Patent ID: 8506613

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a handheld nerve-stimulation unit, the unit including: a unitary handpiece; a first semiconductor-based visible-light-emitting source operative to emit a first visible optical pointer signal at a first visible color wavelength, wherein the first visible color wavelength is visible to humans; a second semiconductor-based visible-light-emitting source operative to emit a second visible optical pointer signal at a second visible color wavelength, wherein the second visible color wavelength is visible to humans; a first nerve-stimulation-light-emitting source that is operative to emit a first nerve-stimulation infrared optical signal at a third wavelength, wherein the third wavelength is different than the first visible color wavelength and the second visible color wavelength; and optics configured to focus the first nerve-stimulation infrared optical signal to a focus location point at which the first nerve-stimulation infrared optical signal has a desired focus, wherein the first nerve-stimulation infrared optical signal, when applied such that the focus location point is on a nerve of an animal subject, triggers a nerve-action potential response in the nerve, wherein the first visible optical pointer signal and the second visible optical pointer signal together indicate the focus location point of the first nerve-stimulation infrared optical signal and provide optical indicia that distinguish a focused condition from conditions that do not have the desired focus, and wherein at least one of the first visible optical pointer signal and the second visible optical pointer signal is noncoincident to the first nerve-stimulation infrared optical signal as the at least one visible optical pointer signal transmits through an exit surface of the unitary handpiece of the nerve-stimulation unit; wherein the first nerve-stimulation-light-emitting source, the first visible light-emitting source, and the second visible light-emitting source are located within the unitary handpiece, and wherein the optics includes at least a first lens located interior to the unitary handpiece and facing the first nerve-stimulation-light-emitting source, the first visible light-emitting source, and the second visible light-emitting source and configured to cross the first visible optical pointer signal with the second visible optical pointer signal at the focus location point of the first nerve-stimulation infrared optical signal, and wherein the first visible optical pointer signal, the second visible optical pointer signal, and the first nerve-stimulation infrared optical signal pass through the first lens such that the first visible optical pointer signal and the second visible optical-pointer signal coincide with one another at the focus location point of the first nerve-stimulation infrared optical signal.