Motorola wants to tattoo a smartphone receiver on your neck
November 8, 2013
Reporter
Google-owned smartphone maker Motorola has
applied for a patent for an "electronic tattoo" on people's necks
that doubles as a mobile microphone, lie detector and digital display.
mc10's flexible digital tattoo. Photo: mc10inc.com
The tattoo would capture vibrations, or
sound, directly from a user's throat, thus eliminating background noise that so
often mars conversations over mobile phones.
A diagram of the electronic neck tattoo. Photo: Motorola/US Patent & Trademark Office
The sound would then be transmitted from
the electronic tattoo, which has its own power supply built-in, to a nearby
smartphone via Bluetooth, near-field communication, also known as NFC, or the
wireless technology ZigBee.
"Mobile communication devices are
often operated in noisy environments ... Communication can reasonably be
improved and even enhanced with a method and system for reducing the acoustic
noise in such environments and contexts," reads the patent
.
"The system comprises an electronic
skin tattoo capable of being applied to a throat region of a body."
According to the patent, the device could
also be used as a lie detector by measuring the skin's electrical conductance
or "galvanic skin response" – the level at which electric
current passes through something.
"A user that may be nervous or
engaging in speaking falsehoods may exhibit different galvanic skin response
than a more confident, truth-telling individual," reads the patent.
The tattoo could even be fitted with a
display and user interface for inputting commands, such as muting the
device and joining a group conversation.
The device also has the potential to
communicate with tablets and other mobile computing devices.
The patent, titled ''Coupling an
electronic skin tattoo to a mobile communication device'' was filed
in May 2012, and was published on Thursday in the US.
The neck tattoo is by no means the first
foray into creative uses of technology for Motorola, which was bought by Google
for $12 billion in 2011.
The company revealed its work with digital
tattoos and password pills in May this year, and just last
week Motorola unveiled Project
Ara – a modular smartphone users can build and add to
themselves.
It has focused on a new wearable tech unit
since July, according to TechCrunch, while
its parent company is hard at work on Google Glass,
and is rumoured to be releasing a smart watch next year.
This latest move may be a sign of the
future direction of Motorola, after comScore reported on Thursday the company's
US share of the smartphone market shrank from 7.2 per cent in the quarter
ending in June to 6.8 per cent in the quarter ending in September.
But exactly how users would operate a tiny
touchscreen on their neck is anyone's guess.
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