Motorola Files Patent For Electronic Tattoo With Lie Detecting Capabilities

Google's Motorola filed a patent with U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in May 2012 for an "electronic skin tattoo" that would allow clearer hands-free communication, according to the Telegraph.

The tattoo isn't a tattoo at all, but more of an adhesive, which Motorola says can be placed on the side of the neck or it would be placed inside "a collar or band that would be worn around the throat [of] a user," The Register reported. Whether this adhesive will be able to be removed daily, or at the users will, is unclear.

The patent states it would be used for "acoustic noise for a mobile communication device and more particularly to reducing acoustic noise with an auxiliary voice input," according to the Telegraph.

The patent filed by the mobility division of Motorola says the microchip tattoo can clarify auditory tones in loud and noisy environments like a sports event or loud venue or event, and even for emergency situations when hands-free, clear, wireless communication is needed in a large crowd, according to the Telegraph.

The tattoo would also help when ones hands are full, just as a bluetooth does now, but the bluetooth takes in all the surrounding noise and not just the users voice.

Motorola said in the application that "communication can reasonably be improved and even enhanced with a method and system for reducing the acoustic noise in such environments and contexts," the Telegraph reported.

The patent explains that during certain situations a noisy environment interrupts a clear conversation using a wireless phone. The electronic tattoo, placed on the throat, will pick up your voice directly, cutting out background noise, The Register reported.

In section 0027 of the patent, Motorola also added a "galvanic skin response detector" which can be used as a lie detector, as it picks up on skin and voice frequencies and reactions that can determine if the person is "nervous or engaging in speaking falsehoods," according to The Register.

This section of the patent, which was published on Nov. 7 during the USPTO's weekly patent-fest, has brought extreme reactions from media reports due to the risky business of using skin reactions like sweat, to be used in lie-detecting technology.

According to The Register, the electronic tattoo would also issue voice commands to the users phone and the patent states the chip could run on various methods, including solar panel technology.