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?)

It's power not data

[malefic]

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.

good luck MS

[Lumpy]

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?

IBM did this years ago.

[swngnmonk]

I remember IBM had a demo product that would exchange virtual business cards via a handshake - it might well have been a plug-in to a Palm Pilot They theorized max xfer at 2400bps at the time - this was 1996-7 or so. Still looking for the link.

My thoughts exactly.

[Brandon Glass]

I guess Kevin Warwick [kevinwarwick.com] 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).

Re:IBM did this years ago.

[swngnmonk]

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 [ibm.com].

Looks and sounds a lot like what MSFT just patented.

Re:Does this work???

[JPriest]

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.

Lots of Prior Art

[linuxtelephony]

Several years ago there was someone that created this technology. When two people with PDAs using this technology shook hands, the PDAs used the "circuit" to exchange contact information. The logic went something like, if you shake their hand, you want to share and collect their information. Unlike wireless, you didn't just blindly share your info with everyone in close proximity.

No -- It's power AND data

[Mr. Sane]

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.

Re:This might be valid

[aka-ed]

Doesn't matter. Patent #6754472, which you could easily access from the USPO website [uspto.gov], is a patent for "method and apparatus," and spells out exactly what the apparatus is supposed to accomplish. It doesn't prevent others from using human conductivity for other unrelated purposes, and in fact cites 8 previous patents, including some exploiting the same principle. You seem to be lacking a sense of what it is that patents actually protect.

Re:IBM did this years ago.

[YouTalkinToMe]

Well, in the patent they cite:

"Personal Area Networks: Near-field intrabody communication"; IBM Systems Journal, vol. 35, No. 3&4, 1996 --MIT Media Lab, 11 pages.

so I assume that the patent adds something to what was done at IBM.

Re:good luck MS

[Lumpy]

I suggest you actually READ the patent. they are trying to patent data transfer (PAN) and power transfer.

if they weren't trying to sneak the data stuff in there I would not have a problem with it, but they are trying to submarine the PAN data technology into their own patent.

strip out everything to do with data and I'll love the fact they have a patent on a new idea.

And this is insightful how?

[Divlje Jagode]

Followed any [slashdot.org] of [news.com.au] the [ntt.co.jp] links [nttdocomo.com]?

My gut feeling is:

• Data transmission: maybe, but bandwidth will be low.
• Power supply: won't work

Look, you only had to go as far as the slashdot link [slashdot.org]:

Eye of the Frog writes "Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. and its subsidiary NTT DoCoMo Inc. have developed a device that attaches to your PDA which uses the body's conductivity to transmit data at an amazing 10 megabits per second.

the keywords being amazing and megabits. Please, in the future, keep your gut feelings to yourself.

Re:good luck MS

[Christopher_G_Lewis]

The MS patent actually references several other patents, including:

5796827 [uspto.gov] which is IBM's for the hand-shake data transfer.

6104913 [uspto.gov] IBM's PAN

and
6211799 [uspto.gov] MIT's on power/data transmission over the body.

Obviously they are building on previous patents, and have come up with an enhancement.

Or the patent office just rubber stamped it :-)

IBM also has prior art...

[AaronBaker2000]

I remember reading about this in Popular Science years ago. IBM developed this in 1996 and called it a Personal Area Network. Read about it here:

http://www.almaden.ibm.com/cs/user/pan/pan. html

1995 Wired Article: The Body Bus

[theodp]

The Body Bus [wired.com]
Tom Zimmerman has shown that the noncontact coupling between your body and weak electric fields can be used to create and sense tiny nano-amp currents in your body. Modulating these signals creates Body Net, a personal-area network that communicates through your skin.

Re:My thoughts exactly.

[phasm42]

More information on Kevin Warwick, a.k.a. Captain Cyborg here: here [kevinwarwick.org.uk], here [theregister.co.uk], and here [theregister.co.uk]
The folks over at El Reg are bigs fans of him ;-)

Prior Art?

[mindseye1]

I just read an article about a company researching how the human body can actually create small amounts of electricity itself. This would be used to power things like, say, a pace maker. But I'm not sure if this is the same idea that M$ is going for. Anybody know what I'm talking about?

Power Transmission

[Praufet]

Those who are defending this patent argue the MS is trying to patent power transfer more so than data transfer might wanna think about the fact that transfer power over your skin is extremely obvious. If the patent office were properly staffed with competent individuals these things would not happen. I mean anyone who has ever been shocked has discovered prior art for power tranfer over human skin.

Re:This might be valid

[mAineAc]

I don't know, I found this [mit.edu] that talks about PAN(personal area netowrk) from 1995

Re:Wrong icon

[Anonymous Coward]

Same joke nearly 20 minutes before this comment.
(-1 Redundant)

http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=112081&cid=9 50 7861

slashdot needs years on their date stamps...

[Stephen Samuel]

the sited article [slashdot.org] is dated Sunday October 06, @20:37. .. October 6 of what year? This could make the difference between a random reference and verified prior art. (I'm not kidding here... Slashdot posts might classify as prior art in some patent fights).

In this case, it looks like this one was 2002 (the other option is an unlikely 1996), which is 2 years after MS filed their patent.

I'm lazy.. I hate having to use cal(1) to figure this out.

Re:good luck MS

[Felinoid]

So the only diffrence between Microsofts patent and IBMs PAN is the power distrabution grid?
I sort of missed out on all the PAN research myself becouse I was focused on the step power generator created to power wearables.
Now how do you suppose they get all that power from the foot to the head? I didn't see any wires leading down the leg in the prototype.

I found the whole talk of power distrabution to be boring so I phased it out. Someone else might know.

Re:This might be valid

[Anonymous Coward]

prior art? http://www.almaden.ibm.com/cs/user/pan/pan.html

Seen it before, in 1996.

[CarlPatten]

http://www.businessweek.com/1996/26/b348112.htm

SOLE MATES. At MIT's Media Lab, where corporate sponsors fund prototypes of new digital technologies, computers are appearing in wildly unlikely places. As part of a project called Things That Think, researchers have embedded a computer in a Nike Inc. sneaker. Using a piezoelectric polymer to generate power from foot movement, a computer in the heel might act as a sort of personal secretary. When two people shake hands, for instance, the skin-to-skin contact would be detected by sensors in each person's shoe. That would trigger an exchange of information--the computers could perhaps swap electronic business cards and check calendars for a future meeting date. Modified eyeglasses and wristwatches might display the data.

Re:And in other news....

[Black Rabbit]

Almost.

It would be R=E/I

where

(R)esistance is expressed in Ohms
(E)lectrical Potential is expressed in Volts
(I)Current is expressed in Amperes

Don't apply the units until you actually make the calculation.

At least, that's what they taught me in my military electronics training, way back when.

Re:And in other news....

[mallardtheduck]

Well, in my physics class we always use V. E is too abigous. It could easily mean (E)lectircal current or (E)lectrical resistance or (E)nergy...

Re:No -- It's power AND data

[monkeydo]

And if you actually look at the Microsoft patent, you will see that they reference the IBM work as well as the DoCoMo patent. I suspect that if they thought these patents invalidated their application they would have realized it by now. At the very least, the patent examiner would have looked at the refereced patent and determinined they are suficiently different.

Already done by MIT almost ten years ago

[Anonymous Coward]

I have (at home, unfortunately or I could give a hard refrence) a copy of the IBM Systems Journal from about 1997, which was a focus on the MIT Media Lab (remember Nicholas Negroponte?)

In that issue, this very idea was the focal point of an entire article, and it showed pictures of working prototypes, including the exhange of electronic "busines cards" via the bioelectic fields of two people shaking hands.

I find it very hard to believe that neither of MIT or IBM have not already patented this, and if they haven't, there is definite, published even, prior art.

Did the Patent office not even bother doing a literature search?

IBM did this back in 1996 or earlier

[Durandel1020]

IBM has done this sort of research many years ago. Knowing how IBM is on the ball with patent law, I doubt they didnt patent this before.

http://www.almaden.ibm.com/cs/user/pan/pan.html

see for yourself, this type of thing is old hat.