September 28, 2004
Collar Computer Patent
Wearable Computer manufacturer, Xybernaut, has encouraged the kludge that is the patent office by patenting a:
"WEARABLE COMPUTER SYSTEM THAT IS INTEGRATED WITH A GARMENT COLLAR".
While I'm not a lawyer, I do think this is a stupid patent since it discourages innovation, isn't revolutionary, and because of the pile of prior art, like nomadic radios, the gumstix computer, or wifi gps cow collars.
"Wireless earpiece or eye-glass display. A collarmounted near-field transceiver allows connectionto head-mounted peripherals" [[Hewlett-Packard ]
"Computers will be in your collar, so you can whisper when you talk with them and hear without bothering others." [Invisible Computer]
"The general areas we have found to be the mostunobtrusive for wearable objects are: (a) collar area, (b) rearof the upper arm, (c) forearm, (d)rear, side, and frontribcage, (e) waist and hips, (f) thigh, (g) shin, and (h) top ofthe foot." [[Carnegie Mellon University]
"...an MP3 player and a GSM phone, controlled by a unified remote control. The system uses voice command via a microphone hidden in the collar, and retractable earphones extend out from the shoulders for listening to both music and phone calls." [Enter the Cyborg]
[Link from Bryan Hurley on the Wear Hard Mailing List. Thanks Bryan for the scoop! Upper right photo from igargoyle: persistent aware collar. Lower left photo from Nomadic Radio]