Body Fat Measuring Phone from BenQ

Staska  By on 03 May 07

As far as additional functions for the cellphone goes, we have seen quite a few interesting ideas in recent patent filings. Some, like Motorola’s Feng Shui phone, or Samsung’s Smello’phone where just amusing. Other, like a Samsungs phone with virtual laser keyboard looked pretty cool.

Now BenQ has come up with another amusing/interesting idea for its phones. A body fat measuring cellphone:

benq-body-feat-measuring-phone.jpg

The phone functions by measuring different conductivities of various parts of the body:

Bioelectric impedance analysis (BIA) is a technology for measuring the composition of the body. Different parts of the body have different conductivities. When a micro-current (approximately ranges from 200 .mu.A to 800 .mu.A) whose frequency is over 50 KHz is applied to a tissue of the body, the current will flow through the liquid outside the cells. Part of the current will be impeded by the cell membranes and generate a resistance R, and part of the current will reduce its speed due to the charge of the cell membranes and generate a reactance I. The sum of the resistance R and the reactance I is the biological impedance Z, and normally the resistance R amounts to more than 90% of the biological impedance Z. The body fat is not conductive but the water inside the body is conductive. Therefore, the body fat can be estimated according to the measure of the user’s biological impedance.

After that it’s pretty simple. You touch two separate electrodes on the phone and the special chip measures electrical signal between them, determines body impedance due to fat and calculates body fat ratio.

Looks like you’ll be able to watch your dietary battles in real time soon :)

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