No more need for TV, Sony plans to beam right into your br..

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Sony aims to beam sights, sounds into brain

Thursday, April 7, 2005 Posted: 1:43 PM EDT (1743 GMT)

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- If you think video games are engrossing
now, just wait: PlayStation maker Sony Corp. has been granted a patent
for beaming sensory information directly into the brain.

The technique could one day be used to create video games in which you
can smell, taste, and touch, or to help people who are blind or deaf.

The U.S. patent, granted to Sony researcher Thomas Dawson, describes a
technique for aiming ultrasonic pulses at specific areas of the brain to
induce "sensory experiences" such as smells, sounds and images.

"The pulsed ultrasonic signal alters the neural timing in the cortex,"
the patent states. "No invasive surgery is needed to assist a person,
such as a blind person, to view live and/or recorded images or hear
sounds."

According to New Scientist magazine, the first to report on the patent,
Sony's technique could be an improvement over an existing non-surgical
method known as transcranial magnetic stimulation. This activates nerves
using rapidly changing magnetic fields, but cannot be focused on small
groups of brain cells.

Niels Birbaumer, a neuroscientist at the University of Tuebingen in
Germany, told New Scientist he had looked at the Sony patent and "found
it plausible." Birbaumer himself has developed a device that enables
disabled people to communicate by reading their brain waves.

A Sony Electronics spokeswoman told the magazine that no experiments had
been conducted, and that the patent "was based on an inspiration that
this may someday be the direction that technology will take us."
 
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On Fri, 08 Apr 2005 02:18:54 GMT, RobH <Rob@aol.com> wrote:

>Sony aims to beam sights, sounds into brain
>

>The U.S. patent, granted to Sony researcher Thomas Dawson, describes a
>technique for aiming ultrasonic pulses at specific areas of the brain to
>induce "sensory experiences" such as smells, sounds and images.
>
>"The pulsed ultrasonic signal alters the neural timing in the cortex,"
>the patent states. "No invasive surgery is needed to assist a person,
>such as a blind person, to view live and/or recorded images or hear
>sounds."
>

So... when you get cancer or god knows what else from this patent
technology, do you get to sue Sony ?

Since we're patenting everything these days, we should be sure and
make them liable.
 
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tubes_r_us wrote:
> On Fri, 08 Apr 2005 02:18:54 GMT, RobH <Rob@aol.com> wrote:
>
>
>>Sony aims to beam sights, sounds into brain
>>
>
>
>>The U.S. patent, granted to Sony researcher Thomas Dawson, describes a
>>technique for aiming ultrasonic pulses at specific areas of the brain to
>>induce "sensory experiences" such as smells, sounds and images.
>>
>>"The pulsed ultrasonic signal alters the neural timing in the cortex,"
>>the patent states. "No invasive surgery is needed to assist a person,
>>such as a blind person, to view live and/or recorded images or hear
>>sounds."
>>
>
>
> So... when you get cancer or god knows what else from this patent
> technology, do you get to sue Sony ?

Not with a class action suit.

> Since we're patenting everything these days, we should be sure and
> make them liable.

Not with the current US administration.

--
Matthew

I'm a contractor. If you want an opinion, I'll sell you one.
Which one do you want?
 
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"RobH" <Rob@aol.com> wrote in message
news:Xns9631D8E6F6427RobH@24.93.43.119...
> Sony aims to beam sights, sounds into brain

No experiments conducted
No proof at all that it will work
No working technology at all... just an idea

....and a patent is granted
 
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"Randy Sweeney" <rsweeney1@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:6Z6dnXsjHapzhsrfRVn-qg@comcast.com...
>
> "RobH" <Rob@aol.com> wrote in message
> news:Xns9631D8E6F6427RobH@24.93.43.119...
> > Sony aims to beam sights, sounds into brain
>
> No experiments conducted
> No proof at all that it will work
> No working technology at all... just an idea
>
> ...and a patent is granted

Amazing, isn't it? It's the reason the patent office is
deluged by unissued real patents. Edison would roll over in
his grave! Recently, someone tried to patent the sealed
peanut butter sandwich! Thank gawd the courts said, "it's
been done!" ...tonyC
 
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Gives a new meaning to "burnout" or being "brain fried" - both LITERALLY.
 
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On Fri, 8 Apr 2005, Randy Sweeney wrote:
> "RobH" <Rob@aol.com> wrote in message
> news:Xns9631D8E6F6427RobH@24.93.43.119...
> > Sony aims to beam sights, sounds into brain
>
> No experiments conducted
> No proof at all that it will work
> No working technology at all... just an idea
>
> ...and a patent is granted

And that is a problem? A patent is for an idea - which need not be practical.
 
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What Can Be Patented

The patent law specifies the general field of subject matter that can
be patented and the conditions under which a patent may be obtained.

In the language of the statute, any person who "invents or discovers
any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of
matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a
patent," subject to the conditions and requirements of the law. The
word "process" is defined by law as a process, act or method, and
primarily includes industrial or technical processes. The term
"machine" used in the statute needs no explanation. The term
"manufacture" refers to articles that are made, and includes all
manufactured articles. The term "composition of matter" relates to
chemical compositions and may include mixtures of ingredients as well
as new chemical compounds. These classes of subject matter taken
together include practically everything that is made by man and the
processes for making the products.

The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 excludes the patenting of inventions
useful solely in the utilization of special nuclear material or atomic
energy in an atomic weapon 42 U.S.C. 2181 (a).

The patent law specifies that the subject matter must be "useful."
The term "useful" in this connection refers to the condition that
the subject matter has a useful purpose and also includes
operativeness, that is, a machine which will not operate to perform the
intended purpose would not be called useful, and therefore would not be
granted a patent.

Interpretations of the statute by the courts have defined the limits of
the field of subject matter that can be patented, thus it has been held
that the laws of nature, physical phenomena, and abstract ideas are not
patentable subject matter.

A patent cannot be obtained upon a mere idea or suggestion. The patent
is granted upon the new machine, manufacture, etc., as has been said,
and not upon the idea or suggestion of the new machine. A complete
description of the actual machine or other subject matter for which a
patent is sought is required.