The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 16, 2003
Filed:
Oct. 04, 2001
Craig Henry Becker, Austin, TX (US);
Ira Richard Forman, Austin, TX (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
When a neural human-computer interface is used to control mechanical and electrical functions, the act of falling asleep by the user during neural control operations can produce undesirable and even disastrous results since neural activity would still be monitored and could produce involuntary signals leading to unintended results. In systems that track a user's neural activity and which use an electrical signal based upon this activity for controlling computer controlled functions, the problems associated with falling asleep may be circumvented by using an implementation which inhibits neural control when a patient's sleep state is detected. To accomplish this, an electroencephalography monitor (EEG) may be used to detect and predetermine the user's neural activity pattern during the transition from awake to sleep states. This pattern is compared against current neural activity. If matched, the neurally generated electrical signal is terminated.