| NEUROSCIENCES RESEARCH FOUNDATION, INC. Patent applications |
| Patent application number | Title | Published |
| 20120117012 | Spike-timing computer modeling of working memory - Working memory (WM) is part of the brain's memory system that provides temporary storage and manipulation of information necessary for cognition. Although WM has limited capacity at any given time, it has vast memory content in the sense that it acts on the brain's nearly infinite repertoire of lifetime memories. As described, large memory content and WM functionality emerge spontaneously if the spike-timing nature of neuronal processing is taken into account. The memories are represented by extensively overlapping groups of neurons that exhibit stereotypical time-locked spatiotemporal spike-timing patterns, called polychronous patterns. Using computer-implemented simulations, associative synaptic plasticity in the form of short-term STDP selects such polychronous neuronal groups (PNGs) into WM by temporarily strengthening the synapses of the selected PNGs. This strengthening increases the spontaneous reactivation frequency of the selected PNGs, resulting in irregular, yet systematically changing elevated firing activity patterns consistent with those recorded in vivo during WM tasks. The computer-implemented model implements the relationship between such slowly changing firing rates and precisely timed spikes, and also reveals a novel relationship between WM and the perception of time on the order of seconds. | 05-10-2012 |
| 20110302120 | ADDRESSING SCHEME FOR NEURAL MODELING AND BRAIN-BASED DEVICES USING SPECIAL PURPOSE PROCESSOR - A special purpose processor (SPP) can use a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) to model a large number of neural elements. The FPGAs or similar programmable device can have multiple cores doing presynaptic, postsynaptic, and plasticity calculations in parallel. Each core can implement multiple neural elements of the neural model. | 12-08-2011 |
| 20110184556 | MOBILE BRAIN-BASED DEVICE FOR USE IN A REAL WORLD ENVIRONMENT - A mobile brain-based device BBD includes a mobile base equipped with sensors and effectors (Neurally Organized Mobile Adaptive Device or NOMAD), which is guided by a simulated nervous system that is an analogue of cortical and sub-cortical areas of the brain required for visual processing, decision-making, reward, and motor responses. These simulated cortical and sub-cortical areas are reentrantly connected and each area contains neuronal units representing both the mean activity level and the relative timing of the activity of groups of neurons. The brain-based device BBD learns to discriminate among multiple objects with shared visual features, and associated “target” objects with innately preferred auditory cues. Globally distributed neuronal circuits that correspond to distinct objects in the visual field of NOMAD 10 are activated. These circuits, which are constrained by a reentrant neuroanatomy and modulated by behavior and synaptic plasticity, result in successful discrimination of objects. The brain-based device BBD is moveable, in a rich real-world environment involving continual changes in the size and location of visual stimuli due to self-generated or autonomous, movement, and shows that reentrant connectivity and dynamic synchronization provide an effective mechanism for binding the features of visual objects so as to reorganize object features such as color, shape and motion while distinguishing distinct objects in the environment. | 07-28-2011 |
| 20110071968 | MOBILE BRAIN-BASED DEVICE HAVING A SIMULATED NERVOUS SYSTEM BASED ON THE HIPPOCAMPUS - A brain-based device (BBD) having a physical mobile device NOMAD controlling and under control by a simulated nervous system. The simulated nervous system is based on an intricate anatomy and physiology of the hippocampus and its surrounding neuronal regions including the cortex. The BBD integrates spatial signals from numerous objects in time and provides flexible navigation solutions to aid in the exploration of unknown environments. As NOMAD navigates in its real world environment, the hippocampus of the simulated nervous system organizes multi-modal input information received from sensors on NOMAD over timescales and uses this organization for the development of spatial and episodic memories necessary for navigation. | 03-24-2011 |
| 20110047109 | Brain-Based Device Having a Cerebellar Model for Predictive Motor Control - A mobile brain-based device (BBD) includes a mobile platform with sensors and effectors, which is guided by a simulated nervous system that is an analogue of the cerebellar areas of the brain used for predictive motor control to determine interaction with a real-world environment. The simulated nervous system has neural areas including precerebellum nuclei (PN), Purkinje cells (PC), deep cerebellar nuclei (DCN) and an inferior olive (IO) for predicting turn and velocity control of the BBD during movement in a real-world environment. The BBD undergoes training and testing, and the simulated nervous system learns and performs control functions, based on a delayed eligibility trace learning rule. | 02-24-2011 |
| 20110022230 | HYBRID CONTROL DEVICE - A brain-based device (BBD) for moving in a real-world environment has sensors that provide data about the environment, actuators to move the BBD, and a hybrid controller which includes a neural controller having a simulated nervous system being a model of selected areas of the human brain and a non-neural controller based on a computational algorithmic network. The neural controller and non-neural controller interact with one another to control movement of the BBD. | 01-27-2011 |
| 20100161533 | ADDRESSING SCHEME FOR NEURAL MODELING AND BRAIN-BASED DEVICES USING SPECIAL PURPOSE PROCESSOR - A special purpose processor (SPP) can use a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) to model a large number of neural elements. The FPGAs or similar programmable device can have multiple cores doing presynaptic, postsynaptic, and plasticity calculations in parallel. Each core can implement multiple neural elements of the neural model. | 06-24-2010 |
| 20090240642 | NEURAL MODELING AND BRAIN-BASED DEVICES USING SPECIAL PURPOSE PROCESSOR - A special purpose processor (SPP) can use a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or similar programmable device to model a large number of neural elements. The FPGAs can have multiple cores doing presynaptic, postsynaptic, and plasticity calculations in parallel. Each core can implement multiple neural elements of the neural model. | 09-24-2009 |
| 20090089229 | MOBILE BRAIN-BASED DEVICE HAVING A SIMULATED NERVOUS SYSTEM BASED ON THE HIPPOCAMPUS - A brain-based device (BBD) having a physical mobile device NOMAD controlling and under control by a simulated nervous system. The simulated nervous system is based on an intricate anatomy and physiology of the hippocampus and its surrounding neuronal regions including the cortex. The BBD integrates spatial signals from numerous objects in time and provides flexible navigation solutions to aid in the exploration of unknown environments. As NOMAD navigates in its real world environment, the hippocampus of the simulated nervous system organizes multi-modal input information received from sensors on NOMAD over timescales and uses this organization for the development of spatial and episodic memories necessary for navigation. | 04-02-2009 |