As the company continues its stated intent to aggressively build up its patent portfolio, Microsoft has been granted a patent on power networking using the human body itself.
Microsoft has been granted a new patent on transmitting electrical power and data. The only different part of the patent is the medium; the human body itself. As is not uncommon for current patents, the patent was not accompanied by an actual working prototype, merely illustrations.
US Patent 6,754,472 covers a "method and apparatus for transmitting power and data using the human body". According to the patent, the intent is to reduce device redundancy for people carrying multiple devices, such as a phone, headset, handheld, and wristwatch that all include a speaker. The conventional answer to that problem is Bluetooth, and before it infrared, but the Microsoft patent covers using the body of the wearer as the transmission medium for both data and electrical power, even between devices that do not have any sort of user interface whatsoever in the traditional sense, such as earrings. What sort of portable no-interface device would fit into the earing form factor, the patent did not say.
The use of the human body as a data transmission medium is hardly novel, however. IBM demonstrated a prototype as far back as 1996 for a device that allowed people to exchange business cards simply by shaking hands, using the electrical conductivity of the human body as a transmission mechanism. Although working at a slow 2400-baud data rate, it was sufficient for exchanging short bits of information.
Other work has demonstrated the ability to use motion of the human body as a power source. The Microsoft patent, however, calls for using a single battery to transmit AC or DC signals at low frequencies, in the 100 Hz range, to battery-less devices too small to have their own bulky Lithium-Ion pack. Just for good measure, the patent also applies to using the body itself as an input device, using the electrical resistance of the skin as a sensory system.
Nor is the patent restricted to humans. Most animals, and mammals in particular, have saline-rich bodies and skin capable of transmitting electrical current. Although details were not specified, it would give a whole new meaning to "connecting" with one's pets.
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