New patented technologies for cell phones

Sabra Chartrand for the NY Times reports on a series of new patended inventions for cell phones. Here's a selection of favorites:

Handwritten Notes Through the Phone. This new technology would allow text messages to be sent in handwritten form, thanks to a screen where you can write or draw messages with a finger or stylus.

The inventor, Mr. Shiigi said this would be particularly useful for "many written language systems, such as Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Arabic, Thai, Sanskrit, etc., that use cursive or ideographic characters that are very difficult to input by an equivalent method via keyboard. The system can even translate sketches into digital code."

A cell phone with a built-in printer. For those who want permanent copies of their text messages The device can create paper versions of any documents sent to a cellphone.

A cell phone that can eavesdrop. Hung-Che Chiu got the idea that his cellphone should be doing double duty while it sat in its cradle. So he patented a phone that can monitor sound in a room or a car, even while its battery is charging. A user calls the phone from a separate location and enters a code that activates the phone's microphone. The user can then eavesdrop.

A rear-view mirror cellphone. For driving and chatting hands-free.

emily | 5:49 PM | Technology |
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