Reported by device’s abstract, it is able to record information necessary to asses a user’s emotional stance, such as capturing the sounds he/she makes with the use of in-built microphone and images with a front camera.
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That’s right, a ceiling projector.
The patent, courtesy of NeoGAF, provides an early look at the device, which appears to be about the size of an alarm clock, and comes equipped with a docking station, speakers, and a ceiling projector. The device basically works like this: it has an information processing system that grabs sensor data in order to assess a user’s emotions. What can be inferred for now is that the sleep monitor from Nintendo may need wireless pairing with the smartphone of the user as evidenced by the drawings.
The device is probably part of Nintendo’s “Quality of Life” initiative which it announced last year, where the electronics developer stated its plans for creating a sleep monitoring device, but has not given any updates on the status of the project afterwards.
“This information processing system comprises a portable terminal”, Nintendo’s patent explains. The portable terminal detects the sensor information in a period when the said portable terminal is in a standby state.
Sensors remotely detect pulse rate, temperature and humidity through a camera, microphone and other unknown inputs. The sleep monitor then projects the user’s results on the ceiling or the wall, as shown in the below drawing included in Nintendo’s patent application. One of the images also shows a Wii Balance Board that is used in measuring the weight of a user.
A couple of interesting patents owned by Nintendo were published last week, and while it wouldn’t have been surprising to see the details relate to the company’s upcoming NX console, it actually has to do with something completely different, and unexpected.
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Nintendo’s late company president Satoru Iwata explained the technology was designed to be a separate arm of the business to its games development, and would differ from existing sleep sensors due to the fact that it would be contactless. Awesome, right? This technology is thought to launch sometime next year.
