Abstract: A device and method for decoding neuronal responses wherein sequences of potentials from neurons are monitored while specific motor tasks are carried out, and these sequences are characterized using order statistics and subsequently the order statistics are used to decode action potentials representing unidentified motor tasks to determine the desired motor task. The method of the invention comprises the steps of monitoring action potentials caused by a motor task being requested by the brain, calculating a spike density function and order tasks for each distinct motor task, to relate action potentials to their specific motor task. The invention also offers methods of formulating instructions for a prosthetic device.

Abstract: A device and method for decoding neuronal responses wherein sequences of potentials from neurons are monitored while specific motor tasks are carried out, and these sequences are characterized using order statistics and subsequently the order statistics are used to decode action potentials representing unidentified motor tasks to determine the desired motor task. The method of the invention comprises the steps of monitoring action potentials caused by a motor task being requested by the brain, calculating a spike density function and order tasks for each distinct motor task, to relate action potentials to their specific motor task. The invention also offers methods of formulating instructions for a prosthetic device.

Abstract: An improved multi-unit analyzer is provided by virtue of the present invention. An analog-to-digital converter (A/D) digitizes a multi-unit signal, a pulse detector triggers when the multi-unit signal reaches a specified threshold, and a pulse sampler outputs a packet of samples of the signal around the point where the signal passes the threshold. The packet is then transformed into a point on a plane, the P-plane. The transformed point is compared to one or more rectangles in the P-plane, to determine if the point falls within any rectangle. If a point falls within a rectangle, a pulse is output on a line corresponding to the rectangle. This compare and output process is given a high priority. A low priority process displays the packet of samples in a window corresponding to the rectangle which encloses the point in the P-plane which results from the transformation of the packet of samples.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for transmitting prosthetic information to the brain contains an array of sensory elements that receive energy from an external stimulus and process those signals via neural filters and neural waveforms to produce a pulse or `spike` train that is temporally encoded with information that is functionally related to the external stimulus. The simulated spike trains, when applied to an appropriate area of the brain, produce perceptions that are functionally related to the sensed external stimuli so that a subject can discriminate between different spike trains representative of different external stimuli.