More Invention Ideas

The Keeper

What if you could google your memories? What if your life experience, everything you saw or heard, was searchable the same way you search the internet? What if, given appropriate permissions and privacy provisions, you could search another person’s memory and they could search yours?

Origin of the Idea

Last summer, I traveled through Yellowstone with my wife Katie, who was my fiance at the time. We entered the park on Father’s Day, and Katie had the idea to send our fathers videos of our adventures with my newly purchased iPhone. The video app on the iPhone makes e-mailing or uploading videos to the web effortless, and our dads enjoyed the funny clips we sent them.

This experience led to a brainstorm on applying this same technology to a head-mounted helmet-camera, and making the uploading process automatic. If videos were automatically uploaded every minute, this would allow someone to remotely review your experience in nearly real-time.

This conversation led to the idea of “assisted memory.” My wife’s grandmother suffered from Alzheimer’s and dementia during the last stages of her life. At times she went missing and didn’t know where she had gone. I imagined that if she were wearing a helmet-camera which automatically uploaded video to the internet, her family would have been able to search to see what she had seen during different moments of her missing memories. Katie’s grandmother would also be able to review her own missing memories and hopefully fill in some gaps in her experience.

My wife sometimes has memory lapses, though of course not on the scale of her grandmother’s. I joked with her that if were wearing memory-assisting camera, she would never lose her car-keys again. The question “Wear did you see them last?” would be followed by an internet search.

INVENTION: A wifi connected helmet-camera whose automatically uploaded videos are searchable by time, spoken words, images and location via website or phone app.

Combining Existing Technologies
Helmet Camera -- www.gopro.com
360 degree cameras -- www.immersivemedia.com
Uploaded videos -- www.youtube.com or www.vimeo.com
Voice to Text software -- www.nuance.com
Image Recognition software -- www.google.com/mobile/goggles
GPS tracking -- www.instamapper.com




Explanation of Combination of Existing Technologies

Voice transcription software, which turns speech into text, would be incorporated into the device. The audio from video footage could be turned into text and posted on a website along side its corresponding video. This text would of course be searchable. Since the text corresponded to the time and video, it would be easy to search the last time certain words were spoken.

A smart-phone app would allow a users to search his memory directly from the phone in his pocket. Also, a GPS tracker would allow for more data gathering potential to add location stamping to the records. Image recognition software, such as Google Goggles which is currently in its early stages of development, could eventually become incorporated for image searches.

Next, why limit yourself to one camera. Imagine a wrap-around headband of cameras shooting footage at every angle. This would literally allow for eyes in that back of your head. By reviewing 360 degrees of their experiences, users could in fact have a more comprehensive “instant replay” of their life than the one they initially experienced. Google street view uses 360 cameras mounted to a car to map the planet. Imagine the same thing, but on your head and searchable by time-stamping, location-stamping and spoken words.

The catalogue of video records could be made public and searchable for other individuals with appropriate permissions and privacy provisions. Some particularly exhibitionary users might be interested in a plug-in for Facebook which would essentially allow permissions for others to search the user’s eyes and ears. Individuals could search the eyes and ears of friends or celebrities via their Facebook pages.

Applications

Memory Difficulties
I initially considered this invention as an assisted memory device for Alzheimer’s patients. Although it would not cure their condition, patients could review their memories by video and perhaps this would help them to better process their experiences.

Professional Accountability
I currently work in education, and I am often in one-on-one situations with students. As a safeguard against potential missteps, I could use this invention to allow parents access to see and hear what I see and hear as I work with their children. Parents could search this footage at their convenience from the home computers. Similarly, workers in other professions like policeman and politicians could be held to higher levels of accountability if they knew that their actions could be review and searched.

Educational Opportunities
Students could use this device in class as a means to review class lectures and activities. Like an advanced dictaphone, students could record classes and then search lectures for keywords and watch the corresponding videos that went with those words.
Professionals in a variety of fields could post searchable videos of themselves in various situations for others to learn from. Imagine a heart surgeon creating footage for medical students to search to learn about a surgical procedure. What if the next time you wanted to fix your car, you could search the experience of a car mechanic who had worked on a similar problem.

Vacation Memories
When on vacation, imagine releasing the need to get out your camera every time you wanted to take a picture of something you saw. With a constantly filming and uploading camera, you would never worry about missing the perfect shot. This would allow you to be more present during your vacation experience instead of getting behind your camera every time you wanted to preserve a memory.

Blogging
The motivation behind many bloggers and facebook posts is to publicize and communicate experience. Some people might be interested in a system that allows them to share their lives with this device from their Facebook page or personal website. As with any form of expression, humans have an inherent desire to share their experience with others.

Research and Data Collection
Scientists and researchers use this invention to compile a massive amount of data and could easily search their findings for more precise information analysis.

Potential Problems
Battery life:
Constant filming and uploading would require a strong battery similar to that of a cell phone. However, unlike a cell phone, no power would be spent on powering a backlit screen and this is the primary energy expense for cell phones.
Disk storage space:
The amount of video storage would require large hard drives. The resolution of the camera should be adjustable to a low level, perhaps taking only a few pictures per second, in order to minimize data storage problems.
Health problems:
Some individuals may be uncomfortable with transmitting wifi device next to their head at all times. However, the radiation would be exactly comparable to the potential damage cause by a cell phone.


Marketing

One possible name of this device is “The Keeper.” The name is concise, descriptive, and broad in its scope.

The device could be installed in eye-glasses or sunglasses. It could also be installed in stylish headband or hat. By partnering with sunglasses or hat companies, the brand could develop a more appealing image.

For publicity, imagine a music concert or video in which each band member was wearing a “Keeper.” Fans could then view the concert footage from the perspective of any band member. This publicity through music would help popularize the device.

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Please let me know if you think this is a good idea and worth pursuing. Thanks.

yanivsalzberg@gmail.com