Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Patents The Body Bus
Mz6 writes "Microsoft has been awarded a patent for using
human skin as a power conduit and data bus. Patent No.
6,754,472, which was published Tuesday, describes a method for transmitting power and data to devices worn on the body and for communication of data between those devices. In its filing, Microsoft cites the proliferation of wearable electronic devices, such as wristwatches, pagers, PDAs (worn on people's belts) and small displays that can now be mounted on headgear. "As a result of carrying multiple portable electronic devices, there is often a significant amount of redundancy in terms of input/output devices included in the portable devices used by a single person," says the filing. "For example, a watch, pager, PDA and radio may all include a speaker." To reduce the redundancy of input/output devices, Microsoft's patent proposes a personal area network that allows a single data input or output device to be used by multiple portable devices." (What about DoCoMo's research in this area?)
..... Micrsoft to sue all future survivors of lightning strikes.
Somehow, the topic icon of Bill as a Borg seems more appropriate than ever.
A beowulf.
No, really!
When any of your portable devices detect that the DRM has been violated for their IP, they would like the wearer of the device to recieve a powerful electric shock, capable of causing paralysis.
...Microsoft have announced they are patenting the use of the human body as a energy source for computers.
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
They are also patenting the human built-in telescopic antenna array. Unfortunately, it will only be available to approximately 50% of the population.
DoCoMo's research is to transfer data via the body, which IBM also has done research (and most likely has some patents on). The MS patent is to power non-powered devices by having a power supply somewhere else that transmits the current through the skin. Similar, but different.
So I guess this might ultimately allow the transfer of data literally through a handshake ...
A personal area network (PAN) is a technology that could enable wearable computer devices to communicate with other nearby computers and exchange digital information using the electrical conductivity of the human body as a data network. For example, two people each wearing business card-size transmitters and receivers conceivably could exchange information by shaking hands. The transference of data through intra-body contact, such as handshakes, is known as linkup. The human body's natural salinity makes it a good conductor of electricity. An electric field passes tiny currents, known as Pico amps, through the body when the two people shake hands. The handshake completes an electric circuit and each person's data, such as e-mail addresses and phone numbers, are transferred to the other person's laptop computer or a similar device. A person's clothing also could act as a mechanism for transferring this data.
The concept of a PAN first was developed by Thomas Zimmerman and other researchers at M.I.T.'s Media Lab and later supported by IBM's Almaden research lab.
sorry but MIT and IBM is way ahead of Microsoft in this with prior art.
hell I made a example prototype from the information I recieved from mister Zimmerman back in 1997 for playing around with PAN's when i was heavy into the wearable computing research.
Microsoft, what Idea can we steal today?
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Resistence is futile... errr... patented.
Those who can, do. Those who can't, consult.
I guess Kevin Warwick will enjoy the prospect of the Personal Area Network as described above, though. Now if only we could find a way to embed these devices directly into the skin and/or find a way to connect the input jacks directly into our brains...
(For those who don't know, Kevin Warwick is Professor of Cybernetics at Reading University, and performed an experiment on himself by implanting a tracking device into his arm, which allowed computers to determine which room he was in, and make judgements based on his position).
Brandon Glass's personal site.
Borg coments aside, I'd love to see this work. Turning the human skin into a data path has wonderful medical applications. Imagine being able to monitor pacemakers, hearing aids, and other prosthetic devices non-invasively.
Furthermore, this could open up the prospect of "implants" to help humans with different things. If Microsoft can really get data and power running through the human body, it could really usher in a new age of computing.
Just clean up the mess after unexpected core dumps.
Found it.
It was an IBM researcher by the name of Tom Zimmerman who created a "Personal Area Network", back in 1996: Personal Area Networks (PAN): A Technology Demonstration by IBM Research.
Looks and sounds a lot like what MSFT just patented.
'ARRGH! Pirate Designers of the Internet, we be!'
So what happens when my wife and I have sex.
Do the two networks connect?
Is my watch going to get a virus from her cellphone earings???
I have now officially coined the phrase "Sexually Transmitted Computer Virus" or STCV's.
I would love to see the sylibus for the sex-ed classes in 2010.
RTFA, the DoCoMo technology said they can exchange data between people at up to 10 meg. The DoCoMo tech lets users exchange email address and "buisness card" data with a handshake. Cool stuff.
Saying Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.
Microsoft filed their patent (which is titled a "Method and apparatus for transmitting power and data using the human body") on April 27, 2000.
Yet at this web site, http://www.almaden.ibm.com/cs/user/pan/pan.html, there is a white paper (dated November 18-19, 1996) where IBM demonstrates their "new Personal Area Network technology that uses the natural electrical conductivity of the human body to transmit electronic data".
So, IBM demonstrated similar techniques back in 1996 that used the natural electrical conductivity to transmit data.
However, Microsoft's claims focus on power, and frequency adjustments, this is basis for their ability to send data.
One of Microsoft's claims states "modulating an information signal transmitted" using this signal; yet, in the IBM white paper it states that "The natural salinity of the human body makes it an excellent conductor of electrical current. PAN technology takes advantage of this conductivity by creating an external electric field that passes an incredibly tiny current through the body, over which data is carried."
My gut says that many of MS's claims are voided by prior art -- but one would need to study the MS claims in detail, and compare it to DoCoMo's and IBM's research on the subject, to make a truly educated rebuttal.
I survived the Dick Cheney Presidency 7 to 9 AM 7-21-07
They measure resistance conducted through the human body. Any standard electronic voltmeter can be programmed to measure resistance in the low ohm range.
With the Atari series of computers, it was possible to use human body as a game controller. By holding onto a pair of connectors connected to the paddle input pins, it was possible to change the resistance of the circuit by changing how strongly you gripped the connectors.
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
Body Bus = Skin Cancer?
It will certainly be a while before the long term effects of data or power over skin will be available. The lower levels of the epidermis constantly divide and push older dying cells outward to protect the body (info). Many things can cause improper division and lead to cancer. UV radiation everyone should already know about but so can excessive amounts from other radiant energy sources; such as electromagnetic or microwave. I don't believe short term exposure to low levels of energy have any chance of causeing problems in a healthy adult; but years of exposure over the same areas may be another story. There is no way in hell I want devices sending messages or power across my skin until there is significant data to say its safe.
"Capital punishment makes the state into a murderer. Imprisonment makes the state into a gay dungeon-master"
My brain is prior art.
It gets it's energy from my body, and uses it as a data bus to send messages to my various other parts.
Wear do current technologies like Heart Rate Monitors fit into this?
Polar, Nike, even Timex have what I'd call body based data bus technology already. Interesting patent to say the least, I wonder what is next. Beside a proliferation of IP lawyers.
What about the times I used to hold a coat hanger in one hand, and grab the TV antenna with the other, in order to get a good signal? My body was used to carry data then (although it was analog).