Strabismus Inc. Ink

Utrecht:

Finnish phone company Nokia has applied for a patent on tattoos that would sense when your mobile phone is ringing.

Using metal ores, the ‘tattoo’ would vibrate when a phone call was being received or when a user’s battery was running low.

The US patent application says that a user would have to scratch their arm to dismiss the alert, which would feel like a tingling sensation.As the tattoo is inserted under the skin, however, users would have to commit to a minor surgical procedure to take advantage of the new technology, which Nokia says would only be activated after scars have healed. The technology could also be applied superficially, but would be less resistant to wear and tear.
Communicating using different sequences of single or multiple pulses, the tattoo could theoretically do different things for messages, emails or warnings.

In the application, Nokia says that 'Prior to using the ferromagnetic inks for attaching to human skin, the ink material may be exposed to elevated temperatures to cause demagnetization. Such demagnetized ink is then used for creating an image by dispersing the ink material on or under the skin to make a functional, tattoo like image. Once the apparatus is settled and the skin cured, the user with the functional image may use permanent magnets to magnetize the functional image on the skin again.'

The application was filedthis month at the US Patent and Trademark Office.

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