the new sony brain buzzer

[litch]

Sony has patented a technique for direct brain stimulation via ultrasonic stimulation. Damn nifty, though the potential for damage seems kinda scary. I'm kinda skeptical about being able to create virtual illusions with the technique but you could do some really interesting things with it, like stimulating some of the emotional centers in concert with an audio visual presentation.

A little more detail

Comments

Patented Maniac

[inoah.livejournal.com]

The last paragraph, namely that the patent is speculative and no experimentation was even done, as well as the passive nature of the statement, annoys me.

Either the patent is useless because it can't be done (or at least, can't be done in the way they claim), or someone else will do the work and then find, to their dismay, that they owe Sony royalties despite having invented the technology independently of any knowledge that Sony has actually contributed to the world. In other words, it's a leech patent.

I think the patent office should require patent filers to demonstrate a working implementation or active process before granting them. They do for perpetual motion machines! I guess they figure people won't waste their time trying to show that they violated the 2nd law of thermodynamics. But for the benefit of society overall, why should we tolerate this kind of intellectual claim jumping?