Wacky Patent: Coupling an Electronic Skin Tattoo to a Mobile Communication Device

It is not news that technology is embedded into our every day lives. This patent application aimed to take these words to the next level! Patent # US20130297301A1 was filed by Google Technology Holdings, LLC in May of 2012.

The focus of the application is to reduce environmental noise in mobile communications, by attaching a microphone to… your throat. This system includes an electronic skin tattoo with a microphone, a wireless communications transceiver coupled to a mobile device and a power supply. The electronic skin tattoo determines whether a received audio signal matches a predetermined voice pattern (such as a specific word, a user’s intonation, a melody, etc.) in order to execute different function with the mobile device.

Although this particular application was abandoned, it is not the first and certainly not the last invention that sounds like it came out of an episode of Black Mirror.

Abstract:

A system and method provides auxiliary voice input to a mobile communication device (MCD). The system comprises an electronic skin tattoo capable of being applied to a throat region of a body. The electronic skin tattoo can include an embedded microphone; a transceiver for enabling wireless communication with the MCD; and a power supply configured to receive energizing signals from a personal area network associated with the MCD. A controller is communicatively coupled to the power supply. The controller can be configured to receive a signal from the MCD to initiate reception of an audio stream picked up from the throat region of the body for subsequent audio detection by the MCD under an improved signal-to-noise ratio than without the employment of the electronic skin tattoo. Click here to learn more about the device!

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