January 17, 2006
Cellphone distress beacon
From Barry Fox's column in New Scientist, on weird and wonderful patent applications: This week's find is The cellphone distress beacon, registered by Nokia
"A cameraphone for anyone who fears being abducted has been devised by Nokia. It pretends to be off while actually sending an emergency alert, complete with pictures, sound and GPS location.
A recessed panic button triggers a pre-recorded emergency message when pressed. The phone camera then takes and sends a series of time-stamped snapshots or video clips to a service centre or trusted friend, along with any sound picked up by the microphone. If the phone has a GPS receiver it also stamps the message with location.
If reception is lost, for instance if an abductor drives into an underground car park, the phone stores images and audio in memory and automatically transmits them as soon a signal is regained."
... Although the patent tactfully does not mention it, the phone sounds like a excellent covert surveillance tool, too."
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