Sony Invention Beams Sights, Sounds Into Brain

Ever see the movie "Brainstorm"?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085271/

Looks like it's getting closer to being reality...

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2005/04/06/sony_invention_beams_sights_sounds_into_brain/


April 6, 2005

LONDON (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 videogames 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."

where's my flying car? Transporter? Instant food-making oven?

x(

The US Patent system is shameful. Not clear how one can have a patent on something like this. One could patent it is they had figured out HOW to make it work and built a real demo. But this is no better than patenting robots that look and behave exactly like humans...