Patent ID: 8840654

Claim:
An apparatus for optically stimulating neurons of a cochlea of a person, the apparatus comprising: means for obtaining an audio signal having an audio spectrum; means for generating a plurality of “M” audio channels of the audio spectrum for each of a plurality of successive time frames including a first, second, third and fourth time frame, each of the plurality of “M” audio channels for one of the plurality of time frames having a sub-portion of frequencies of the audio spectrum for a period of time corresponding to that one of the plurality of frames; means for selecting for each of the plurality of time frames a subset of “N” audio channels selected from the “M” audio channels by an “N of M” coding strategy, wherein “M” and “N” are variables representing numbers of audio channels, wherein the “M” audio channels are divided into a plurality of bins including a first bin, a second bin, and a third bin, wherein the first bin includes a first plurality of adjacent audio channels of the “M” audio channels, wherein the second bin includes a second plurality of adjacent audio channels of the “M” audio channels, wherein the first plurality of adjacent audio channels and the second plurality of adjacent audio channels are mutually exclusive, wherein the third bin includes a third plurality of adjacent audio channels of the “M” audio channels, wherein the third plurality of adjacent audio channels partially overlaps the first plurality of adjacent audio channels and the second plurality of adjacent audio channels, wherein the means for selecting a subset of “N” audio channels includes a means for placing a quota on a maximum number of channels activated within each of the plurality of bins during each of the plurality of time frames in order to prevent localized overheating of the cochlea, wherein the quota is fewer than all channels within each of the plurality of bins; means for generating for each of the plurality of time frames a corresponding pulsed light signal having one or more successive pulses for each one of the subset of “N” audio channels that, when applied to a neuron of a person, will each stimulate a nerve action potential (NAP) in the neuron; and means for delivering for each of the plurality of time frames the generated corresponding pulsed light signals to a corresponding one of a plurality of frequency-specific locations in the cochlea of the person to optically stimulate one or more neurons in the cochlea in order to trigger NAPs in the one or more neurons of the cochlea.