August 30, 2006
Cellphone smoke-detector
Your cellphone may soon serve as a smoke detector if Nokia gets its way, according to everyone's favorite Barry Fox, reporting on weird and wonderful patent applications for New Scientist.
"Conventional smoke alarms detect smoke particles by the way they scatter light. But they work using a small chamber that allows smoke in while keeping out ambient light. This makes the detector too big for a small phone.
Nokia gets around this by putting a light emitter and detector in the side of the phone. Any smoke particles in the air then scatter light from the emitter into the detector which then triggers an alarm or dials a pre-programmed number. [Patent 20060164241]
Earlier this week: - A patent has been requested for a mobile phone which would include light panels for treating SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder)
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