Cell Phone Vibrating Tattoos

Nokia have filed for 2 patents (pdf link) with the U.S. Patent and Trade Office detailing how either an adhesive skin patch or a tattoo containing ferromagnetic material could be used to create skin sensations that would alert the user to an incoming call or message to their cell phone or even that their battery was getting low on power.

The device/method could take various forms, including a visible tattoo, label or badge, that could emit different vibration patterns which could act like customized ring tones to distinguish between different callers.

The patent application says "The magnetic field, when detected by the apparatus, will cause a different effect based on its characteristics," & "For example, the magnetic field may cause vibration of one short pulse, multiple short pulses, a few long pulses, a mixture of short and long pulses, strong pulses, weak pulses, and so on."

For some this may all seem like science fiction but if a company as big as Nokia is filing for patents then its time to sit up and take notice.

We previously hypothesised that tattoo pigments containing particles with diametrically opposing magnetic properties may be responsible for the tingling skin sensations that are sometimes caused during MRI procedures, it seems that Nokia may have come to a similar conclusion.

Nokia's patent suggests using magnetic ink, containing compounds such as iron oxide. Prior to usage, the ink would be heated to a high temperature to temporarily demagnetize the particles. After getting the tattoo, the user then re-magnetises the image with an external magnet source.

No mention could be found within the application about possible MRI effects if tattoo pigments containing highly magnetic particles were used.

For some the idea of having a communication device within a tattoo might seem far too invasive but just like all other forms of technology there will be other early adopters who will lining up to be among the first to have the latest communication gadget.

Beam Me Up Scotty!

Original publication date: 16/08/2013

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