Logic Circuits that Use the Brain’s Methods of Processing Information

Category: Engineering and Physical Sciences

Reference Number: 00736

Description

A new class of logic circuits processes information in the same way as the brain.  Like neurons, the networks’ components can have varying degrees of activation, and an activated component can either activate or suppress other components.  The networks have simpler and more efficient architecture than standard logic circuits, and they produce classical Boolean logic as well as the more general fuzzy logic.  The networks are modular and recursively defined, allowing a simple construction process.

Applications

The logic circuits could be applied to any means of information processing, including biological and electronic computational systems.  Possible uses include classification, control, pattern recognition, and decision making.  The circuits could have applications in medicine, biotechnology, nanotechnology, robotics, smart sensors, and expert systems. 

Main Advantages

Until now, the relationship between the organization of synaptic connections and how the brain processes information has been poorly understood.  This has impeded progress in medicine and neural science as well as attempts to mimic the brain in computational systems.  Standard solutions to many complex computational problems are prohibitively impractical because they require massive hardware or computationally intensive software.  Efficiently designed logic circuits that compute with partially activated components can produce complex computations far more simply.

Inventor(s)

Lane Yoder
Kapiolani Community College
Department of Mathematics

Contact Information

For licensing information, please contact Lee Taylor at ltaylor2@hawaii.edu

For all other inquiries, please write to:

Office of Technology Transfer & Economic Development
University of Hawai’i
2800 Woodlawn Drive, Suite 280
Honolulu, HI 96822