Sony Corp. filed a patent for SmartWig, a device that would soon be able to connect wirelessly to other devices, including smartphones.
![Sony acquires patent for 'SmartWig']( "Sony acquires patent for 'SmartWig'")
In a U.S. patent application, the company said the hairpiece would be the latest in a string of recently introduced wearable computing devices, including smartwatches and smart eyeglasses.
The Tokyo-based company wrote that the head is the perfect body part to target for such technology, because “the fact that users instinctively protect their heads more than other body parts is also advantageous, since more sensitive sensors and other computing components may be used without the risk of getting damaged.
“It is an object to provide an improved wearable computing device,” Sony said in the application. “At least one sensor, the processing unit and the communication interface are arranged in the wig and at least partly covered by the wig in order to be visually hidden during use.”
The wig could be made from “horse hair, human hair, wool, feathers, yak hair, buffalo hair or any kind of synthetic material,” Sony said.
It remains unclear, though, if the SmartWig, invented by Sony’s Hiroaki Tobita, will actually hit stores any time soon.
A spokeswoman for the company told Bloomberg that the research process is continuing, and that “it has not been decided whether to commercialize the technology or not.”
And even if the technology does make its way to the masses, it may not end up being an actual wig, said Queen’s University marketing professor Ken Wong.
“When companies file patents, it isn’t necessarily with the intention of introducing the product, but more to patent everything that surrounds the product,” he said.
If the product turns out to be an actual wig, Wong said he doesn’t see it doing very well. But if it ends up being something closer to a baseball cap, for example, then its chance of success are better, he said.
“Going forward, I think you can expect people trying to patent wigs, or blinks of an eye, or any other device that would help you get information in or out without the burden of the keyboard and the mouse,” he said.--Source: The Star
In a U.S. patent application, the company said the hairpiece would be the latest in a string of recently introduced wearable computing devices, including smartwatches and smart eyeglasses.
The Tokyo-based company wrote that the head is the perfect body part to target for such technology, because “the fact that users instinctively protect their heads more than other body parts is also advantageous, since more sensitive sensors and other computing components may be used without the risk of getting damaged.
“It is an object to provide an improved wearable computing device,” Sony said in the application. “At least one sensor, the processing unit and the communication interface are arranged in the wig and at least partly covered by the wig in order to be visually hidden during use.”
The wig could be made from “horse hair, human hair, wool, feathers, yak hair, buffalo hair or any kind of synthetic material,” Sony said.
It remains unclear, though, if the SmartWig, invented by Sony’s Hiroaki Tobita, will actually hit stores any time soon.
A spokeswoman for the company told Bloomberg that the research process is continuing, and that “it has not been decided whether to commercialize the technology or not.”
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| Wearable computing device, comprising: a wig that is adapted to cover at least a part of a head of a user, at least one sensor for providing input data, a processing unit that is coupled to the at least one sensor for processing said input data, and a communication interface that is coupled to the processing unit for communicating with a second computing device, the at least one sensor, the processing unit and the communication interface being arranged in the wig and at least partly covered by the wig in order to be visually hidden during use. (US Patent excerpt) |
And even if the technology does make its way to the masses, it may not end up being an actual wig, said Queen’s University marketing professor Ken Wong.
“When companies file patents, it isn’t necessarily with the intention of introducing the product, but more to patent everything that surrounds the product,” he said.
If the product turns out to be an actual wig, Wong said he doesn’t see it doing very well. But if it ends up being something closer to a baseball cap, for example, then its chance of success are better, he said.
“Going forward, I think you can expect people trying to patent wigs, or blinks of an eye, or any other device that would help you get information in or out without the burden of the keyboard and the mouse,” he said.--Source: The Star