MIT Spinoff Preps Brooch Net Communicator
---------The CEO Lightman has already published an article which basically stated that the wearable patents of Xybernaut are no going to stop competitors from reaching market, he specifically noted the acedemic prior art which has been openly published for years.-----------
(02/15/00, 11:26 a.m. ET) By R. Colin Johnson, EE Times
Wearable computers need a nanosize operating system.
That's the philosophy of MIT spinoff InfoCharms, which will describe Nanux, its forthcomingwearable computer OS, later this month at the Everywhere Internet show in San Francisco.
"There are a whole set of problems that are unique to wearable computers but that must be faced by an operating system," said Alex Lightman, CEO at InfoCharms, which is readying a brooch-style Internet-ready communicator based on the slimmed-down Linux-like OS for release next year.
"We hope that Nanux will become the Linux of wearable computers," Lightman said.
Nanux will make use of WAP. The company has already shown prototypes of designs using open standards for inexpensive development.
InfoCharms' debut product, which does not yet support Nanux, is a wearable Smart Badge for conference attendees. The unit can communicate with other Smart Badges to exchange electronic business cards or to reveal social affinities, such as shared hobbies, between badge wearers in a secret code only the wearer can understand.
"We allow you to program your own code for what your badge does when it perceives an affinity between you and another badge wearer, so that you don't become embarrassed at others seeing your evaluations of them," Lightman said.
InfoCharms said it will suggest to conference attendees that badge wearers program their secret codes themselves, in the privacy of their hotel rooms. Demographic and other pertinent information about each badge wearer -- such as hobbies -- will already have been downloaded into each Smart Badge at registration.
The 1-ounce, 2.5-inch-diameter badge packs four two-tone red/green LEDs, infrared receivers and transmitters, a watch battery, and four binary buttons for programming secret codes. A 4-bit microcontroller uses 16 kilobytes of semiconductor memory for all software and for the information the badge gathers from other badges.
When a badge's memory becomes full or when the wearer is ready to leave the conference, a show-floor kiosk lets the user download the badge's accumulated electronic business cards and other information onto printers or removable disks to take home to a PC or PDA.
InfoCharms said it hopes to migrate to a more powerful microprocessor that will enable the badge to run the Nanux operating system. The next-generation badge will be able to download and filter information from the Internet by virtue of its infrared receivers. A small speaker and GPS module will let the communicator filter out irrelevant information, winnowing descriptions to those that pertain to nearby booths as the wearer walks the show floor.
The real target of InfoCharms' Nanux OS, however, is its Charm Communicator -- a brooch containing an Intel StrongARM processor; semiconductor memory; wireless Internet (IEEE 802.11) connectivity; audio output circuitry; and an expansion bus for adding GPS, a remote control, MP3, Internet telephony, a keyboard, a 1-gigabyte matchbox-size hard disk, and various displays, such as flat-panel LCDs and 3-D goggles.
"We expect people to put on their Charm Communicator in the morning and leave them on all day, maybe plugging or unplugging four or five different modules into and out of it in the course of the day," Lightman said.
The Star Trek communicator-style device will be "on" constantly, for instantaneous access to a computer and the Internet as well as to other smart devices located nearby. For instance, instead of hunting for the remote control, the Charm Communicator could direct a nearby VCR to turn on.
"Once a user becomes familiar with our interface, the wearable computer will become the easiest way to control other nearby smart devices, [allowing such activities as] turning on the TV, dialing the telephone, getting navigation directions or even checking up on the kids," Lightman said.
Depending on which modules have been plugged into it, the Charm Communicator can function as a Web browser, cell phone, test instrument, address book, interactive dictionary, camcorder, pager, video game system, or desktop PC replacement. Even in its minimal configuration, the communicator could play live Internet radio broadcasts from anywhere in the world while wirelessly roaming. It could also play downloaded MP3 songs when a mass storage device is plugged in. The optional head-mounted display, or a lowly LCD screen, will run such desktop applications as word processors, spreadsheets, calendars, and games in a hands-free environment, effectively replacing the user's desktop computer.
By mid-2000, Smart Badges are to be in mass production, bringing costs below $10. By 2001, the Charm Communicator will debut, with the first implementation of the Nanux OS for wearable computers.
Hands-free interfaces will include speech control, along with smart context-sensitive interfaces and new sensors (for instance, badges that monitor health). Beyond 2002, InfoCharms said it hopes its inexpensive infrastructure requirements will establish its approach among the billions of people worldwide who cannot afford to be connected to the Net via conventional means. |
