Nokia's idea: A tattoo that vibrates when phone rings

By Deborah Netburn/Los Angeles Times

Nokia Corp. is taking steps to make sure that you never miss another phone call, text or email alert again: The company has filed a patent for a tattoo that would send “a perceivable impulse” to your skin whenever someone tries to contact you on the phone.

According to the patent filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the phone would communicate with the tattoo through magnetic waves. The phone would emit magnetic waves and the tattoo would act as a receiver. When the waves hit the tattoo, it would set off a tactile response in the user's skin.

The patent filing also suggests that it would be possible to customize the physical response depending on who is calling - similar to having a unique ring tone for each family member. So if your husband calls you might feel only a dull tingling, but if it's your teenage daughter calling you may feel an itch.

A reporter for Unwired View, who first spotted the unusual patent filing, says it is possible to sync a phone and a tattoo through magnetic waves in a way similar to how phones are synced to Bluetooth.

To make the magnetized tattoo, Nokia's patent filing suggests using ferromagnetic ink, which is ink that includes compounds such as iron or iron oxide.

Before going in the user's skin, the ink is heated to a high temperature to temporarily demagnetize it. After getting the tattoo, the user remagnetizes it by repeatedly running a magnet over the tattooed spot.

In the patent filing, Nokia also proposes a slightly less invasive version of this technology, which would include a magnetic receiver that could be worn on the skin like a sticker and would vibrate when the phone rings.