Birbaumer, a neuroscientist at the University of Tübingen in Germany, who has created devices that allow people to control devices via brain waves stated, "I looked at it and found it plausible."
Sony first submitted the patent application for the ultrasound manipulation in 2000 and it was approved in March of 2003. Since then, Sony has filed a series of extensions, as recent as December 2004.
Elizabeth Boukis, a spokeswoman for Sony Electronics states that the work is speculative at best. "There were not any experiments done. This particular patent was a prophetic invention. It was based on an inspiration that this may someday be the direction that technology will take us."
Source:
New Scientist