SYSTÈME NEUROPROTHÉTIQUE ET PROCÉDÉ DE REMPLACEMENT D'UNE MODALITÉ DE DÉTECTION D'UN MAMMIFÈRE PAR STIMULATION ÉLECTRIQUE HAUTE DENSITÉ D'UNE RÉGION DU CORTEX CÉRÉBRAL

摘要

An aspect of the present disclosure relates to a neuroprosthetic system for substituting a sensory modality of a mammal by electrical stimulation of a region of the cerebral cortex of said mammal corresponding to said neural modality to be substituted, said system comprising: at least one sensor, for use by said mammal, arranged for generating a sensed data feed by sensing a neural modality to be substituted; an electrode unit, comprised of a plurality of three-dimensional arrays of flexible, elongated electrode shafts, arranged for intracortical implantation for a dense occupation of such region of the cerebral cortex of said mammal arranged for providing functional coverage of the sensory modality, each shaft comprising multiple electrical contacts, for electrical stimulation of subsets of locations in said region of the cerebral cortex; a rigid electrode support structure, arranged for simultaneously guiding said flexible electrode shafts of an array into said region of the cerebral cortex of said mammal during intracortical implantation, and for retracting said support structure after implantation of an array of flexible electrode shafts; a driving unit, arranged for electrically driving said electrode unit for stimulating said subsets of locations in said region of the cerebral cortex; a recording unit, arranged obtaining neural recording through said electrode unit in said region of the cerebral cortex; a processing unit, arranged for analysing said sensed data feed for providing stimulation patterns for electrically driving groups of electrical contacts of said electrode unit corresponding to subsets of locations in said region of the cerebral cortex, for substituting said sensory modality.